RALEIGH, N.C. - Within the nation's largest Protestant denomination, a woman may not lead a church or a home. But prominent Southern Baptists see nothing wrong with Sarah Palin serving as vice president — or perhaps even commander-in-chief someday.
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(Photo: AP Images / Stephen Morton)Rev. Carolyn Hale Cubbedge, Assistant Minister, First Baptist Church of Savannah greets parishioners, Sunday Sept. 28, 2008 reads a prayer during service in Savannah, Ga. Cubbedge's church is part of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship which emphasizes local church autonomy.
In other words: A woman can run the White House, just not her own house.
Republican presidential nominee John McCain's selection of the Alaska governor as his running mate — the first female on the party's ticket in history — has thrilled conservative Christians. It also has led Southern Baptist congregations and seminary students to confront their beliefs about the role of women in leadership.
Interpreted from Scripture, the teachings on women are held close in thousands of Southern Baptist Convention churches where millions worship. Among them: "The office of pastor is limited to men," and a wife should "submit herself graciously" to her husband. Earlier this month, more than 100 Lifeway Christian Bookstores — a retail chain affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention — pulled from the shelves a magazine featuring five female pastors on the cover.
Yet many in the denomination say the nation's second-highest leadership post is an apple to the pulpit's orange. Palin's potential work in a McCain administration — or even as president in the event of McCain's death — would be separate from her family life with her husband, Todd, and their children.
"There's no disconnect or inconsistency whatsoever," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. "We don't go beyond where the New Testament goes. Public office is neither a church nor a marriage."
It's a question that's more than theological. The Southern Baptist Convention, with 42,000 churches and 16 million members, is reliably Republican. President Bush has addressed the denomination's annual meeting several times. And during the 2004 race, the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign hosted a reception for Southern Baptist pastors at a hotel across the street from the assembly.
The denomination is guided by The Baptist Faith and Message, a set of beliefs that includes restrictions on the roles of women. No Baptist is required to follow the statement, but it is a central theological document for Southern Baptists, their seminaries and clergy.
A prohibition on pastoral leadership by women, affirmed within the last several years, is based on the Bible verse 1 Timothy 2:12 in which the Apostle Paul says, "I permit no woman to teach or have authority over a man." Regarding family life, Southern Baptists cite Ephesians 5:22, "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord."
Land said the Southern Baptists' position allows for a wife to work outside the home, so long as her husband agrees — and Todd Palin has long backed his wife's career in public service.
Yet, Land's view is far from universal in the denomination. Many Southern Baptists believe women and mothers should stay home.
A year ago, the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, which has its main campus in Fort Worth, Texas, introduced an academic program in homemaking, where women — and only women — are taught how to cook and sew. In a 2004 sermon, the Rev. Daniel L. Akin, president of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Wake Forest, N.C., cited the biblical book of Titus to argue that one of God's assignments to young women is to "be a homemaker." Continue >>
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sj, plus even though someone is a co-worker does not mean they are not to submit to another person and in fact Christ calls us to be co-workers with Him and yet we are also to be surrendered to the Lordship of Christ as well. I believe the specific term He uses is co-laborers with Him.
sj, a woman having spiritual headship over men and submission are two very different issues, the issue of submission is a marital matter. Paul clearly states that wives are to submit to their husbands and that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the Church and gave His life for the Church. Both Peter and Paul state that a woman is not to have spiritual headship over a man in either the home or the church and that men and women alike are to submit to God and God's will. In the church as I said earlier the only roles that a woman could not hold because these roles automatically give her spiritual headship over men would be that of a Senior Pastor, Elder, and in those churches where Deacons are given spiritual leadership responsibilities over members of the church.
believer, I don't hear St. Paul affirming or asking for spiritual submission from women he himself describes as 'fellow workers', 'saints', and 'apostles.'
sj, "so what Bible are you reading" and if I might ask who are you asking? As I read it, it appears we are in agreement with the role of importance women have played in the Church, but I'm not sure if that's true or not.
