Frank

I have always had a high regard for Jimmy Carter and the genuiness of his Christian faith, even though on some points of Christian doctrine and ethics I am more conservative than he is. And I think we all agree with him that too many male religious leaders have twisted the Scriptures and made them a club to beat women down and keep them from full partnership in Christian ministry and leadership, which we know is part of the inheritance rights of all who are heirs of Abraham and co-heirs with Christ (cf. Gal. 3:26-4:7). I hope and pray that God may shake up the Church as a whole and cause it to rethink how has treated women.

But as someone who grew up in a fundamentalist Baptist church, and who tries to keep in touch with what’s going on in the complementarian camp by reading World Magazine, I must sadly tell you that, so far, the reaction by non-egalitarians that I have seen has been a negative one. For example, Cal Thomas wrote a piece for World where, after criticizing the Episcopal Church for its liberal beliefs and practices, then criticized Carter as a liberal who walked away when the Church taught and applied the Scripture against his own pet views, adding a comment on Carter’s apparent ignorance of “mutual submission” being taught in Scripture. I wanted to yell out to Thomas, “Cal, that’s the whole problem! The American Protestant Church, as a whole, does not teach or practice the mutual submission of Scripture.” It appears that Carter is not being heard as one crying out against injustice and oppression, but as a disgruntled liberal. So whatever else may happen, it seems to me the only thing we egalitarians can do is speak and do the truth in love, hoping to win people over to the truth as it is in Jesus.