Research the Long View of Women's Roles in Religion (Essay Sample)

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Introduction
Religion has been superficial and ever evolving since the beginning of man. Both woman and man have had a hand in the contribution of the development and believing in a superior power to explain their existence. Now with the differences in religion, both the women and men have taken different roles that are distinct to their particular faith. Among the various religions, man has always had a senior position compared to a woman. In most religions, woman place is always at home, and the work of God is meant for men only.
1 Nouns, pronouns and divine gender
The gender of God can be termed as a literal or as an allegorical aspect of the deity. In the polytheistic religions, the gods are viewed to have literal sexual genders that allow them to interact with each other, and to some extent the human beings. In most of the monotheistic religions, there is the lack of comparable being for their God to refer regarding gender basis. The gender of this one and only deity is a mere analogical statement of how human beings and God relate to each other, with no sexual inferences. In most of the religions, God is an intangible spirit therefore no gender aspect.
In Christianity, God is conceived as a Triune. Christians believe that their God exits in three forms, the Father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. God the Son is Jesus Christ that was born on earth taking a male body. In His teachings, Jesus did distinguish between Himself and His Creator by calling Him Father meaning Dad-male noun. In this aspect, God is depicted as a man. The Christian language follows the normal grammar rules. Usually, the noun father demands masculine pronouns like him, his or he when referring to God. Also in the Trinity tree, God the Son is Jesus. Son is a male. The Holy Spirit in most of the Christians teachings is mostly characterised as a dove. This is depicted when Jesus was being baptized by John (Luke 3:22). The Holy Spirit is less connected to either of the genders. The striking Father image in God the Son's teachings and the belief among most of the Christians that He (Jesus) is the particular incarnation of God in history affirms the masculinity of God to a greater degree compared to other religions.
In the Islamic teachings, the oneness of God is the major focus both in the Quran and Islam. In the Quran, the pronouns Hu or Huwa are used to refer to Allah that is mainly translated as him. Other cases it can also be brought in gender-neutral grounds as it. Despite grammar restrictions, Islam stresses on divine transcendence. Unlike Christianity, Islam holds that Allah is a pure spirit thus no linking it to any physical body, female or male. The Islam religion prohibits any form of the image of Allah. Unlike the Christian brethren where "God" is depicted in human form as it is seen in Christian art.
2 Life cycle rituals
Hinduism and Christianity present a more empirical ground to debate on the issues of life cycle rituals as they present a significant part in describing today's world piety and philosophy. In the world, Christianity is the most followed form of religion while Hinduism is the world's oldest religion. One of the notable life cycle rituals worth mentioning is the initiation, marriage, and the death ceremony. The initiation ceremony in Hinduism can be summarized in sixteen stages with each dedicated to God by a ritual called Samskaras that starts with the womb and ends with the tomb. Upanayana allows a boy to study Vedas, which makes him a real Hindu. In Christianity, churches insist that each person flowing the teachings must understand the meanings and all the beliefs and adhere to them. Their initiation rite is the confirmation. It is conducted before adult baptism that aims at determining the beliefs and the commitment of the child.
In Hinduism marriage, a possible match is looked for the child from their caste. In deciding the match for the child, the parents seek help from the holy priest who compares the Jathakam or the Janampatri of the bride or the groom. In Christianity, the union between a woman and a man is predestined by God. Christians believe that the marriage between husband and wife is treated as one. In Hinduism, for women, marriage is considered the most religious event in her life. Women pay dowry in Hinduism while men pay it in Christianity. India has the highest rates of early girl child marriage. In terms of women submission, women Hindus are more submissive to their husbands compared to the Christians.
Death is the last Samskara in Hinduism. When a Hindu person dies, the body is bathed and wrapped in clean and white khadi cloth. The white khadi symbolizes the purity of the soul that has left the body. During the cremation, mourners are supposed to wear white clothes as it is the colour of mourning. The setting of the light is only done by the eldest male child of the deceased, or the closet male relative. The women are not allowed near these places as they are considered to be weak emotionally can cannot bear to see their loved ones get burn. Unlike the Christian counterparts, the female are allowed to participate in all the activities relating to the burial of their loved ones.
3 Fertility
The Hindus and the Jewish have similarities and contrasting traditions when it comes to fertility of their women both in ancient and current times. Among the Hindu women, fertility is viewed as a divine blessing and as a result of good karma. It is the religious expectation of both the husband and the wife to have children. In most of the religions infertility is seen as a divine curse and to the Hinduism it is a result of bad karma. Fertility is reflected in the 16 Samskaras, particularly the Garbhadhana that is performed by married couples in their early stages of their relationship. Garbhadhana involves seeding the womb and its main purpose is to impregnate the woman. The odd fertility ritual performed by the Hindus is the Niyoga tradition that allows a woman to have a child due to some situations. These conditions can be due to an impotent husband or being a widow (Manu 9.59-63). Despite the demise of this tradition, Niyoga was there to stress on the importance of fertility as a woman could go to any extent to bear a child.
The traditional Hindu traditional have a preference of the boy child over the girl child. This is not a monopoly tradition among the Hindus since other religions have had the same ideology from the past and have displayed the bias towards male over the female child over the years. Similar trends are also present in the ancient scriptures too. In the prayers of the Atharva Veda (6.2.3)-let a girl child be concieved elsewhere but not in this womb. Also, the Jewish scripture shows this bias. Psalms 127 stress on the joy a man possess for having sons compared to daughters.
Among the Jewish a woman is treated a vital asset in the society. The Judaism religion is mainly concentrated among the Jewish. The growth of its followers mainly depends on its people produce new members through procreation. The Jewish first commandant relates to being fruitful and the ability to multiply and create more God’s people. Sterile women among the Jewish are seen as cursed members hence subject to the significant anxiety and stigma. As with the Hinduism, the boy child is mostly treasured compared to the girl child. Also the Jewish have a ritual similar Niyoga of the Hindus called the Yibbum (Deuteronomy 25:5-6). It allows a widow to have kids with a deceased family member.
4 Female Teachers
The position of women has been a subject of considerable interest in recent times. In all the religions, there has a reconsideration of the position accorded to the woman in all the spheres of activities more so the role of a woman in teaching the religion. The position of a woman is Islam has been a subject of considerable discussion and controversy. In the debate of the Islam women making headlines in the dailies, the Buddhism woman has been neglected and, very little literature is available to paraphrase her.
Despite early Buddhist phrases for instance the Cullavaga section of the Vinaya Pitaka contains statements form the Buddist founder-Gautama Budda approving that a woman can also attain enlighten, the texts also puts it clearly that a woman can never be a female Budda as quoted from the Bahudhatuka. Women in Buddhism are said to have five obstacles, namely being incapable of becoming Sakra, a Brahma king, King Mara, Budda, Cakravatin. Despite the existence of female nuns, their history has been sad. One of the notable names of the female nuns is Bhikkhuni Dhammananda, who, championed for the greater recognition of women ...