08.22.06
Common Sense vs Literal Absurdity
An 81-year-old woman who taught Sunday School for 54 years in Watertown, NY, was dismissed from her First Baptist Church position because… well, apparently they discovered she was a woman.
And as we all know, women should keep silent.
At least, that’s what the church board said to her. Their letter quoted 1 Timothy 2:12: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.”
The Reverend Timothy LaBouf is also on the Watertown City Council where the city manager is a woman as well. Will this impact her? No, LaBouf said. He added that a woman “can perform any job and fulfill any responsibility…“
So, let me get this straight. Women can do everything in the real world. But when in church, *&%# that idea.
Thankfully, the teacher, Mary Lambert, has received several other teaching offers.
What’s even more frightening is that the vote for her dismissal was unanimous. No one on that church’s board took a stand to say that rule might not apply anymore? Someone please explain.
Technorati Tags: Mary Lambert, First Baptist Church, Watertown, New York, Timothy, Sunday School, Timothy LaBouf
Popularity: 4% [?]
jim said,
August 22, 2006 at 5:46 pm
no explanation possible - just more religion gone wild
Karen said,
August 22, 2006 at 5:47 pm
I love that this made it onto ABC News. The more public airing this kind of absurd behavior gets, the more people understand the real threat facing us from the hardline biblical inerrancy crowd.
I belonged to an FE Christian mega-church for nearly 20 years and there were one or two knowledgeable and dedicated women who taught both children’s and adult classes - mainly on topics like marriage and parenting.
There was only one time that a woman preached from the pulpit during a Sunday service, however, and that generated enough complaints that it never happened again. There was also a lot of controversy over female staffers not getting the title “pastor,” and the accompanying salary level that went along with it, although they were doing the same job that their male counterparts were doing who were called “pastor.”
Eventually, within the last 4-5 years, the women did get the “pastor” title and (I hope!) commensurate salary ranges.
beepbeepitsme said,
August 22, 2006 at 10:53 pm
Tsk Tsk
A woman was speaking in church?
How distressing… lol
God And Abortion
http://beepbeepitsme.blogspot.com/2006/06/god-and-abortion.html
David said,
August 23, 2006 at 2:17 pm
To get the full story, you need to read the GetReligion post on this.
Julie Marie said,
August 23, 2006 at 7:39 pm
this is so strange at first I thought it was an example of how to laugh at ourselves…but I guess not. All I can say is how stupid.