Sexism in Religion

For a while, I was on a crusade of sorts for gender equality in evangelicalism. Mostly that was because of a previous relationship and his views of women in the church. During my first year at Calvin, I was definitely on my crusade. I think I had doubts as to my own ministry calling and projected that doubt onto the issue of women in the church.

Last summer, I interned at Heartland, a church that believed in the equality of women. I also realized that women in ministry is not the only issue that faces a church. The most important thing is passion about spreading the Kingdom of God. Jesus is #1, and gender roles are peripheral. Sadly, most churches that promote gender egalitarianism (ex. women in pastorate positions) are dying denominations.

The two "hotpoint" issues in the church are homosexuality and women. These are trivial in comparison to the massive entity of the church, but they serve as a litmus test. More "liberal" churches, churches that are not "Bible believing," ordain women and accept homosexuality. "Bible-believing" churches support traditional gender roles and see homosexuality as a sin.

I decided that I would NOT support a dying, lukewarm denomination solely because of its stance on women in the church. I would much rather go to a church that is passionate, that is ALIVE, that perhaps believes in traditional gender roles, because that comes first. I could disagree on the issue of gender roles and still fit in at an evangelical church.

So I made a decision that summer at Heartland, that when I returned to Calvin, I would seek the most passionate church. That church would probably advocate traditional gender roles (it did: I ended up at Ada Bible, which has no women as elders or pastors). I took a step back from gender roles in the church. I still believe in gender equality, but this is not the sword I will die on.

I no longer harbor hostility toward pastors that believe in traditional gender roles. In fact, I listen to Mark Driscoll's podcasts every week, even though he is very vocal on his traditional stance of women.

This week, I attended a Kensington service that surprised me. It was a Bible study of 1 Timothy, and the lesson was 1 Timothy 2, which has the dreaded passage that I will not even quote here because it is so disputed. It basically says that women should submit and be quiet.

The Kensington pastor actually discussed his (and Kensington's) view that this passage was contextual. Therefore, he didn't think it applies to all situations and cultures (others might argue that this passage is universal- it applies to all women at all times). He said that it was a 1-time statement Paul wrote to Timothy, and that it applied only to Ephesus in the 1st century.

Honestly, I was taken aback by his commentary. I was positive that Kensington believed in traditional gender roles, that women and men were equal but had "different roles" (and these roles just happened to mean that women submitted to men- but they were "equal" of course....). I was pleased that a Bible-believing, evangelical church believed in gender equality! Score!

In advocating a complementarian position, some Christians walk a fine line between obeying the Bible and indulging sexism. I don't get the idea that most evangelicals are sexist, but it is something to be aware of.

The reason I've been thinking more about gender and religion lately is because of my new favorite book, Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She describes Muslim treatment of women, and some of her Islamic superiors told her things dangerously similar to what I've heard Christians say. They would say that women and men were "equal," but men just had to rule over women.

Muslim treatment of women is disturbing. Ali describes the physical abuse in many Islamic households, the subordination of women. In Islam, it is a woman's fault that men are seduced. Women are expected to cover themselves head to toe so men could not see a bit of their bodies. If a woman is raped, it is her fault.

When Ali first came to Holland as a refugee, she was afraid that if she wasn't fully robed with a headscarf, men would go crazy and not be able to work because they'd be so sexually aroused. She started not wearing completely covering clothes and was startled that, contrary to what her Islamic teachers had told her, society didn't erupt into chaos when a female showed (gasp) her head!

I could go on and on, but her portrayal of Muslim treatment of women was disturbing. It is so sad that beautiful, capable women are getting bound and chained by man-made regulations. They think they're following God, while God is in reality horrified at such sexist attempts to diminish His beautiful daughters' potential.

It sickens me that sexism can be done in the name of God, whether it's Islam or Christianity.