[Vision2020] Fantasy vs. Reality

Tue Feb 13 21:23:23 PST 2007

Ralph,

If personal experience is any indicator, this change which took place a few 
years ago, might have had some unexpected consequences.  I was in a church 
which preaches and practices male authority in matters of doctrine, 
governance, and church activity.  However, because of the relationships that 
had been established in the church the women had considerable "unauthorized" 
power.  I personally felt a lot of dissonance, but I also enjoyed, loved, 
and appreciated the congregational community, and I was, in turn, loved and 
respected.    Then it was decided we would write by-laws--seemed like a good 
idea.  I was on the committee as a full fledged voting committee member. 
The document we designed really didn't change much.  Over my objections 
deacons were defined as male, (not that there were any female deacons) 
voting members were those, both male and female, who were 21 or over.  (To 
make sure radical college members were disenfranchised. Not that there were 
any radical college members.)  And specifically, all positions of authority 
in the church beaucracy were defined as positions for male members.  That 
limit changed nothing.  No female had ever held a position of authority.  So 
in a sense we did what Christ Church did.  We formalized the current 
practice.  But for me that was a turning point.  To see in writing those 
actions which heretofore had been practice meant I could no longer pretend. 
I had grown up in the denominatuion.  All my family belonged. My college 
degree was from the premier denominational university.   I had a brother in 
law who was a pastor, and a nephew who was an associate minister.  But I 
left and have never regretted it.  For myself and my family, there can no 
longer be legitimacy where there is no parity.  I did not, and never will, 
try to convince anyone else to do what I did.  This is not intended to 
persuade anyone to my way of thinking.  And it is rather long.  For that I 
apologize.  I will end by repeating my theme.  Sometimes it takes a highly 
overt act to convince one to have the courage of their convictions.

Sue Hovey

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ralph Nielsen" <nielsen at uidaho.edu>
To: "Vision 2020" <Vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 1:03 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] Fantasy vs. Reality

> News of Christ Cult news.of.christ.cult at gmail.com
> Tue Feb 13 11:08:46 PST 2007
>
> *Changes in the By-Laws* *Notes, Memos, and Moments from Logos
> School, January/February/March 2003
>
>             As the Logos School Board considers an amendment to our
> by-laws
> that would limit board membership to men, the board thought it would be
> helpful to state a few principles that the board is taking into account:
>
>             First, we are *not* considering this amendment because we
> believe that the scriptural requirement of men only in the eldership
> of a
> church applies to the board of a school.  Thus in our view, it is not a
> question of whether it is a "sin" to have a woman on the board, but
> rather a
> question of wisdom and prudence in our current cultural circumstances.
>
>             Second, in regard to those circumstances, we believe it is
> necessary to resist egalitarian feminism, which has spread through our
> culture and has even affected many parts of the church.  As a classical,
> Christian school committed to the Scriptures as our ultimate rule of
> faith
> and practice, we believe we have an obligation to set a positive
> example.  Sad
> to say, frequently in the current climate, women seeking positions of
> authority (e.g. on a school board) subscribe to some form of feminist
> philosophy.  Rather than vetoing a nomination (which would appear to be
> personal instead of principled), we would rather address the issue
> this way,
> without involving personalities.
>
>             Third, we want to positively encourage the involvement
> of the
> fathers and husbands in the God-ordained oversight of their children's
> education (Eph. 6:4).  As we do this, it creates a "de facto"
> presence of
> men only on the board (as it has been for the last fourteen years), and
> leaves the school in a legally unprotected position.  Courts have
> consistently found that discrimination can be "proved" from nothing more
> than the "results," and so it would be only prudent to have our practice
> outlined as a principle within our by-laws.
>
> [rest snipped]
> _________________________________________________________________
>
> How convenient to have a holy book to justify their male prejudices.
> While the principle of patriarchy is the general theme of the entire
> Bible, both OT and NT, the men of the Logos School board especially
> like to justify their claim by referring to a late, anonymous non-
> Pauline epistle like Ephesians. They then arrogantly transfer an
> ancient outlook to our 21st century by damning educated women leaders
> as "feminists," and all of us as "secularists." The Wilsonistas are,
> of course, "God-ordained," wise, and prudent "in our current cultural
> circumstances."
>
> Ralph
>
>
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