The human rights activist said Friday religious authorities perpetuate misguided doctrines of male superiority, from the Catholic Church forbidding women from becoming priests to some African cultures mutilating the genitals of young girls.
Carter said the doctrines, which he described as theologically indefensible, contribute to a political, social and economic structure where political leaders passively accept violence against women, a worldwide sex slave trade and inequality in the workplace and classroom.
"There is a great aversion among men leaders and some women leaders to admit that this is something that exists, that it's serious and that it's it troubling and should be addressed courageously," Carter said at an international conference on women and religion.
The 39th president is hosting representatives from 15 countries at The Carter Center, the human rights organization he launched in 1982 after leaving the White House.
More...
Four immigrant rights activists ended their 22-day fast Tuesday on the National Mall and were immediately...
Police on Monday arrested the head of the defense team for the 21 women and girls...
Europe's human rights court shone a rare public light Tuesday on the secret network of European...
Large protests over a plan to resettle nomadic Bedouin Arabs in Israel's southern Negev desert caused...
