Jimmy Carter Leaves Church Over Treatment of Women

After more than 60 years together, Jimmy Carter has announced himself at odds with the Southern Baptist Church -- and he's decided it's time they go their separate ways. Via Feministing, the former president called the decision "unavoidable" after church leaders prohibited women from being ordained and insisted women be "subservient to their husbands." Said Carter in an essay in The Age:

At its most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.

And, later:

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.

“He lost it long ago.”

That’s true enough, but now he seems to be equating the Southern Baptists to a cult.

Hopefully this will open the eyes of those who have defended his other idiocies. Seems like he’s been given a pass because of his affiliation with the Southern Baptists, his work with Habitat for Humanity, and possibly for the charitable works of his mother and sister.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard, “How can someone like that be as bad as you’re making him out to be?”

SBC “leaders” did not make a pronouncement, but in 2000 the PEOPLE OF THE CHURCHES of the Southern Baptist Convention passed statements on the Family and the Church by over 90 percent. [The SBC is not hierarchical like mainstream denominations, but is led bottom-up by its fellowship of churches].

Despite wording from the Bible such as “The husband and wife are of equal worth before God,” and “A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church” (i.e. willing to die for her), critics like Carter mischaracterize the statement on the Family as misogynist because it also stated from Ephesians that a wife is to submit graciously “to the servant leadership of her husband.”

As for the statement on the Church, Southern Baptists stated a consensus view found among the fellowship of churches that “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” Only 35 churches out of over 45,000 have a female pastor (less than one-tenth or one percent — which means that the so-called moderate or progressive congregations in the SBC aren’t hiring women as pastors).

Jimmy Carter has made his “departure” pronouncement at least twice before (1993, http://media.sbhla.org.s3.amazonaws.com/7565,14-May-1993.PDF, and 2000, http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=6703) and also in his 2005 book, Our Endangered Values. However, he continues to worship and teach at Maranatha Baptist Church [in Plains, Ga.], which identifies itself as Southern Baptist — and has not hired a female pastor.

It’s merely hype to promote his latest views, and another chance for him to perpetuate a caricature of what Southern Baptists believe and practice using willing media to aid him.

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