ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I explain why understanding that religion is synonymous with politics is of crucial importance for the advancement of feminist theory and activism. Restating the slogan “the personal is political” as “the religious is political” can productively disturb the common assumption that religion is a unique, timeless and ubiquitous phenomenon. Religions, I suggest, ought to be thought of as circumscribed but restive vestigial states within more dominant governmental structures. These quasi-states perpetuate male hegemony by deifying masculine rulership and granting men in religious hierarchies particular jurisdiction over women and children that can include forms of violence. I argue for feminists to discard the illusory binary of secular vs. religious in all its varieties and to promote vigorous analysis of the category of “religion” as a technology of governance.
