Abstract
This paper examines views of women among the most prominent “progressive” American religious groups (as defined by those that liberalized early on the issue of birth control, circa 1929). We focus on the years between the first and second waves of the feminist movement (1929–1965) in order to examine these views during a time of relative quiescence. We find that some groups indeed have a history of outspoken support for women’s equality. Using their modern-day names, these groups—the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and to a lesser extent, the Society of Friends, or Quakers—professed strong support for women’s issues, early and often. However, we also find that prominent progressive groups—the Protestant Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the United Presbyterian Church—were virtually silent on the issue of women’s rights. Thus, we conclude that birth control activism within the American religious field was not clearly correlated with an overall feminist orientation.
Highlights
IntroductionWhich American religious groups can truly be characterized as early and staunch feminists?
Which American religious groups can truly be characterized as early and staunch feminists?. This paper investigates this question by examining the most prominent American religious groups’
As a major social movement that involved religious women, feminism or the “view that society should be transformed to include the full participation of women” has led American religious communities to “rethink their history, their polity, and their theology.”27 In some cases, the interaction between religion and feminism has been fraught—with women in the US exiting or critiquing traditional religious denominations
Summary
Which American religious groups can truly be characterized as early and staunch feminists?. Views of women between the first and second waves of the feminist movement (1929–1965). It focuses on the eight Christian denominations that liberalized early on birth control.. It focuses on the eight Christian denominations that liberalized early on birth control.1 We analyze these groups between the two main waves of feminism—after suffrage was granted but before the second wave of feminism took off. These groups represent more than half of the eight early liberalizers on birth control. Using their modern-day names, we observe that these groups—the United. Episcopal Church, and the United Presbyterian Church—were virtually silent on the issue of women’s rights, throughout the entire period. Wilde and Danielsen (2014) have demonstrated that these groups liberalized because of their concern about race suicide and belief in the social gospel movement
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