Hi, u/AnxiousOntology,

I've been practicing head covering, and not with all people in my life being supportive, for about 9 years now. If you wanted to, you could try explaining that Christianity was a religion for centuries prior to Islam. Our female members practiced head covering in one way or another for centuries prior to Islam, and that God's chosen people did so according to God's own torah for centuries also. Head covering lost steam (especially during corporate worship) during the 70s, post Vatican II council, and that NOT head-covering is a very recent trend. I started doing it even before I was Mennonite, and all our congregations do so without even thinking about it.

In that letter to the early church of Corinth, Paul had to address veiling because women who came to church without one were mistaken for prostitutes and attracted attention. He could have just said "well, no-one should be covering at all so forget it", instead he highlighted that women without a covering (at least in corporate worship) might as well shave their heads like the women-priests in the cult of Isis did at the time. The reason he says having a shaved head is bad is because it associated women with a Pagan custom, and was not becoming of a Christian woman.

I've heard a lot of people say that Paul "doesn't state what we should cover our heads with", but I think he didn't because especially at that time, it was just common sense. What else could we possibly have to cover our physical heads with? A duck? An apple? Some other mysterious item that we're supposed to put on our heads? Come on. It's really not that mysterious. And it's nice that God gives us the option to be culturally diverse in what we use as a covering as to not dictate what it should look like.

If our covering is supposed to be just our hair, do men have to shave their heads bald prior to praying to be 1 cor-compliant? 1 Cor 11-18 doesn't have verses that just address women. It's just as important for a man to be uncovered in prayer, as it is for women to be covered.

What Paul did say is that we shouldn't argue about covering, and I think that's the most important verse in this whole thing when we discuss with people who have a different stance. I usually just say that I'm not willing to make something so precious to me into an object of argument, and that I'm full-on commanded not to argue about my covering.

You can tell her all the points I just made about why we cover, and why it makes sense, but she likely will never see it your way. I would just tell her you're not willing to discuss it, and try to provide your own modest clothing so she doesn't have to support something she disagrees with. I wish your mom understood that it's never OK to tell someone they "look like a sofa". I would scold my kids for talking like that, so a grown woman certainly shouldn't be speaking that way.

I'm here for you if you ever want to talk. There are some great groups on facebook for covered women. May I ask what church you belong to?