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THE QUESTION
Women as Leaders
Women are not allowed to become clergy in many conservative religious groups. Is it hypocritical to think that a woman can lead a nation and not a congregation?
Posted by
Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on September 3, 2008 3:54 AM
FROM THE PANEL
Will Conservatives Tell Palin to Practice What They Preach?
Governor Palin clearly proved she can be the attack dog for the Republican Party. Will conservative Christians hew to their scriptural guidelines reminding her and the world that the Bible says "suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence."
Posted by James Anderson, on September 8, 2008 8:31 AM
Religious Hypocrisy and Women as Leaders
The relationship between men and women, especially with regard to the dynamics of power, is very complex and while liberals have addressed this relationship in profoundly positive ways it is not as if our public culture with its promiscuity, pornography, and objectification of women, is so evolved.
Posted by Irwin Kula, on September 8, 2008 7:22 AM
Nations are Easy, Congregations are Hard
While I wish that all church bodies (and, by analogy, synagogue and such communities) did ordain women, it is not hypocritical to say that women can "do" ministry but not nation, or nation but not ministry.
Posted by Martin Marty, on September 8, 2008 6:44 AM
Peculiar and Inconsistent
It has always seemed extraordinary that anyone finds it seriously difficult to think of women leading congregations.
Posted by Julia Neuberger, on September 8, 2008 3:14 AM
Convenient "Truths"
Conservative religious leaders believe the New Testament texts regarding women only apply to the church and not the secular world. I find that line of interpretation very convenient for conservative churches, and impossible to justify theologically
Posted by Brian D. McLaren, on September 5, 2008 5:19 PM
Clergy and Politicans Not the Same
Comparing Sarah Palin's possibility to be Vice President or being ordained in a faith tradition that does not accept women is comparing clergy to politicians. Not the same.
Posted by Jane Holmes Dixon, on September 5, 2008 4:31 PM
The Mutual Superiority of Women and Men as Leaders
No, it is not "hypocritical to think that a woman can lead a nation and not a congregation." Rather, it is ignorant.
Posted by Willis E. Elliott, on September 5, 2008 12:27 PM
Palin Can Serve Family and Country
Al Mohler Jr. | The Bible speaks to the priority of motherhood and responsibilities in the home, but it doesn't specify any public role that is closed to women.
Posted by R. Albert Mohler Jr., on September 5, 2008 3:51 AM
Women as Second-Class Christians
Roman Catholics base their opposition to ordaining women on the antiquated idea that women cannot represent God before the altar. Is God male? Is there some part of the male anatomy that women do not possess that is somehow particularly Godlike?
Posted by John Shelby Spong, on September 4, 2008 8:47 AM
Women as Leaders Anywhere a Challenge to Partiarchy Everywhere
In one bold swoop, a woman delivering the Friday sermon and leading the prayers undermines each one of the assumptions that leads to gender discrimination.
Posted by Pamela K. Taylor, on September 4, 2008 7:47 AM
God Save Sarah Palin!
When traditional Christians vote for Palin, as I will, they are not being inconsistent. They are, in fact, being true to the best part of their heritage. This heritage helped liberate women without denying distinctions between the sexes.
Posted by John Mark Reynolds, on September 4, 2008 6:02 AM
Hypocritical? Perhaps, Literally
Hypocrisy is a funny thing since it's generally a charge made by people against others, who almost by definition, do not see things as their detractors do. Yet it assumes that they should.
Posted by Brad Hirschfield, on September 4, 2008 5:28 AM
Women, It's OK Not to Be Pastors
There have been, there are, (and I know there will be) many women who are leaders in the church, but who are not pastors; and they are okay with it.
Posted by Matt Maher, on September 3, 2008 3:57 PM
Women Are Evangelical Leaders
Evangelical denominations and churches have been led by women clergy for generations, much longer than women have been business and political leaders in much of America; and, longer than women have been able to vote in America
Posted by Leith Anderson, on September 3, 2008 1:23 PM
Inconsistent, Not Hypocritcal
Allowing women to serve as national leaders but not as congregational leaders is a hard viewpoint to defend. But, given the biblical data that the conservatives appeal to, it is better to push the argument in terms of coherence and consistency than to throw around labels like "hypocrisy."
Posted by Richard Mouw, on September 3, 2008 1:11 PM
Palin: Is She Subject to Her Husband?
What I would like to know, first of all, is who is going to have the final authority as Vice-President if Sarah Palin is elected, Palin or her husband? Will Palin obey the Constitution over her husband?
Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on September 3, 2008 12:20 PM
Jezebel, Sheba, and Hillary?
On matters of women in the church, it's time to take the lead from women themselves. To date, the lore and history of organized religion, not to mention the career of priest and preacher, has belonged to men.
Posted by Deepak Chopra, on September 3, 2008 9:38 AM
Conservative Hypocrisy
In many ways we Americans are hypocritical about our morals and values, but for obvious reasons conservatives seem more hypocritical than anyone else. Many conservatives, for example, believe that women are unsuited to lead us into spiritual awakening but they...
Posted by Arun Gandhi, on September 3, 2008 9:10 AM
Let Women Lead and Let Church be Church
I happen to believe that women can and should exercise leadership at all levels in the church, but I would argue the point, not on the grounds that 'that's what happens in society', but on the grounds that from the resurrection onwards women were involved at the very heart of the apostolic ministry.
Posted by Nicholas T. Wright, on September 3, 2008 2:18 AM
Two Kingdoms
No, they are two different "kingdoms." One is the Kingdom of God and the other is the Kingdom of this world.
Posted by Cal Thomas, on September 3, 2008 2:09 AM
FEATURED COMMENTS
Gina Locasto: Religion has nothing to do with Sarah Palin becoming Vice President. No one is forced to be Catholic so if you don't like not being part of...
