The Southern Baptist Convention upheld its decision to expel several churches from its fellowship because they had women pastors, specifically women pastors who were preaching to men, something they believe is explicitly forbidden in the Bible. This isn’t surprising at all, really, since the SBC has historically been against diversity. They only apologized for their outspoken support of segregation in 1995.
The Pew Research Center has some fascinating details about this church that I would encourage you to explore, including breakouts of the beliefs of the membership by gender.
I have read and studied the Bible all my life. I used to joke that I am an evangelical’s worst nightmare: a liberal who knew her Bible. But, I quickly learned that once someone has decided that the Bible is the ineffable word of God, you can quote all you want, and they will just quote right back at you. Lately, it occured to me that the Bible and Walmart have a lot in common: there is something for everyone in both of them. And, just to be clear, we *ALL* pick and choose where to place our attention on the Bible; I’ve decided to go for the love and joy like that found in 1 Corinthians 13, the passage often read at weddings that encourages readers to pursue love before all things as it is the only thing that will last.
Dr. Dan McClellan, a Biblical scholar, has become my go-to source for all things Biblical. He takes on the various tik-tokkers, including at least one who would prefer not to hear women preach, and calls out both their errors in translation but also their out and out lies. His main message is, as I said above, that we all “cherry pick” or, as he prefers to say, “renegotiate” the Bible for our own ideas, times, needs and culture. He is the only reason I finally gave in and made a Tik Tok account. Here is his response to one content creator who laments the lack of men in the pulpit: