Berkley Center

Marriage is many things.

Depending on whom you ask, it’s a capstone or cornerstone, a holy institution or a civil right (or perhaps both), a passé idea that subjugates women or the very thing necessary to celebrate a woman’s “feminine genius.” And around the world, men and women ponder questions that are at once abstract and deeply personal: Is marriage good for women? Must a Christian woman submit? Does marriage empower Muslim mothers? Can women really “have it all”?

All the public disagreement over marriage make one thing clear: Marriage is also now a cultural battleground.

Many religious institutions, which have long established the parameters of what they consider valid marriages, have themselves evolved on the subject: Some Jewish and Christian denominations have made room for same-sex couples in their communities, while others now lead the lobbying fight against changing the government’s definition of marriage. Globally, religious leaders can wield enormous influence in making marriage an institution that protects women, or one that exploits young girls. From the Vatican’s Synod on the Family to the online Universal Life Church, religion is both shaping how we understand marriage, and adapting to updated understandings of human sexuality.

As part of our project on religion and women at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University, we’re spending this month exploring how women and men think about marriage and faith in the modern world.

We’ll hear from a celibate woman on her marriage to God, and a natural family planning advocate about how the church should reach out to young women, a priest who left the Catholic Church to get married, and a popular blogging priest who converted to Catholicism, bringing his wife and children with him.

Georgetown’s Katherine Marshall will explore the importance of ending child marriage, and a Islamic scholar and mother will examine how modern Muslim couples navigate their religion and the law. We’ll look at how ancient philosophies are shaping marriage in China today, and talk to a popular pastor and host of a new Oprah Winfrey Network show on spirituality about the Christian community and gay marriage. And much more.

We want to hear from you on why marriage matters (or doesn’t) in your world. Tell us why you agreed to “submit” to your spouse, or why you decided marriage wasn’t for you. Tell us how the experience of gay marriage has influenced your life. How would you advise the Vatican’s Synod on the Family? How has marriage created meaning for you? Share your experience, values, and beliefs with us at #faithfem.

I’m thrilled to be helping to host this important conversation and can’t wait to hear from our readers.