Oct 02 2008
some evangelicals feel Palin’s career violates biblical teachings
[LA Times]
In a white-steepled church along a stretch in picturesque canyon country, the preacher laid out the basic blueprint of a godly marriage: Husbands lead, wives submit. Speaking recently before hundreds of worshipers at Placerita Baptist Church in Newhall, guest preacher Chris Mueller affirmed the view that loving male headship and gracious wifely submission are God’s plan for spouses.
Placerita, like many conservative Christian churches, teaches that a wife’s role is to be her husband’s helpmate (Genesis), “workers at home” (Titus) and submissive to her husband in everything (Ephesians). So how do these congregants square such teachings with their support for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the conservative evangelical Christian who is aiming to become vice president while her teenage daughter is pregnant, her infant son has Down syndrome and her husband took a leave from work to serve as “Mr. Mom,” as People magazine put it?
“It’s probably presumptuous of us to figure out how she is going to balance all of this,” said Pat Ennis, a Placerita congregant who heads the home economics department at The Master’s College, a Christian institution in Santa Clarita. “The most important thing is that she can do it in God’s strength.”
“The Palin selection is the single most dangerous event in the conscience of the Christian community in the last 10 years at least,” said Doug Phillips, president of Vision Forum, a Texas-based ministry. “The unabashed, unquestioning support of Sarah Palin and all she represents marks a fundamental departure from our historic position of family priorities — of moms being at home with young children, of moms being helpers to their husbands, the priority of being keepers of the home.”
Voddie Baucham, a Texas pastor who has criticized the Palin selection as anti-family in a series of blogs, said that the overwhelming evangelical support demonstrates a willingness to sacrifice biblical principles for politics. “Evangelicalism has lost its biblical perspective and its prophetic voice,” Baucham wrote. “Men who should be standing guard as the conscience of the country are instead falling in line with the feminist agenda and calling a family tragedy . . . a shining example of family values.”
Some of the debate centers on whether the Bible allows women to serve as civil leaders. Vision Forum leaders argue that it does not. They cite passages in Genesis, Isaiah, Ephesians and elsewhere that they say establishes male headship over women and are critical of female leadership.
Others counter that restrictions on female leadership apply only to church and home. They include Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky; and Randy Stinson, whose Kentucky-based Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood was established to combat growing feminism in evangelical churches.
[From me]
Wow! I tend to agree with Dr. Mohler on this subject. I don’t know anything about the Palins but it is pretty sad when a successful Christian woman is being attacked by her own. But what’s new? As far as we know Mr. Palin is the leader in their home. It is always interesting to me how many of the ultra legalistic groups want to limit what women can do and talk about the evils of working but their own Christian schools have mostly women teachers. Isn’t there some hypocrisy there? This election is getting stranger and stranger every week.
What do you think?
