Baptist News Global
Sections
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Curated
  • Storytelling
    • Faith & Justice >
      • Charleston: Metanoia with Bill Stanfield
      • Charlotte: QC Family Tree with Greg and Helms Jarrell
      • Little Rock: Judge Wendell Griffen
      • North Carolina: Conetoe
    • Welcoming the Stranger >
      • Lost Boys of Sudan: St. John’s Baptist Charlotte
      • Awakening to Immigrant Justice: Myers Park Baptist Church
      • Hospitality on the corner: Gaston Christian Center
    • Signature Ministries >
      • Jake Hall: Gospel Gothic, Music and Radio
    • Singing Our Faith >
      • Hymns for a Lifetime: Ken Wilson and Knollwood Baptist Church
      • Norfolk Street Choir
    • Resilient Rural America >
      • Alabama: Perry County
      • Texas: Hidalgo County
      • Arkansas Delta
      • Southeast Kentucky
  • More
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donate
    • Planned Giving
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Advertising
    • Ministry Jobs and More
    • Transitions
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions and Permissions
Support independent, faith-based journalism. Donate
Search Search this site

Video of women’s rights meeting posted online

NewsABPnews  |  October 11, 2010

ORLANDO, Fla. (ABP) — Video of an evangelical women's-rights convention that this summer demanded an apology for teaching deemed harmful to women is now available on the Internet.

Held July 24 in Orlando, Fla., the gathering of a small group calling itself the Freedom for Christian Women Coalition denounced "complementarian" teaching popular among well-known evangelical leaders like author John Piper and Southern Baptist seminary presidents Al Mohler and Paige Patterson.

Named after a women's-rights meeting in 1848 in Seneca Falls, N.Y., the Seneca Falls 2 convention targeted a group called the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood that teaches men and women are equal before God but created for different roles.

Jocelyn Andersen

"We have grown weary of being dictated to by the group of elitists who call themselves the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood," said Jocelyn Andersen, an author and organizer of the gathering.

"What we are doing today is … promoting the gospel," Andersen said. "When you've got half of the body of Christ being told you can't preach the gospel, you can't pastor a church, what's happening to the gospel? Is it being hindered? Who's hindering it? It's not the Holy Spirit."

Andersen, whose most recent book draws parallels between the women's-rights and abolition movements of the 19th century, labeled the notion that husbands are by design to lead and wives to follow, "a slaveholding Christianity" that refuses to acknowledge the "functional equality" between males and females in the church and home.

Shirley Taylor, another conference organizer and founder of Baptist Women for Equality, said the problem with complementarian teaching is that "it sets men above women."

Shirley Tay

"It gives men almost godlike powers in the home and in the church while holding women to certain roles which they decided that she is fit for," Taylor said. "The Bible doesn't tell women that their role is to bake cookies and clean house. I haven't found that scripture. Have any of you found that scripture?"

Taylor, a former employee of the Baptist General Convention of Texas who still considers herself a Southern Baptist, said she doesn't want to be a preacher or even a deacon. "I want to be able to walk into my church and not feel that my church holds it against me because I am a woman," she said.

Cynthia Kunsman, a registered nurse who blogs about spiritual abuse, said she formerly held complementarian views, but she wasn't familiar with the term until she discovered it while researching information on the roots of "some problematic theology" called biblical patriarchy.

"There is a movement within homeschooling and fundamentalist Christianity where men are seen as the center of the universe, basically, of their families, and everyone in the family is to revolve around this patriarch and to serve his vision," Kunsman said.

Cindy Kunsman

Kunsman said she inadvertently found herself at odds with powerful leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention after she was invited by an apologetics ministry to talk about patriarchy at a meeting held on the campus of a Southern Baptist seminary.

"I've just recently repented of being a complementarian, because it has taken me three years of study to understand what these doctrines mean," Kunsman said of the ensuing controversy, during which she said she was accused, among other things, of being a lesbian.

