Document Type

Lecture

Publication Date

4-29-2014

Keywords

feminism, religion, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, United States, philosophy, political theory, government, history, democracy

Abstract

Are Feminism and Monotheistic Religions Compatible?

Dr. Roberta K. Ray

How compatible are the three major monotheistic religions (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism) with feminism and the goal of equal rights for women in Western democracies? A special focus is on how Christian religions have functioned as a barrier to equal rights for women in the United States from Colonial period through the 21st century.

Religion and Liberal Democracy: Are They Philosophically Compatible?

Dr. John W. Ray

American government is based on liberal democratic political theory. Based on an examination of the political philosophies of Locke, Mill, Rousseau, Hegel, Emerson and Rawls, Ray concludes that adherence to a liberal democratic political ideology is fundamentally incompatible with a religious grounding of political reality.

Comments

Roberta Ray has her PhD in communications from the University of Southern California and is a Professor of Liberal Studies at Montana Tech. She is the author of the book The Power of Listening. Roberta is currently national president of the Commission on American Parliamentary Practice and is collaborating with John Ray, on a book covering the contemporary significance of the thought of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

John Ray has his PhD in political theory from the University of Wisconsin—Madison and is a Professor at Montana Tech teaching political science, public policy, and communications. This past year he has presented at Heidelberg University, Oxford University, the Pacific NW Political Science Association meeting, the National Communication Association annual meeting, and the Tulane University Law School Environmental Law Summit.

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