California cathedral, EDS at Union dean sign interfaith statement in support of Equal Rights Amendment

Posted Mar 22, 2022

[Episcopal News Service] The Very Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas, dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary, and the congregation of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California, added their signatures and support to a statement calling for the immediate adoption of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, according to a March 22 press release from Justice Revival, an organization that mobilizes Christians to defend the human rights of all people.

“Although religious opposition has historically played a notable role in frustrating the long-running movement for women’s equal rights in the United States, today hundreds of faith leaders are stepping forward and speaking out in unequivocal support of the ERA,” the release said.

In 1972, Congress first proposed the Equal Rights Amendment, which guarantees equal rights for women. In 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify it meeting the required three-quarters of all states threshold necessary for adoption to the Constitution.

“We recognize that systematic subjugation of women and gender and sexual minorities is embedded in the economic, social, political, cultural, and religious structures of our society, and that it intensifies human suffering and degradation. Although targeted minorities suffer the most, any system of injustice offends the human dignity of every person, and limits our possibilities as individuals and a society. Oppression of any kind inevitably breeds violence, which offends our religious commitment to peaceful coexistence,” the statement said.