Why don't Christians separate men and women in churches?

[Darth Ultor]

In Judaism and Islam, we generally keep men and women separated when praying in a synagogue or mosque. Is synagogues, the women either have a mezzanine or a divided section in the sanctuary. Yet even in the most devout Christian congregations, men and women pray together. I know in mosques, men and women pray separately. I assume the women are in the back of the prayer hall. I've never been in a mosque so I don't know.

[IAmZamzam]

In churches (western ones, at the very least), they don't do the full prostration thing on an open floor, and therefore it does not necessitate something to keep us from sexual distraction. They sit in pews and occasionally there are some churches where they kneel in place.

[PouringRain]

Conservative Jews and Reform Jews, from my understanding, also often have mixed gender seating. I guess the same question could be asked for why they have also gone away from the separate seating. Not all Christian churches do have mixed gender seating..... for example the Amish. There are also some small off shoot churches that still segregate by gender. It is certainly a lot less common in today's times than it was in the past.

Sorry, I can't tell you why churches stopped, anymore than I know why some Jewish groups stopped.

Personally, I believe there are many benefits from separating the genders in congregation.

[nousername]

I think even up until the sixties in the US at least and mostly in Catholic churches, they were seperated. In the sixties women also stopped covering their hair with a hat or loose scarf and it was also sort of scandalous to not wear gloves too.

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[Grace Seeker]

There are several reasons. None of them having to do with Biblical interpretation, all having more to do with practical matters related to culture of that day.

The first is that through the middle ages the laity hardly ever attended church. Worship was conducted by and attended by the clergy, monks, and nuns. The large cathedrals were places where the commerce of the town often took place during the week, and screens were erected to literally keep the laity away from the altar. So, it was that when they did attend there were no pews or seats of any kind for them and they just stood and milled about.

Third, in places where there were no large cathedrals, there often was not church building at all. Sometimes they met in small private chapels that were owned by a wealthy family. More often, they met instead in small groups in private homes. In either case, the pattern of society was kept. If in that society men and women rarely mingled, then they did not in church. And if it was customary for them to mingle, then they did in worship as well.

Third, after churches became common and pews were introduced, the pew also became one of the means by which congregations raised support for themselves. This was especially true in America which had no government sponsored churches, as there were throughout most of Europe. So, to raise funds they developed the pattern of an annual subscription or pew rental. Those who could afford it would annual pay for their family pew. That then became where they usually set, together as a family. (They charitably saved the best pews in the front for those too poor to be able to afford a pew of their own. Hence developed the pattern of no one sitting in the front row of many churches till this day.) And since families are composed of both men and women, mixing naturally occurred.

Finally, I am aware of nothing in the New Testament which indicates that there needs to be separation of genders during worship. In some places this was done, but we don't know that it was in all. In any event it seems that such a decision had more to do with cultural patterns than with God's design and order for the church. So, as culture changed outside the church, so did these practices within the church as well. In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor free, but all are on in Christ (see Galatians 3:28), most Christian communities have understood this to apply not just to being equal in God's sight, but also meaning that there should be equal place in the life of the church itself.

[almahdali]

In small mosques or musalla (places of prayer), women usually pray behind the hijab (a curtain). In certain places in my country, women prayer room and men prayer room is separated for the necessity of those who work in hectic places.

In large mosque or Jami'a mosque, women may either pray behind the curtain, or there is a space for them at the upper level of the mosque's prayer hall.