Desert Religions Richard Rodriguez Analysis

Richard Rodriguez bravely addresses three controversial sub-topics under one topic full of debate. His essay, “Desert Religions” aired in 2002, highlights the shame and violence that has been associated to religion. The essayist discusses human sexuality under the interpretation of religion, the role war and terrorism play, and the masculine and feminine roles in religion.
In his essay, Rodriguez believes that the diplomatic affairs we see on the evening news are merely being disguised as a religious war. The fight over oil or land when in reality it is the fight between whose side God is on, the attacks under the control of Al Qaeda when perhaps it’s the greed for power or world domination. According to Richard, these religious wars are allowing terrorism to become prevalent; often times within the same culture (147).
Rodriguez makes a point of stating that there are tensions between the “brother religions”, religions that should be unified but instead are “united and divided by the masculine sense of faith”, still this same pattern is shown within the church (146). Rodriguez acknowledges the fact that the church is being divided each day due

to these issues, and accusations of pedophilia against the leaders of the church aren’t helping. He recalls sexual scandals within his own Catholic Church, believing that these church leaders are using their power to commit pedophilia by “forcing themselves on boys”. The fact that the majority of American Catholics are willing to forgive priests who have committed these acts rather than cardinals and bishops is devastating (147).
Finally, Rodriguez ties in his entire essay to the gender roles in religion. From the beginning of his essay he is aware, although disagrees, that the three desert religions have been taken over by a masculine perspective. He doesn’t understand why religion would take a turn in that direction when it has shown to be forceful, assertive and dogmatic; using terrorism and pedophilia to exemplify these points. Richard believes that women are not given enough credit in religion despite the feminine impulse present in the three religions, a subtle impulse but not an acknowledged one. Paragraph 4 of his essay contrasts the feminine impulse of religion to the masculine influence, he considers the feminine impulse to contain positive attributes such as delicacy, involvement and service; he compares the delicacy of the feminine impulse by comparing it to poetry. On the other hand, Rodriguez opposes the assertion and doctrinaire influence that religion has gained. From his essay one can conclude that religion should acquire the ‘feminine impulse’, that Rodriguez reiterates throughout his essay, to prevent chaos between the three desert religions (147).
After reading his essay a second time through a different perspective, I do agree with the writer’s points.

Seeing countless news reports about terrorist attacks or attempts throughout the years, I now believe terrorism under the name of religion is a simple gateway to having authority over someone or the greed of power, thinking it sounds justifiable if you claim “it is an order of God”. As stated in the article Terrorism in the Name of Religion, “Religious terrorist groups often become cheap and effective tools for specific states in the advancement of their foreign policy political agendas”; religious terrorism can often be interpreted is a way to assert a group into one’s beliefs however like Richard and the article mentions, it is an excuse to fulfill a political agenda or go against the government

(Ranstorp).
The abuse of power is prevalent in our world, not just in modern times or in the secular world. There are cases such as the one with Oliver O’Grady, a priest in Los Angeles from Ireland who for over twenty years sexually abused children since 1971, which demonstrate the abuse of ecclesiastical power. Unfortunately it wasn’t until 1993 when he served a 14 year sentence, several complaints were made to the ecclesiastical authorities prior but the Catholic Church swept it under the rug and sent him to another parish instead. Elizabeth Cullingford described the abuse of authority as “using the respect accorded his collar to facilitate his sexual access to the children” (250). Similar to Rodriguez’s view, I too believe that a leader would want to dominate those below such as those apart of the church’s hierarchy.
The oppression doesn’t stop there, Richard’s points envelope around the gender differences in the desert religions; to which I can also agree with. The bible itself shows several accounts of men carrying out the duty of molding how to worship God. Religion is interpreted through a male’s perspective which to Rodriguez has shown to be assertive and oppressive such as the religious wars enabled by men and the pedophilia in the church.
A recent incident in Salt Lake City, Utah shows how sexism is still an issue within the church; women were forbidden access to attend a priesthood meeting. The women went out to march against the meeting’s rejection of women; like in Richard’s final paragraph, women are striving to make a mark in history despite the flaws in religion. However according to the Huffpost Religion article, “these women are steadfast in their faith but want to play a more significant role in the life of a [Mormon] religion that claims over 15 million adherents worldwide” (Dobner).
It appears that the church is becoming smaller, I witness people come and go in my own church. One of the points I accept in Desert Religions, among several in his essay that I agree with, is that the male domination of religion is causing chaos to the way it is practiced, more so the intentions have switched in order to benefit our selfish needs. We are watching closely as the brother religions are battling over the approval of God or perhaps it is an excuse to justify the battle for power, power over land and people.