Why Jimmy Carter left Southern Baptists: backs women in ministry

  Former President Jimmy Carter. AP/John Bazemore

 July 20 - Here's an instant replay, in case you missed it: after 60 years, former President Jimmy Carter  split with the Southern Baptist Convention over its position on the role of women in the church. 

"I personally feel that women should play an absolutely equal role in service of Christ in the church,” Carter told the Atlanta Constitution today, explaining the decision he made in October, 2000.  His views on the subject were outlined in a July 15, 2009 posting on TheAge.com.au., "Losing my religion for Equality."

Comments began flowing today, following a piece in Femlisting.com.  A story by Charlotte's atheism examiner , which includes a YouTube video of Carter, appeared earlier today.

"My faith is a source of strength and comfort to me, as religious beliefs are to hundreds of millions of people around the world. So my decision to sever my ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, after six decades, was painful and difficult. It was, however, an unavoidable decision when the convention's leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be 'subservient' to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service." Carter wrote.

"During the years of the early Christian church women served as deacons, priests, bishops, apostles, teachers and prophets. It wasn't until the fourth century that dominant Christian leaders, all men, twisted and distorted Holy Scriptures to perpetuate their ascendant positions within the religious hierarchy," he continued. 

"The truth is that male religious leaders have had - and still have - an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter. Their continuing choice provides the foundation or justification for much of the pervasive persecution and abuse of women throughout the world. This is in clear violation not just of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, Moses and the prophets, Muhammad, and founders of other great religions - all of whom have called for proper and equitable treatment of all the children of God. It is time we had the courage to challenge these views,"  he wrote.

[ Biblical scholar Elaine Pagels makes a similar observation in her book, The Gnostic Gospels (Vintage Books, NY).   "...in its earliest years the Christian movement showed a remarkable openness toward women.  Jesus himself violated Jewish convention by talking openly with women,and he included them among his companions. ...(p. 61) Yet...the majority of Christian churches in the second century went with the majority of the middle class in opposing the move toward equality, which found its support primarily in rich or what we would call bohemian circles. By the year 200, the majority of Christian communities endorsed as canonical the pseudo-Pauline letter of Timothy, which stresses (and exagerrates) the antifeminist element in Paul's views: 'Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness.  I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent.' "  (p. 63).]

Carter highlighted ways in which discrimination against women harms society as a whole. "The impact of these religious beliefs touches every aspect of our lives. They help explain why in many countries boys are educated before girls; why girls are told when and whom they must marry; and why many face enormous and unacceptable risks in pregnancy and childbirth because their basic health needs are not met."

"In some Islamic nations, women are restricted in their movements, punished for permitting the exposure of an arm or ankle, deprived of education, prohibited from driving a car or competing with men for a job. If a woman is raped, she is often most severely punished as the guilty party in the crime," he continued.

"The same discriminatory thinking lies behind the continuing gender gap in pay and why there are still so few women in office in the West," Carter wrote. "The root of this prejudice lies deep in our histories, but its impact is felt every day. It is not women and girls alone who suffer. It damages all of us. The evidence shows that investing in women and girls delivers major benefits for society. An educated woman has healthier children. She is more likely to send them to school. She earns more and invests what she earns in her family."

Women attending the Pastors' Wives conference at the convention this year (June 23-24) did not see the situation quite the same way.  Mary Kassian, distinguished professor of women's studies at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY., is reported as saying, "Women of truth are intentional about building appropriate bridges and barriers into her life—bridges to help her reach the place she needs to go and barriers to keep her from going where she ought not to go."  Kassian is quoted in the Southern Baptist convention news article, "Women gain freedom in God's Word,"  written by Tammi Reed Ledbetter.  Kassian is the author of the book, The Feminist Mistake.    She reportedly told the conference attendees that feminism has led women to consider a husband and children  "a nuisance and bother," unless they are "convenient, contribute to a woman's self-actualization or happen to fit into her life plan."

"After leading with the commitment of radical devotion to Jesus Christ, Kassian emphasized the importance of sound doctrine," Ledbetter writes. "She contrasted 'a theological, doctrine-loving, sink-your-teeth-into-the meat-of-the-Word kind of woman' with one who is gullible to sin and deception, easily led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ..."Lord knows He's given women enough hormones to have constantly shifting feelings. Our feelings can take us the wrong way. We need to root ourselves and anchor ourselves in theology."

The author is a priest in the Episcopal Church, which has been ordaining women since 1974. 

The current Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church is a woman, the most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori. She is chief pastor to the Episcopal Church's 2.4 million members in 16 countries and 110 dioceses.  (from official website)

Ordination to the Priesthood and to the Episcopate

July 29, 1974 marks the first ordinations of women to the priesthood in the United States, an event referred to as the “Philadelphia Eleven” when eleven women were "irregularly" consecrated.  On September 16, 1976, General Convention approved the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate.  Women’s ordination in the Episcopal Church - as deacons, priests, and bishops - stands on the strong foundation built and continuously supported by lay women and men who understand ordination as part of the whole ministry of the church. 

(from Women's Ministries, episcopalchurch.org. See link above)