But the story continues, and Eve is blamed for Adam’s eating of the forbidden fruit and thus sin entered the world through the woman. And since that writing, probably around 950 BCE, women have been suspect and relegated to a lesser place in the created order.

The First Letter to Timothy in the New Testament resounds with the second-class status of Eve. Somehow the Christian Church chose to follow that mandate rather than the witness of Jesus of Nazareth who had women as an integral part of his community, and the testimony of all four Gospels that have the first witness to the resurrection a woman. Interesting.

I can only speak with some authority for women’s role as religious leaders within my faith tradition, broadly, Christian and particularly, Episcopalian. As Christians we revere Mary, the mother of Jesus; in fact we call her “the God bearer.”

We honor great female saints throughout the ages; some of whom are Catharine of Sienna, Joan of Arc, Julian of Norwich, Mother Theresa and Dorothy Day. These are women who have made a profound difference in the Church and in the times in which they lived. Yet this is veneration, somehow putting these women on pedestals. Of course, there are women who cherish that role; there are others of us who wish to take our places at the decision-making tables as equals.

Just this past June, the Episcopal Church elected the first female Presiding Bishop, the Most Reverend Katharine Jefforts Schori. She is a faithful Christian, a brilliant woman, and a proven leader. She speaks with authority and clarity. Still, there are both women and men who refuse to accept her as validly ordained because they believe that a female person cannot truly represent Jesus, the Son of God, and because Jesus did not name women as apostles and because the tradition of the Church has maintained that only men be ordained as clergy. And because Holy Scripture records the story of Eve and her transgressions in both the Old and New Testaments.

I was ordained a priest 25 years ago on January 16, 1982. I had the privilege of being elected bishop here in Washington in 1992. How have I fared? Mostly quite well. The bishops and people of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington began in the late 1950s to strive to make this piece of God’s Kingdom truly representative of God’s good creation. By that I mean, we try to respect the dignity of every human being. So outwardly, I fared well.

The worst slights came from within the church, not from the outside. My colleague, the Reverend James D. Anderson, another "On Faith" panelist, and I are writing a book about women’s ordination in the Episcopal Church. It is our hope to tell the story of this major change in church teaching and what we have learned. There are some very candid stories.

It all began with Eve. She, the prototype or first woman, whichever you accept, a counterpart of Adam, was created in the image of God. Many see that as not only as good, but very good. Others do not.