Seems like there are sure a lot of women being commend by St. Paul at the end of Romans, "I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. . . Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you. Greet . . Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. . . . Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too. . . Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the saints with them." He called them 'servants,' 'saints,' 'fellow workers with me,' 'like a mother,' and indeed Paul even called Junias 'an apostle'! So what Bible are you reading?
blue, managing the affairs of the home is not the same as having spiritual headship in the home. My wife has done an awesome job at managing a majority of the activities in our home, but she also voluntarily submits herself to my spiritual authority in the home, plus the Bible not only teaches that a woman should submit to her husband, but that the husband should love his wife as Christ loves the Church and gave His life for the Church. That sure doesn't sound like domination to me!
In the book of Judges, there is indeed a woman who sits as Judge. Alot of it boils down to taking care of the Family the way God has intended. This will fulfill your life and keep problems down. Now after the children are grown, it seems more likely of working full time and even running for V.P.
Sarah Palin has a brand new baby, will the family suffer? Will her husband have time with his wife? These are questions that need to be addressed, family comes first. Just as God intended.
I mean no offense, but any woman stupid enough to assume that she can not run her own home or church, but can run for presidency, is obviously nothing more than a secluded, traditionalist, submissive, unprovoked barefoot & pregnant type of citizen. Why, WHY do men constantly assume that they can put these thoughts into their wives heads?
ID4234: Clinton is certainly not "pro-abortion"! Being that Roe v. Wade will remain, Clinton's policies would do more to lower the number of abortions than any Republican's would. I would hardly call Palin's views as "pro life". Killing for sport and championing war is hardly what I call pro-life. ( and Yes, I am a vegan)
The issue is not women in the pulpit, but women taking on roles in the church that would give them spiritual headship over men. Kay Arthur, Beth Moore, and Anne Graham Lotz some of the most noted women speakers in our nation are all Southern Baptists and teach seminars that include mainly women but men attend as well and in many churches they speak from the pulpit, but none of them hold a role in the church that would give them spiritual headship over men. The only role that a woman would be automatically disqualified for would be that of a Senior Pastor and because many churches give their Deacons spiritual authority over church members they would not allow a woman to be a Deacon.
To Chicago 24
Of course, he would not support Hillary Clinton. She's pro abortion. If he believes what the Bible says about life, how could he? The hypocritical part would be to support her given his Biblical views. Just because two people have the same gender, given their radically different views, that does not mean one is a hypocrite if he supports one and not the other. By the way, since the Bible has "concluded all under sin," we are all hypocrites in the sense that we aspire to live righteously but are unable to live perfectly in this world. Even Richard Land, sincere Christian that he is. He is right that the Bible speaks to the pastorate and the head of the household but not to gender based government service. He should not be condemned for being correct about that.
Richard Land is so hypocritical. There's no way he'd be advocating a woman in the executive office if it were Hillary Clinton. He'd be sticking to Paul's teachings like a bug on flypaper.
To JC
The culture of the time was the culture of the Bible. When the Bible speaks clearly about an issue, we would do well to follow its teachings since they are timeless. The order indicated in the NT is that men are to be the head of the household with the responsibility to lead spiritually. Whether they like it or not, modern men are in the role, given by God, to lead their families spiritually. They are to honor their wives as Christ honored the church. (That means we are willing to lay down our lives for our wives.) The role of senior pastor is reserved for males (1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, 1 Corinthians 7:17, the twelve, the Levitical Priesthood). There's too much evidence, OT and NT, to ignore. Modernists like to do as they please, not as the Bible says. But the Bible says what it says.
Without a proper knowledge of the times, or age, that these passages were written in, application to one's life is only guess-work.
In Paul's days, it was truly unheard of for women to lead worship, and it was even more so unheard of to find them in The Temple. Much the same way Islam forbids females from praying with the men today.
This was their culture of the time. Today, I look across the rows at my church and I see all kinds of women sitting side-by-side with other men. Is this a sin? Of course not.
What I think it all boils down to is this: The only difference between men and women is the flesh. The spirit is exactly the same, only the flesh is different. If this is the case, which it is, why are we judging others on something we should be denying?
If a sister in Christ comes to me with a Word from God, I would be foolish not to accept it based solely on the flesh.
If none of this is the case, just ask yourself if you enjoyed the last pork chop, or bacon strip you ate. Wasn't this once forbidden as well?