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Anne Linstatter's avatar

Oh Diana, your favorite theology professor! That evil smile. Did he know where your sympathies might lie? It feels like a gotcha moment.

Thank you for this careful history. I lived through all of it though not with as much attention as my SBC feminist friends--until I heard Nancy Hastings Sehested speak in Charlotte at an EEWC.com meeting in 2006. She had been forced to give up pastoring her church, so she became a prison chaplain at a state maximum-security prison for 900 men. Much more appropriate place for a woman pastor, right?

"Benign patriarchy doesn't exist"--thank you for these words.

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Karen Pope's avatar

I lived this history and what you described Diana, aligns with my memory.

I would like to point out that their is still much grief encircling those of us who literally were “raised in church” and made the choice to leave. It was gut-wrenching to see the takeover happen and to know that God is not like that!

My dad taught me how to literally forgive “ enemies” but to join a Baptist church that followed the 1963 Statement of Faith. Our church was part of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship which organized in Atlanta and which Jimmy Carter supported. We ordained women ministers and deacons as well as men.

Still the whole takeover strained our congregation as many left and some tried to change our stand by staying.

In my opinion the worst part is the shame brought on the church in general - the church is the Body of Christ and should represent the Love of God for each of us.

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