Oh no, egalitarian beliefs
Southern institutions are going all-in on the nasty prejudices and persecutions these days.
Southern Baptists say women are inferior.
Even as they prepare to vote on a formal ban on churches with women pastors, delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to boot one such church from its ranks.
Messengers, as voting representatives are known, voted 6,759 to 563 to oust First Baptist Church of Alexandria, a historic Virginia congregation that affirms women can serve in any pastoral role, including as senior pastor.
What’s wrong with saying women can be senior pastors?
Tut, don’t be silly, it’s obvious. Women are inferior. End of story.
“We find no joy in making this recommendation, but have formed the opinion that the church’s egalitarian beliefs regarding the office of pastor do not closely identify with the convention’s adopted statement of faith,” said Jonathan Sams, chair of the credentials committee.
Egalitarianism is bad. Hierarchy is good. Inferior people must understand and agree that they’re inferior.
Early Tuesday, a small group of women stood outside the Indiana Convention Center in a low-key demonstration in support of women in ministry. “I hope that people know women have equal value and can be pastors,” said the Rev. Meredith Stone, executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry. The organization originated among Southern Baptists in the 1980s, but it now works with women in a variety of Baptist denominations.
Joining them was Christa Brown, who has long advocated for fellow survivors of sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches and criticized the denomination’s resistance to reforms, an effort she has chronicled in a new memoir, “Baptistland.” The Southern Baptists ongoing struggles with sexual abuse reforms is also on this year’s calendar. She said there’s a direct connection between issues of abuse and the equality of women in ministry. “When you squash some people, it sets up a lot more people to be squashed,” she said.
Indeed.
Since Christianity is really “Pauline” and “Saint” Paul was a notorious misogynist (if not closeted gay man), what do they expect? It’s like gays complaining that the Republican Party is too hostile to their interests or a black man complaining he can’t join the local KKK.
I know, I know…some here will post MY flavor of Christianity, which doesn’t belive in hell or the Virgin Birth or really the Bible will chime in and say my particular sect loves women ministers. So these women should just join that subcult.
I’m not sure there are a whole lot of “MY flavor of Xianity” types here!
Ophelia: Haha. Good point. There is one on another blog I follow (Nan) who denies all the fundamental tropes of Christianity yet vigorously claims to be Christian of the Quaker persuasion.
How many of these voters are men? All of them?
For what it’s worth, the ban on women pastors failed; it garnered 61% of the vote, but needed a 2/3 majority to pass.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/06/12/sbc-southern-baptist-convention-women-pastors-ban-fails/74071691007/
I am not clear what the ban would have banned. Most of the articles indicate “women pastors”, so perhaps women would not be allowed to take these positions, or forced to leave them. The OP says “churches with women pastors”, implying that churches with women pastors would be pushed out of the Convention, a much stronger action. Perhaps they amount to the same thing, but they seem distinct to me.
It’s pretty bizarre that the SBC are voting to kick out individual churches for having women in pastoral positions, but not voting to change the constitution to ban women in pastoral positions. I smell some political weakness here. If they changed the constitution, inevitably there would be a schism and a plurality of churches would leave SBC, thus weakening its standing. But most of the member churches clearly don’t want women in pastoral positions, so they’re booting what is seen as the most egregious examples, even though the rules don’t permit it, hoping to maintain the status quo that disfavours women. Ugh.
I thought they’d already banned them during the “conservative resurgence” or whatever they called their hostile takeover in the 80s… It’s like finding out Ronald Reagan was still alive when he died.
Maybe it’s one of those things where you just can’t ban enough and have to keep going back to ban harder.
Biblical misogyny goes back to Genesis (chapter 3):
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. …
8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 And he said, “I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man said, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.” …
16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” [Revised Standard Version]
BKiSA, I remember them banning women pastors in the early 2000s, leading to Jimmy Carter leaving the denomination. Maybe it’s like Ophelia said; they just can’t ban them enough and have to keep reiterating.