The Palin Predicament

In USA Today earlier this week David Gushee penned an Op/Ed piece entitled The Palin Predicament that raised some interesting questions for Evangelical Christians regarding the role of women in church leadership positions. For conservative Christin men who believe that "God intends for women to be subservient to men", yet who are supporting Sarah Palin’s candidacy, the article is especially thought-provoking.

Gushee, himself an evangelical Christian who is Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University in Atlanta, makes a valid point:

"It is an uncomfortable fact that many of the theologically conservative Christians who have endorsed Palin's nomination would not be willing to endorse her or any other woman for service as pastor of their church...actually, at the local church level many congregations would not consider it appropriate for her to stand behind a pulpit and preach a sermon, or teach from the Bible, or lead a praise chorus, or offer a prayer, unless her audience consisted entirely of women or children."

One blogger responded to the article by paraphrasing JFK (a catholic) and Mitt Romney (a mormon), "Family leadership is over family things, religious leadership is over religious things, and civil leadership is over civil things." Another commentator pointed out Deborah in the Old Testament, one of Israels Judges who was the nation's leader and military commander, to show that there is no biblical contradiction with a woman such as Palin serving as Vice-President or President. Good points!

Gushee asks those evangelicals who support a Palin candidacy to think about the implications of that support when he posed these challenging questions:

• Is it now your view that God can call a woman to serve as president of the United States? Are you prepared to renounce publicly any further claim that God's plan is for men rather than women to exercise leadership in society, the workplace and public life? Do you acknowledge having become full-fledged egalitarians in this sphere at least?

• Would Palin be acceptable as vice president because she would still be under the ultimate authority of McCain as president, like the structure of authority that occurs in some of your churches? Have you fully come to grips with the fact that if after his election McCain were to die, Palin would be in authority over every male in the USA as president?

• If you agree that God can call a woman to serve as president, does this have any implications for your views on women's leadership in church life? Would you be willing to vote for a qualified woman to serve as pastor of your church? If not, why not?

• Do you believe that Palin is under the authority of her husband as head of the family? If so, would this authority spill over into her role as vice president?

• Do you believe that women carry primary responsibility for the care of children in the home? If so, does this affect your support for Palin? If not, are you willing to change your position and instead argue for flexibility in the distribution of child care responsibilities according to the needs of the family?

Provocative! Challenging questions, indeed...and worth answering honesly and thoughtfully. I agree with Gushee's final assessment: "The groundbreaking nomination of Palin offers conservative Christians significant opportunities to rethink a theology on the role of women that often restricts them from the full exercise of their gifts. This is an unexpected gift from presidential candidate John McCain to evangelical Christianity."