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Standard_Gauge t1_jahy7bt wrote

> All the western religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) say the woman is a helper to man, the man is the leader.

To be fair, in the Hebrew Bible, Deborah was a judge, who made rulings that men as well as women had to follow. There is nothing Biblical about saying women can't have authority or should be subservient to men.

Reform Judaism has been completely egalitarian for decades, with Conservative gradually coming around.

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billpalto t1_jai4pfu wrote

Yes, there are exceptions. In general though, women are considered subservient to men in those religions. The more conservative they are, the slower they come around.

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cam94509 t1_janzzkk wrote

Reform Judaism is hardly the exception. It's by far the largest of the three major branches of Judaism in the US, larger than the two major others combined. (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/06/22/denominational-switching-among-u-s-jews-reform-judaism-has-gained-conservative-judaism-has-lost/,current denomination question has reform at 33%, conservative (which has woman leaders) at 18%, and orthodoxy (which a woman leaders but is still fighting itself about it) at 8%.)

That's not an exception at all.

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boofbeer t1_jajmx48 wrote

>There is nothing Biblical about saying women can't have authority or should be subservient to men.

"I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly." 1 Timothy 2:12

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Standard_Gauge t1_jajwye9 wrote

Sorry, I am talking about the Hebrew Bible. I am not too familiar with the Christian Bible. The poster to whom I was replying was painting with a broad brush "all" religions and specifically included Judaism. My point is that religions are not one monolith.

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boofbeer t1_jak2a6b wrote

Obviously not a monolith, as your nod to Orthodox Jews concedes. Those guys still refuse to sit next to women on airplanes.

In general, I think it's fair to say that religious people tend to endorse more restrictions on what is acceptable behavior for women than non-religious people. #NOTALLRELIGIOUSPEOPLE

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cam94509 t1_jao0r66 wrote

I mean, I'd agree that religious people tend to, but I wouldn't agree that that's not really true of religious Jews compared to the rest of the population.

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boofbeer t1_jasog0o wrote

The most religious Jews are Orthodox Jews, and they segregate the sexes during worship (and, as I mentioned earlier, insist on it when using public transportation as well), and have dress codes for women as well as for men. The secular world has none of that.

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cam94509 t1_jayyfq1 wrote

I think my rabbis would be a little upset by being called "less religious" than Orthodox rabbis, tbh.

Hell, I'm mildly upset, it's just less funny when I phrase it that way.

It's also not quite as simple as you're suggesting, but I'll concede that there are ultra-Orthodox sects who's practices look like you're describing.

I'll grant that more conservative subsets of Judaism are more likely to have certain views of women, but I'd put to you that religious Jews are more likely to be progressive on women's rights than atheists in general, so I don't think it's fair to describe the faith as conservative with regards to women in general.

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