Southern Baptists voted to advance a formal ban on churches with women pastors, with a 3-to-1 margin. The amendment would tighten existing restrictions in the Southern Baptist Convention, which already has a faith statement opposing women pastors.
Background
The vote was 6,028 to 2,026, which easily exceeded the required two-thirds majority. It will require a similar two-thirds vote at next year’s meeting to become part of the constitution. The two-day meeting concluded Wednesday after bringing more than 11,000 delegates, or messengers, to a cavernous convention center in Orlando, Florida.
Albert Mohler, who sponsored the amendment on women pastors, said it addressed a defining issue. “This is an opportunity for Southern Baptists to speak in truth, in unity, in conviction,” said Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
Reactions
The organization Baptist Women in Ministry, which works with female ministers in various Baptist denominations, issued a statement lamenting the vote. “We express our solidarity with the women in ministry who have been harmed by this vote, the hateful rhetoric and propaganda leading up to the vote, and the damaging theology the vote represents,” it said.
Southern Baptist leaders cite biblical passages that limit pastors to men. Advocates for women’s ministry cite biblical passages that proclaim men and women as equal under God and where women are called to proclaim the gospel.
Original reporting: 40/29 / KHBS (NW Arkansas) — read the source article.
