Southern Baptist Women Protesting
I spend way too much energy being infuriated with the Southern Baptist Convention in the United States. I should just ignore them or pretend that they are a figment of my tortured imagination. The do take up a lot of space as one of the largest Protestant denominations in the US.and we have family members who are Southern Baptists.
This week thousands are gathered for their annual convention and a biggie on the agenda is a motion that women can't be pastors in any way, shape, or form. They have already booted a number of congregations for giving women significant pastoral roles, some of their largest such as Saddleback, but this was meant to clarify that women aren't just barred from primary leadership, they shalt not be uppity in any aspect of church life that a presumably male God has magically bestowed upon the chosen gender.
Despite always beings theologically conservative it wasn't always this oppressive. Jimmy Carter left the Southern Baptists in 2000 after a lifetime of involvement, in large part because the denomination was moving to the theological right of anti-intellectualism and patriarchy. Any seminary professors who were considered left-leaning were turfed. Now congregations which were given leeway in leadership are being disciplined or expelled.
The glimmer of hope from Wednesday is that this strangulation motion was defeated but some of the conservatives vow they'll be back next year, even more determined. Jesus wept.
I could smile when a former Southern Baptist member said he knew he had to leave when he realized that it was okay for the cucumber of Veggie Tales to preach but not a woman.
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