Ordination of women

[ethandron]

What is the religious reason why people object to the ordination of women?
Not being a church goer or believer or anything, I was wondering if there is something in the bible which says women can't be priests, or could be interpreted as such. Thank you.

[beso]

Women must remain silent in church and says it is a "shame" for them to speak there (1 Corinthians 14:34-35)

Women may not teach men, but must learn from them in silence (1 Timothy 2:11-12)

Men are to rule over women and women are to submit themselves to men (Genesis 3:16, 1 Corinthians 11:3, 1 Peter 3:1)

http://www.ebonmusing...ism/relationship.html

[andy-hughes]

The received wisdom is that Christ chose men as his apostles, and only men - which may have been appropriate for the times, but in the same way as we don;t go in for cricifixtion as a common criminal's death these days, so the church needs to move on and accept that women are an equal part of secular society, and should be the same in religious society.

Sadly, male clergy are too fond of their boys' club to give it up easily, and have spent over a decade pursauding themelves that 'now' is not the time.

Since it is always 'now', there will never be the time, which suits them just fine.

[Davethedog]

beso if you have body armour do you want to come round and tell my wife?

[beso]

I grew up with a "little sister" who left no doubt of the abilities of the "fairer sex".

[Kiki-frog]

I think it's just a reflection of how Middle Eastern/Roman Empire society was structured at the time

[Ann]

LOL @ Dave ......... :))

[beso]

andy-hughes //Sadly, male clergy are too fond of their boys' club ...//

Also seem they are often a little too fond of the boys, never mind the club.

[andy-hughes]

beso - indeed, and the two are directly connected.

If you set up a section of men in society who are allowed to believe that they can behave as they wish, and make up their own rules, which excuse them from the moral and legal constraints that the rest of us live with, then you have an outdated close-minded bigoted religious group riven with perversion - the Christian church.

[Old_Geezer]

I don't see why it matters. If you wish to belong to a church that allows female authority figures then join one that does. If you wish to belong to a church that doesn't allows female authority figures then join one that doesn't. It's hardly an issue where the same answer must be forced on all. Who cares what the reason behind it is.

[ethandron]

Thanks for taking the trouble to reply everyone, I am now enlightened :)

[beso]

Old_G, it is all about exposing the truth. Personally I don't care what people want to do about their religious experiences. As you say it is their choice.

However the more that the topic is discussed the more people will come to understand the farce that is the church and the less likely that children will grow up perpetuating its stupidity.

We are so lucky to have such a variety of perspectives at this site.

[andy-hughes]

Old-Geezer - it is not that simple, and I think you know it, and are playing Devil's Advocate here.

The issue involved is fundamental, and reaches into the foundations of the Christian church and the way it has been run, and the way it will continue to run.

To simply opt in or out of a rellgious denomination based on its abilities to fit in with your own wishes is to absent yourself from an opinion and a voice, which are at the very heart of the concept of religion.

If people never opted for change and improvement, society would never evolve and develop - religion is not absent from that process, even though it fights tooth and nail to be so.

[jomifl]

I don't understand how people get to choose their religion, surely it is imposed from above..their parents.

[chakka35]

Quite the silliest 'argument' for the exclusion of women as priests (RC) and bishops (CofE) is that Jesus chose all men as his disciples.

Quite apart from the fact that in the Jewish culture of which Jesus was a part women were officially second-class citizens whose opinions counted for little or nothing, Jesus appointed no black men either, so where does that leave African and West Indian clergy?

He appointed no Europeans, so goodbye Irish, Italian and Spanish priests, English vicars, German popes.

If we take this to its logical conclusion the only people qualified to be Christain clergy are Gallilean fisherman with the odd tax-collector thrown in.

It is shocking that the Anglican church is even hesitating about appointing women as bishops. Let those who object move to Roman Catholicism where such bigotry is considered a virtue.

[jake-the-peg]

There is a big issue here called "taint"

I was listening to a Radio 4 program on it.

If congregations do not believe that women can be priests then they can request a male.

If however that male has been ordained by a woman bishop you may not believe that they are a proper priest - their ordination is tainted

If that tainted priest becomes a bishop all the priests he ordains are similarly tainted

This is why female bishops is a big deal to the evangelical (literalist) wing of the COE.

You may think that this is all unbelievably silly but it matters to them a lot and the COE has pretty much been built on compromise.

That's basically why they've withdrawn this at the last minute the proposal was basically going to require all priests from here on in to have a kind of familly tree showing whether female clergy had been involved in their ordination ancestry

[Old_Geezer]

Voting with your feet is hardly taking away your voice.

Let the religions that appeal to the comunity flourish, and those that do not become mere bookmarks in history. Survival of the fittest and all that.

[jomifl]

Is jesus recorded as saying that people should obey the edicts of the OT or was that invented by the church of Rome.

[mike11111]

For the avoidance of doubt and any future misunderstanding may I point out that whilst priests are ordained, bishops are consecrated.

[craft1948]

I thought Dawn French greatly enhanced the church's image...........