"It sounds very lovely just looking at the veneer — men and women complement one another, that they are different but equal," Kunsman said. "But what they teach does not tell us that, and it is so divisive that you have to study for three years and read a hundred documents to understand what is going on."

Critics of complementarianism say it creates an imbalance of power that lays groundwork for potential spousal abuse. Defenders say the opposite is true, that rightly understood the doctrine calls on men to protect and provide for their wives and children by exercising "servant leadership" in the home.

Waneta Dawn

Waneta Dawn, author of Behind the Hedge, a 2007 novel about a family's struggles with application of biblical authority and submission, said her own marriage to a complementarian husband was characterized by "verbal violence" and a church that told her it was something she must simply endure.

Dawn said by assigning absolute control and authority to husbands "they are given permission" to behave in unkind ways toward their spouses.

"When the husband is given that authority, he is the one who decides what role each person plays, who does what," she said, "whether she will wash the dishes or whether he will wash the dishes; if he will clean the bathroom or whether she will; if he will mow the lawn, or whoever will do what."

"He makes those decisions," Dawn said. "She has no say in it. He also decides what the rules are — whether we spank the children or we don't, whether we homeschool them or we don't. She has no say in that…. He also decides who has value. He decides he's worth a hundred bucks an hour and she's worth minimum wage, and he acts like it."

"There's no way a marriage can survive that kind of disrespect," said Dawn, whose marriage eventually ended in divorce.

Doug and Anna Phillips are senior pastors at Oleander Church of God in Fort Pierce, Fla.

Doug Phillips, pastor of Oleander Church of God in Fort Pierce, Fla., said using selected passages written by Paul to prevent women from leadership in the church fails to distinguish between "Paul's establishment of biblical principles" and specific cases that Paul dealt with that are "lifted out of an antiquated social context."

Phillips said Paul's instructions to the church at Corinth — that women are to sit separately form men, dress modestly including covering their heads with veils and to learn in silence — were written in a society where men were accustomed to pagan fertility cults mediated by temple prostitutes.

"We are totally divorced from that kind of historical and social context," Phillips said. "We have no idea what that means. You don't see him telling anybody else anywhere to cover up and wear veils and all that stuff. He was dealing with a special situation."

Phillips said it is "just wrong" to apply social and cultural situations that are no longer relevant to the treatment of people in the 21st century.

"It's part of the system of the world, and the Bible is clear on this," Phillips said, "that the person that is in charge of the systems of the world is the devil."

-30-

Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

Previous stories:

Christians demand apology for anti-women teaching

Evangelical group still waiting for apology

 

 

Tags:Archives
ABPnews
More by
ABPnews
  • Get BNG headlines in your inbox

  • Featured

    • Next BNG free webinar will survey global religious issues and human rights

      News

    • Insurrection postscript: The church’s one foundation isn’t the USA

      Opinion

    • Three signposts for American Christians in a changing world

      Opinion

    • It’s still rare for a Baptist minister to serve in Congress

      Analysis


    Curated

    • Jen Hatmaker apologizes for line in inaugural prayer critiqued as erasing Native Americans

      Jen Hatmaker apologizes for line in inaugural prayer critiqued as erasing Native Americans

      January 22, 2021
    • UN approves global conference on protecting religious sites

      UN approves global conference on protecting religious sites

      January 22, 2021
    • Sen. Ossoff was sworn in on pioneering Atlanta rabbi’s Bible – a nod to historic role of American Jews in civil rights struggle

      Sen. Ossoff was sworn in on pioneering Atlanta rabbi’s Bible – a nod to historic role of American Jews in civil rights struggle

      January 22, 2021
    • US Catholic bishops divided over Biden presidency

      US Catholic bishops divided over Biden presidency

      January 22, 2021
    Read Next:

    ‘How can I talk to my parent who has been consumed by Trumpism and QAnon?’

    OpinionMark Wingfield

    More Articles

    • All
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Curated
    • What would happen if immigration policies were based on majority opinion in the U.S.?

