The president of the Relief Society, Jean B. Bingham, is right in her assertion that improving the lives of women will improve the world. I think that the point a woman, even with supposedly the same value in a religion, like the LDS religion, cannot have equal power is a problem. Women must have the power of the priesthood if her power is to be equal with a man’s.
In an LDS community, this is incredibly important since men take their religious power into the workplace.
When it comes to domestic violence and rape and mistreatment of women worldwide, the difference in power often begins in a religious belief that relegates women to a lesser role than men. Sexual abuse comes with power differences. Women taught to believe that they are only around to please a husband or a father cannot realize their power as human beings.
Abuse in religious organizations is profound.
If all women came forward with their stories of molestation, rape and physical abuse, our world could truly begin to change.
Marilyn Miller, PhD, Millcreek