Partnership Religion and Spirituality
Unfortunately, religion has historically been used as a tool of domination systems to support beliefs that violence, social injustice, and the abuse of women and children are “moral” and “natural.” Because of this, many people have rejected religion, seeing it as a form of domination.
However, the problem is not religion per se; it is the way religion has been used within domination systems. Partnership religion and spirituality are deeply rooted in pre-domination traditions. Partnership spirituality emphasizes our responsibility to put love into action, making the world better, here and now, rather than focusing on life after death. Moving toward partnership religion and spirituality calls for spiritual courage – the courage to stand up against the injustice out of love.
As a faith leader, you strengthen the partnership system each time you stand for the core partnership principles of your faith tradition: honoring the other, love and mutual respect, the sacredness of the natural world, the fundamental worth and equality of all people. When you stand against domination teachings, you challenge those who misuse religion to maintain the top-down rankings of domination systems. Most importantly, you are empowering people in faith communities to put partnership values into action.