It seems impossible for me to understand, but why can’t we have respect for all?
I can understand why some people choose religion to discriminate against women. It has always been convenient to do what you are familiar with and not challenge yourself. If you believe that women are second-class citizens because you interpret your religious faith to say that, you have the freedom to do that.
However, even though you have the freedom to treat women like this for those who believe this, you don’t have the freedom to treat those who don’t believe in this way. Every religious person would say that they have the freedom of religion. It doesn’t mean that others have to obey your point of view/beliefs. What we have done is cross the line to make your religious beliefs law.
When I was a child I was brought up Catholic and I believed that abortion was wrong. As I grew older I learned tragic stories of people who got abortions and I even read a book from someone who used to work at an abortion clinic. He shared many stories of women who were forced to get abortions because if they didn’t, worse consequences would follow. What I lacked when I was against abortion was a real understanding of the difficult position these women were in. They were not using it because they didn’t want to use birth control or some stupid reason. They had no choice and they weren’t raped, their life situation sucked. We need more empathy towards our fellow beings and less judgment.
I am not ashamed to tell you that I cried reading that book. Cried because anyone with half a heart would feel terrible that anyone was put into that position. If the Supreme Court had more empathy and less dogma, they would have made a better decision. Bodily autonomy is absolute, and yesterday women’s rights took a back seat. I will do whatever I can to support whatever is necessary so that women have the same rights as men. I am ashamed to be a white man and have rapists and other Supreme Court defects on the board.
When we treat anyone like women as less than fully capable of making a choice we only hurt ourselves. Our progress as a society is marked by respect, and by not allowing religious dogma to dominate. Religious dogma created the dark age, and kept us in ignorance and suffering needlessly. Is this really what you want?