No Gender Equality in the Bible

I’m sorry God, but the Christian Bible is hampering gender equality in the modern era. There are many references in the Bible that encourage the submission of women. There are plenty of verses in the Bible that should be ignored as being incongruent with modern life. Alas, Christianity appears to be incapable of adapting their Biblical doctrine to women in 2021.

The Catholic church continue to deny the ordination of women which would seemingly proffer a male elitist culture. Catholicism claims the church structure of the Bible does not allow for women in senior positions. Apparently Jesus chose to ordain only male apostles and his actions defined the model of church design. Um…that is somewhat questionable because, as far as I know, Catholics priests don’t turn water into wine, exponentially increase fish and bread at a local picnic, walk across Warragamba Dam’s water, or get themselves crucified. Jesus did those things too.  It makes you wonder why a specific gender choice of Jesus’ disciples became part of the long-term doctrine; over and above all his many other actions and recommendations; things like getting rid of riches[1], doing good works in secret[2], standing up for the oppressed[3].

I guess then they use other Bible verses to justify their decision. After all the New Testament says, “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.[4]” This is clearly the type of verse used to justify the exclusion of women from church leadership thereby purporting gender inequality. Oh, it’s not the only one. Paul also wrote, “Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should speak to their husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.[5]”

Let’s consider these Bible verses in the context of protestant denominations. I think the verses seem to speak for themselves: women can’t preach; women must obey their betrothed masters; and should shut up in church. How is it, then, that protestants can interpret the same bible verses so differently to the Catholic interpretation? How can they differ if the biblical text underpins the entire Christian religion?

While the male pastors in protestant churches would still easily outnumber the female pastors, it is possible for them to exist. Margaret Court has made a post-tennis career of it. I’m not quite sure how Mrs Court justifies herself being a minister when the Bible clearly does “…not permit a woman to teach…” Oh, but she’s a Pentecostal/charismatic and that’s a whole different thing entirely. Their focus is on the prosperity gospel and the gifts of the spirit. I especially love the entertainment when Margaret Court does her “slaying in the spirit” routine. “Slaying in the spirit” isn’t a Biblical concept but that doesn’t stop Pentecostals carrying on with it. But that’s beside the point of gender equality. I would suggest Mrs Court’s actions, when she’s performing her slaying in the spirit as a teacher in church, is disobeying the Bible’s teachings.

Margaret Court has made contentious statements over the last few years regarding her disapproval of gay marriage. I wonder if Mrs Court recognises the endorsed marriages in the Bible involve polygamy and concubines. Why isn’t she demanding additional wives and concubines for Mr Barrymore Court like the Biblical marriages of Abraham, Jacob, or King David?

In the other Pentecostal circles, such as Hillsong and C3, there are husband and wife teams operating as joint pastors. How do the charismatic church founders, like the Houstons and the Pringles, justify having women teaching in churches when the Bible is against it? In my personal experience with attendees at these Pentecostal churches, there is a definite male dominance and protectionism which implies they adhere to the concept of men being the head of the household[6]. Yet again, not really gender equal.

Which other Bible verses do different churches ignore? How do they decide which verses to uphold? Why do Pentecostal churches differ from other denominations? Why do protestants differ from the Catholic Church? Aren’t they all reading the same Bible? It certainly seems that the denominations incorporating the Christian religion can’t actually agree among themselves on the Bible. There is still a big standout, however: women of the Bible do not have equality with men.

The Bible has plenty of stories where women were thrown to the wolves to protect a man. Lot, a biblical man having dinner with two men he’d just met, faced a town posse who were asking about the male newcomers. Lot said to the group of men outside his house, “Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” As far as parenting decisions go, this must take the cake for worst ever! Lot sent his girls out to be gang raped by every male from the two towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. Male strangers were more important to Lot than his own daughters.

Another Bible character similarly protected his male guest rather than women, “Look, here is my virgin daughter. And here’s the Levite’s concubine. I’ll bring them out to you now. You can have them. Do to them what you want to. But don’t do such a terrible thing to this man.[7]” The Levite’s concubine was raped all night and died on the doorstep trying to return to the house. I can’t imagine why the Levite thought she was going to be safe when throwing her out to a rabble of lusty men. Anyway, to express disapproval at the treatment of his concubine, her body was chopped into twelve pieces and sent to surrounding territories. This action may have appealed to Jeffrey Dahmer or Ed Gein but today’s society generally frowns upon dismemberment as retribution.

Many of our social behaviours continue to endorse outdated traditions and religious ideologies. The father walks the bride down the aisle and hands the bride to the groom. This action is a transfer of ownership and the bride dutifully signifies it by changing her surname from her father’s to her husband’s. Even without marriage, a child to that couple will commonly take the father’s surname rather than that of the mother’s.

A male’s title changes from Master to Mister upon gaining adulthood. A female’s title changes from Miss or Maid to Mrs. only upon her marriage. Using Ms. avoids denoting marital status and is being increasingly utilised. Why should only females have titles that signify marital status when men are not subject to these same distinctions. Females are not a transferrable commodity anymore so why should our marital status be highlighted? Marriage traditions and female titles, even in the year 2021, continue to uphold the lesser societal roles of women in bygone eras. Often the modern women abide by them, even inadvertently, for the sake of tradition. Are we even cognisant of maintaining religious and misogynistic traditions that do not serve gender equality in the modern world?

When social commentators and opinion writers encourage society’s further embrace of Christianity as a solution for gender inequality, we should oppose it vehemently. As evidenced, there is no truth or proof in that claim. The Bible does not promote gender equality; females are birthing commodities and sex slaves. The Bible cannot provide helpful commentary for gender equality in the modern world. The societal differences in the Biblical era are so vastly incomparable to the year 2021.

Given the Bible has been around for a couple of thousand years, I think Christianity has been given a reasonable chance at gender equality: it has failed. Do men believe women are so stupid, we’d actively promote a religion as a gender inequality remedy when it hasn’t worked for centuries? Or are men so stupid they’re going to promote a solution that already hasn’t worked? Perhaps that’s part of the gender inequality problem right there.

[1] Matthew 19:24

[2] Matthew 6:1

[3] Matthew 25:40

[4] 1 Timothy 2:11-12

[5] 1 Corinthians 14:34-35

[6] Ephesians 5:22-24

[7] Judges 19:24