Monday, August 13, 2007

Sex and the Seminary

"I think everybody should own at least one." In 1997, that's what Paige Patterson, President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary had to say about women. He thought it was a joke, but the fact that he thought it was funny tells you all you need to know about the man. Little wonder that Patterson is now offering a women-only course of undergraduate study with a concentration in homemaking. Apparently, there's a gender-specific way to bake a pie.

Patterson, who is perfectly comfortable with women in the bedroom, kitchen and nursery, gets a little queasy when women appear in at the classroom lectern, let alone the pulpit. For Patterson, the world would be a better place if women stayed at home, submissive to their husbands' role as moral "policemen." Unbelievable.

Not all Baptists subscribe to Patterson's warped world view. Below, listen to Patterson's exchange with Baptist Center for Ethic's Executive Director, Robert Parham, and read more about it here.

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2 comments:

Tim Dahl said...

Just so you know, quite a few southern baptist thinks he's an idiot as well.

This stuff makes me wanna...
:*(

Tim Dahl

Amy Morton said...

Tim:

I know that you are right. I have deep Southern Baptist roots that I have written about before here. I graduated from Mars Hill College in NC and then attended Southern Seminary in Louisville, did CPE at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas and was ordained by my home church in NC in 1986. My opinion of Patterson was about the same then as now. The SBC today doesn't remind me a whole lot of the faith in which I was raised-individual churches and individual belivers are a different story, and I find, like me, often do not agree with some of these radical statements or concepts.

I am a member of a Methodist Church, but in my heart will always be Baptist. The Baptist concepts that are so important to me- the priesthood of the believer, the autonomy of the local church, support of religious freedom etc. seem to get trampled on by the current leadership. It's furstrating!