Jimmy Carter Leaves Church Over Treatment of Women

Jimmy Carter - Mark Wilson, Getty Images

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.”

“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”

via Jimmy Carter Leaves Church Over Treatment of Women.

How many people does the LCA need to watch leaving before eyes are opened?  When will congregations start to take initiatives of their own?

In this time of Lent, Lord forgive those who abuse women in the name of religion in all churches.

 

Schrodinger – on the right side of history

Erwin Schrodinger

Erwin Schrodinger was one of the main architects of quantum mechanics. Although he was a Catholic, Schrödinger decided in 1933 that he could not live in (Nazi Germany) in which persecution of Jews had become a national policy.

Schrodinger worked in Dublin through the years of WWII.

via Schrodinger biography.

Schrodinger, a colleague of Einstein, stands on the right side of history.  He made the choice to leave Nazi Germany when the voice of opposition to the Nazi regime had been silenced.   Those who supported the totalitarian government are today viewed with disdain.

Some of us cannot continue to live in a Church where the disempowerment of women has become Church policy, where women are continually patronised, dismissed and trivialised. Our simple membership in congregations demonstrates unwitting support for this current oppressive policy.  We either must take a stand or leave.

The tide of history (sadly, not always led by the church), showing the gradual, eventual embrace of the marginalised, makes clear that women will gain equality, despite the dogged resistance from the LCA oligarchs.  It is hard to imagine the grandchildren of these characters proudly reminiscing about the policies that their grandparents defended; about the way their grandfathers used Scripture to maintain a structure of power.

It is important to stand for, and act on what is right.  We are acting not just for women, not just for the LCA, but for our grandchildren, for respect and for the Church’s place in history.

Thank God for the prophetic, stand for justice that some German scientists, like Schrodinger, took in Nazi Germany.  They, like Luther, stood against oppressive leadership.

What steps might you take today in support of women, in support of our grandchildren and in support of our Christian community, the Lutheran Church of Australia?

Make connections, build the network, raise your voice and don’t be silent in the face of injustice, talk to your congregation members; What must be done? What can we do? What can we change? How can I make a difference? What is there to fear?

Alone, the road is long!  Together we can build our future.

 

Timeline: the women’s movement

From The Worker, November 1920

Timeline: the women’s movement – ABC News Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Australia, the land of blokes and sheilas, was surprisingly progressive, and shortly after Federation the government passed an act to allow women to both vote and stand in the 1903 federal election.

In fact, Australia was the first country to allow women to run for parliament.

It’s sad that the leadership of Lutheran Germans who came to this country, as a result of world conflict, still haven’t adapted to the more progressive attitudes of the nation at large.  It’s a wonderful example of irrelevance to the rest of the nation.

This collection of photos and cartoons, while humorous and telling, is cause for ongoing grief for women in the LCA who are deemed unfit for pastoral leadership.  The longer this situation remains, the less relevant the LCA becomes.

 

The formation of another Lutheran synod – LCA history – Wikipedia

The LCA has a grand history of division.  Those who resist women’s ordination hold the Confessions as a key reference, while implying that supporters obviously have forsaken the Confessions. The truth is that we all, including Kavel and Fritzsche (below), hold The Confessions as central to Lutheranism.

Sometimes division is the only way to unity.  Some inconsistencies are just too big to tolerate.

This is what division looks like in LCA history.

At the synodical gatherings of 1844, and 1845 the subject of millennialism was discussed. Kavel who had developed millennialistic views, was preaching on the subject. Fritzsche disagreed with millennialism, and had the subject discussed at these gatherings. No resolution was reached by the end of the synod in 1845. This disagreement between the two pastors divided the Lutheran community.

In 1846, Kavel released a proclamation regarding the power of civil government in the church. Kavel specifically pronounced disagreements with the Lutheran Confessions, favoring instead statements made in the new adopted church constitution formulated in 1838. Fritzsche explicitly disagreed with Kavel, affirming the Confessions over the constitution. As a result the divide between the followers of Fritzsche and of Kavel intensified.

At the synodical gathering at Bethany, on 16 and 17 August 1846, the most significant event took place. The subject of millennialism was once again tabled, and as the discussion became heated, Kavel and his followers left the synod. They went to nearby Langmeil and had their own synod gathering there, while the remainder continued with their synod. The followers of Kavel formed the Immanuel Synod, and those of Fritzsche the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of South Australia. The Evangelical Lutheran Synod of South Australia renamed to Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Australia (ELSA) in 1863.

via History of the Lutheran Church of Australia – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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