What a letter …

Recently I received this letter from a reader and thought I’d edit it a bit and post it … and it grieves me and it makes me think we’ve got a long way to go, and sometimes I’m just shocked by stuff like this… and I hope you are too … and before you write something angry, take a deep breath… but why do people like this get to make the decision?

Dear Dr. McKnight,

I just finished reading Junia Is Not Alone and am nearly on the verge of tears.

I was raised in a family that taught equality of women, even in ministry. I can think of no issue that grieves me more than this, even though I had never realized that women being silenced in Churches was anything more than some far right-wing notion until about two and half years ago.

I was at a local mega-church that runs many justice initiatives in our community, and during one sermon the pastor expounded the church’s theology of women in ministry and how they were against it. I immediately felt sick to my stomach.

As I discussed this with a few of my friends, I found this to be a much more widespread belief than I had ever imagined. One friend candidly told me that the reason he thought women shouldn’t preach is that, when he sees them on stage, he can’t help but picture them naked. “What a horrible reason to silence women,” I thought, “because of some fault of yours.”

I talked to my Dad about it, and he recommended The Blue Parakeet to me…

So…thank you!