De-sexualizing religious girling goes deep. Real deep. Girls are told that if they become the wrong kind of woman not only will their eternal life be threatened, but the eternal lives of men and boys who trip over them on their path to God will be at risk.

The problem of the repression of women, especially in leadership roles, developed as the Church institutionalized itself over time, melding its practices within cultures of increasing male dominance.

For more than 1,000 years, in respect of a monastic tradition separating the sexes to allow them to focus on their spiritual tasks, women have been banned from Mount Athos. Time may no longer be on their side.

By Al Webb Religion News Service LONDON (RNS) A leading bishop in the Church of England has triggered fury in British religious circles by likenin...

Why do women persist in the religious life, or as members of congregations, when the church is so often a test of our resilience, or when our opinions are seen as defiance?