Amy Cunningham

What would a “whole feminism” look like?

Helen LaKelly Hunt: I think it’s so important to understand that feminism is not about women. Feminism is about human beings. Feminism is about the creation. It’s a consciousness of how we are interrelated to each other. And to the extent that anyone’s voice is muted, that must be redressed. Whole feminism is a new kind of consciousness where no person is free, as Martin Luther King Jr said, until all people are free. It’s about a human regard that we have for one another, being expressed in our daily actions. Faith and feminism need each other to complete their respective missions. Feminism when wedded (to) faith becomes grounded in a deeper perspective that is transpersonal, something beyond itself. Feminism is a part of this larger working out of “right relationship” that theology talks about. So faith grounds feminisms beyond itself. And feminism challenges faith to take more seriously the mandate for full human equality and to include women in its vision of justice.

Did feminists hurt Democrat John Kerry’s presidential bid by insisting upon 100 per cent purity on partial birth abortion, which many religious conservatives and pro-life people strongly oppose?

Given how entrenched the positions are, to debate one side or another is not the thing. I have seen for some years a crying need for dialogue. (There’s) a cry out for a dialogue between these two groups. Until that happens, neither is going to convince the other side of their view. People need to come to a place of empathy for both sides of the abortion issue. —Beliefnet.com, concluded