Gender

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 28 April 2009 06:04:00

A tool of liberation or oppression?

A place of freedom or of constraint?

A message of hope or of dispair?

Culturally relevant or standing against a corrupt culture?

Freedom of expression or resepct for oneself?

Matters of interpretation or of principal?

Empowering or disempowering?

A debate acknowleged or silenced?

These are the questions discussions on gender and religion raise. The answers are generally not as simple as we would like. Over the last week or so I have come to realise that an issue I thought was quite straight forward is v. def not. I have found my opinions challenged from both sides, and by people I have quite alot of respect for. I realise that what I thought was pretty much just a theoretical issue these days isn't. It is an issue where v. real tensions still exist and where v. real people  and v. real feelings are involved in the debate.

Working through and praying through this one I am finding myself challenged about how we express our faith, the effect it has upon those around us and how we show respect for those with alternative positions to our own. I am also aware that you sometimes can't sit on the fence because there simply isn't one.