      AnalysisMark Wingfield

    • Today, I’ve got nothing to say

      OpinionRuss Dean

    • Two words, two virtues, to help America move forward

      OpinionH. Stephen Shoemaker

    • Effort to end death penalty in Virginia gaining momentum; prayer vigils planned

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Trying to make sense of January 6: Jesus wept

      OpinionAlan Bean

    • Religious liberty groups praise Biden’s repeal of Muslim travel ban

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • These churches will resume in-person gatherings only when it’s safe for all

      NewsHelen Jerman

    • This church was online before online was essential, and they’ve got some lessons to share

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • A wish list for the common good in a new era

      OpinionMarv Knox

    • How the Ebola experience helped the African continent’s fight against COVID-19

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • The end of Trump’s presidency does not end America’s root problem

      OpinionWendell Griffen

    • Transitions for the week of 1-22-21

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • D.C.-area churches seek to offer calm amid a tumultuous January

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • ‘How can I talk to my parent who has been consumed by Trumpism and QAnon?’

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • Insurrection postscript: The church’s one foundation isn’t the USA

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • Anticipating a new day in immigration policy, a pastor, pilot and bricklayer keep an eye on Biden’s next move

      NewsRay Mwareya and Nyasha Bhobo

    • Three signposts for American Christians in a changing world

      OpinionChris Conley

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • It’s still rare for a Baptist minister to serve in Congress

      AnalysisMark Wingfield

    • Denver is sweeping away homeless encampments; two churches help open their own

      NewsLiam Adams

    • It’s hard to quit Herod, but we must worship another

      OpinionJohn Inscore Essick

    • Fellowship Southwest becomes independent, ecumenical ministry

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Truth Decay: When truth stumbles in the public square

      OpinionDavid Gushee, Senior Columnist

    • Unification will happen only after repentance

      OpinionEarl Chappell

    • Inspiration from voices of American diversity

      OpinionPhawnda Moore

    • Effort to end death penalty in Virginia gaining momentum; prayer vigils planned

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Religious liberty groups praise Biden’s repeal of Muslim travel ban

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • These churches will resume in-person gatherings only when it’s safe for all

      NewsHelen Jerman

    • This church was online before online was essential, and they’ve got some lessons to share

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • How the Ebola experience helped the African continent’s fight against COVID-19

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • Transitions for the week of 1-22-21

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • D.C.-area churches seek to offer calm amid a tumultuous January

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Anticipating a new day in immigration policy, a pastor, pilot and bricklayer keep an eye on Biden’s next move

      NewsRay Mwareya and Nyasha Bhobo

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Denver is sweeping away homeless encampments; two churches help open their own

      NewsLiam Adams

    • Fellowship Southwest becomes independent, ecumenical ministry

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • In New York City, serving the homeless offered a clue for how to serve trauma victims during the pandemic

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • At Central Seminary, Durso inauguration moves to virtual platform

      NewsBNG staff

    • Kentucky seminary receives Baugh Foundation grant to start Institute for Black Church Studies

      NewsPat Cole

    • American Protestants less open to sermons on race in 2020, survey finds

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • 3 current trends youth leaders need to know

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Seminarian, CBF and Georgia church find fellowship together

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • New effort to repeal federal death penalty is beginning

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Barna advice to pastors: Talk honestly about emotions and relationships

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Trump administration pushes evangelical agenda through last-minute actions

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Trump’s parting gift echos his immigration policies toward Africa

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • SBC seminary presidents meet with Black pastors but don’t change position on Critical Race Theory

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Q&A with Michael McMahon of the Hymn Society of North America

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Western Recorder, second oldest Baptist paper in America, to cease publication

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Today, I’ve got nothing to say

      OpinionRuss Dean

    • Two words, two virtues, to help America move forward

      OpinionH. Stephen Shoemaker

    • Trying to make sense of January 6: Jesus wept

      OpinionAlan Bean

    • A wish list for the common good in a new era

      OpinionMarv Knox

    • The end of Trump’s presidency does not end America’s root problem

      OpinionWendell Griffen

    • ‘How can I talk to my parent who has been consumed by Trumpism and QAnon?’

