Does the present treatment of Women reflect the mind of Jesus.

       There are ways in which discrimination against women is being challenged in churches today. In November 1992 it was decided that women were allowed to be ordained for the first time. The Church of England does now ordain women priests.

       Other people have tried to challenge the languages Christians use. They should use inclusive language. They should say ‘Children of God’ instead of ‘Son of God’, ‘Humankind’ instead of ‘mankind’ and ‘Neighbour’ not ‘Brother’ so that there is no sexism.  

       At the same time there is evidence of discrimination against women. For example the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church do not ordain women as priests. They believe the priesthood to be a male institution. The evangelical Protestants believe that men should be the head of the family and women should not speak in church or be ministers/priests. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that men and women are equals but do not have the same roles. The difference in attitude to women as priests has caused some difficulty in the discussions over church unity. Women are also not allowed to become Popes. Like all institutions that are dominated by men, the church has been guilty of sexism. Women have had little to do with the power in the church, even though they have traditionally made up the majority of the members. God is assumed to be a man and still in most churches women cannot rise to the highest positions. Over the last few years a new force has arisen in the Christian church, which is sometimes called feminist theology.

         This situation doesn’t reflect the attitude of Jesus to women. I have studied different examples of Jesus meeting with women such as where Jesus rose from the dead and Mary Magdalene – women was the first person to see this.  I would say that his attitude to women was equal. One typical example of the way he treated women was when he revealed himself as saviour to a Samaritan woman (John 4:7-30) which showed that Jesus chose a Samaritan women rather than a Samaritan man to reveal himself as saviour. He preached to women as well as men (Luke 10:38-42) and had women disciples and after the resurrection appeared first to a woman (Matthew 28:1-10). Christians believe, and Jesus said, that God created all people equal.

       In conclusion to my essay I believe that the attitude of the church does not reflect the mind of Jesus. My reason for saying this is because he treated women and men both equally when he was present on this earth and said that God created all people equal. I understand that others might not accept my view.