FROM: Terry Lynch@aol.com; POB 241035; Montgomery, AL 36124-1035 
Phone: (334) 272-4217 voice  (334) 277-3582 fax via arrangement

DATE:  June 14, 1998 

TO:  Letter to the Editor      WORD COUNT: May be edited for space

REF:  Leadership Role Learned Not Ordained By God

Teaching that women must graciously submit to the every whim of 
men has numerous adverse effects.  Among these are spouse abuse, 
rape, unequality in the workplace, including government and the 
church, and low self esteem.

Women who are taught submission to males by the church often end 
up spending their entire lives under the control and influence of 
men who abuse women.  This may include physical and mental abuse.  
It also includes abusing women by saying they are not qualified 
for leadership roles in the home, government or church.

When abuse of women is taken to the extreme women end up being 
sexually molested, raped, made victims of sexual assault by 
unloving husbands and in extreme cases are even sexually abused 
by their priest, minister or clergy.

Saying women are not meant by God to be leaders makes them second 
class citizens. When such second class citizens are taught to 
submit to men it results in a host of social inequalities: lower 
salaries for women; promotion of men less qualified than women; 
and, forcing women to have babies and stay home and spend all 
their time taking care of children instead of advancing their 
education and professional experience.

When women learn to obey men and are falsely taught that this is 
God's word, then low self esteem results.  Such women become the 
targets of males who dominate, control and often abuse them.  
They end up having unwanted children, being divorced because 
their husbands put them psychologically in a cage, and living 
unhappy, unproductive, unfulfilled lives.

The idea that women should submit to men originally stems from 
the myth that God created man in His image, that God is a man.  
But God is no more man then woman.  both sexes are equally holy 
and qualified to lead in the home, government or church.  Neither 
should submit unequivocally or graciously to the other, but both 
must give and take equally in their relationships with each 
other, the church and God.

Moreover, there is no God ordained role for man or woman.  Man is 
no more born to lead than woman.  Leadership is a learned quality 
and skill and should be based upon experience and wisdom, not 
hormones.  A well educated, modern woman is as fit to lead the 
home, a corporation, the government or the church as is any man.  
For a church to teach otherwise is authoritarian, not necessarily 
a loving God's will. 

Such liberal ideas may be a novel interpretation of the Holy 
Bible, but it is one which permits man and woman to respect each 
other, to have nonabusive relationships and both achieve their 
full potential and greatness in modern society.

Women who want equality and the freedom to control their own 
minds, bodies and lives must reject and rebel against any church 
or religion which tries to make them submissive, second class 
citizens.  God doesn't want women or men to be submissive, he 
wants them to be loving, equal partners in both marriage to each 
other and his worship.  And when a leader is called, God may 
select a woman or a man, as Saint Joan de Arc proved in her siege 
of Orleans, France.  Of course men who believed she should be 
submissive, branded her as a witch and burned her at the stake!


Sincerely, Terry Lynch
Montgomery, AL