Jimmy Carter offers a prophetic gender lens into the Sothern Baptist Church

After 60 years of being active in the Southern Baptist Convention (and by active, I mean teaching Sunday School, serving as a leader in his congregation, etc.), Jimmy Carter has broken all ties with his denomination because of their continued attempts to twist scriptures into advocating the subjugation of women.

While I will quote some of the passages of his essay here, I highly recommend reading the whole thing. It is written in so lovingly that you can sense the pain in Carter's decision. He's leaving friends here, in addition to a faith community and a doctrine that has buoyed him for most of his life.

But he's doing it because of his faith in a just God. I'm incredibly touched (as are many other women) by Carter's clarity on these issues -- the way he illustrates a direct cause and effect between gender discrimination in the church and the resulting realities of women and girls around the world:

At its most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.
...The same discriminatory thinking lies behind the continuing gender gap in pay and why there are still so few women in office in the West. The root of this prejudice lies deep in our histories, but its impact is felt every day. It is not women and girls alone who suffer. It damages all of us.

One of the reasons that Carter is able to challenge his own long-held belief system seems to be because of a supportive group of religious leaders called the Elders, a group selected by Nelson Mandela "who offer their influence and experience to support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity." It is this group that issued the statement that "The justification of discrimination against women and girls on grounds of religion or tradition, as if it were prescribed by a Higher Authority, is unacceptable."

When I teach young women who come from similar backgrounds as Carter, they tell me story after story about the mixed messages they receive growing up. One student said that her parents encouraged her to be anything -- even the President -- in the public world, but cautioned her against speaking too loudly in church or becoming a pastor.

My sister-in-law began to tell my aunt about her new job in her church. My aunt asked pointedly, "Oh, are you working in the church office or with the children?" as if those were the only two options available to a woman.

I've known of many women who aspire to be "a pastor's wife," when they would really be incredible pastors themselves.

And I've known countless other women whose suffering from the church is more nuanced. Perhaps, like me, they had a hard time speaking up in a classroom. Perhaps they came to see their female bodies as sinful, the very source of Eve's betrayal. Perhaps they learned to keep quiet when they really wanted to speak their minds, or served as peacemakers to their male counterparts, to stayed in the kitchen while the men participated in the "real" work of the church. Perhaps they learned to see God as male, and male as good. Perhaps they've never been able to fully accept themselves as good in their femaleness. The list goes on and on.

But like Carter, I've found that those who have been wounded by the church often find solace in supportive community. Ironically and unfortunately, this kind of community is often found outside the church instead of inside. If more church leaders, like Carter, learn to speak truth to power, maybe this will change.

I'll leave you with Carter's own words:

The truth is that male religious leaders have had - and still have - an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter. Their continuing choice provides the foundation or justification for much of the pervasive persecution and abuse of women throughout the world. This is in clear violation not just of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, Moses and the prophets, Muhammad, and founders of other great religions - all of whom have called for proper and equitable treatment of all the children of God. It is time we had the courage to challenge these views.