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • Insurrection postscript: The church’s one foundation isn’t the USA

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • Three signposts for American Christians in a changing world

      OpinionChris Conley

    • It’s hard to quit Herod, but we must worship another

      OpinionJohn Inscore Essick

    • Truth Decay: When truth stumbles in the public square

      OpinionDavid Gushee, Senior Columnist

    • Unification will happen only after repentance

      OpinionEarl Chappell

    • Inspiration from voices of American diversity

      OpinionPhawnda Moore

    • Some hard questions for reflection on this MLK Day

      OpinionSid Smith III

    • Let’s move beyond the easy answers and MLK quotes today

      OpinionCraig Nash

    • The blasphemy of Franklin Graham

      OpinionRobert P. Sellers

    • 10 prayers for 2021 (if we survive January)

      OpinionErich Bridges

    • Why ‘moderate’ churches fear telling it like it is

      OpinionEric Minton

    • 4 things you can do to counter the millions of Americans who are fully radicalized

      OpinionCorey Fields

    • Christian symbols and sedition at the Capitol: The church has work to do

      OpinionRhonda Abbott Blevins

    • Give yourself some grace during the pandemic

      OpinionBrett Younger

    • Understanding the trauma and finding hope after the siege of the nation’s Capitol

      OpinionKathy Manis Findley

    • Why I long for the church of my youth

      OpinionRichard T. Hughes

    • ‘He being dead, yet speaketh’

      OpinionHarold Ivan Smith

    • Toxic masculinity, 24-hour news and complacency fed the Jan. 6 riots

      OpinionJohn Jay Alvaro

    • A lesson from 19th century North Carolina: Lost cause, lost opportunity

      OpinionGreg Jarrell

    • Jen Hatmaker apologizes for line in inaugural prayer critiqued as erasing Native Americans

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • UN approves global conference on protecting religious sites

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Sen. Ossoff was sworn in on pioneering Atlanta rabbi’s Bible – a nod to historic role of American Jews in civil rights struggle

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • US Catholic bishops divided over Biden presidency

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Baptist World Alliance Announces Racial Justice Action Group

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • 3rd Candidate Joins Race for SBC President

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • From Biden’s giant Bible to Christian flags waved by rioters, ‘religion’ means different things to different people and different eras

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • In Biden’s Cabinet, Catholics and Jews dominate

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Biden Invokes Augustine in Call for American Unity

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • St. Matthew’s Cathedral, where Biden attended pre-inauguration Mass, has long been a place where politics and faith meet

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • North Dakota lawmaker sorry for mass email of QAnon video

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Mohler Faces SBC Presidential Challenge from the Right

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Biden’s Big Bible Is Heavy with History, Symbolism

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • How the Ebenezer Baptist Church has been a seat of Black power for generations in Atlanta

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Annual March for Life goes virtual amid COVID-19, unrest at US Capitol

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • The Capitol siege recalls past acts of Christian nationalist violence

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Moms of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and James Baldwin portrayed in new book

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • ‘Christian nationalists’ accused of violating law in Georgia elections

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Joanne Rogers, widow of ‘Mr. Rogers,’ dead at age 92

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Israel hopes to vaccinate Holocaust survivors to save and repay ‘treasured’ population

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Conspiracy theories and the ‘American Madness’ that gripped the Capitol

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Anti-Semitism seen in Capitol insurrection raises alarms

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Most Evangelical Trump Voters Didn’t Turn on Mike Pence

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • What four strangers of different faiths learned while living together during a pandemic

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • In waning days of Trump presidency, Department of Health and Human Services undercuts religious liberty protections in new final rule

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    Conversations that Matter.

    © 2021 Baptist News Global. All rights reserved.

    Want to share a story? We hope you will! Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here.

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • RSS