Baptists call for women to submit to husbands

Item from the Smart Marriages Archive, reproduced in the Divorce Statistics Collectio n

Baptists Vote on Wifely Submission

By MICHELLE KOIDIN
Associated Press Writer

EL PASO, Texas (AP) - Texas'
Southern Baptists on Tuesday
REPUDIATED the denomination's call for
women to ``submit graciously'' to their
husbands.

The Baptist General Convention of
Texas is the largest state organization
(2.7 million members) within the
nation's 15.7 million-member Southern
Baptist Convention and sends it millions
of dollars each year. But the state
organization is more moderate than the
national one.

It is the first state affiliate of the Southern Baptist Convention
to reject the ``submit graciously'' stance.

``The Bible doesn't teach that the husband is the general and
the wife is a private, but yet that's how it gets interpreted,''
said the Rev. Charles Wade, the executive director of the
Texas group.

The amendment marked the
first change in the statement of beliefs by the Southern
Baptists in 35 years. It defines marriage exclusively in
heterosexual terms and says that husbands and wives, while
equal before God, have different roles.

``A wife is to submit graciously to the servant leadership of
her husband, even as the church willingly submits to the
headship of Christ,'' it says.

``There's a partnership in Christian marriage,'' Wade said
before the debate. ``We're trying to say in our day any
attempt to put women `in their place' or somehow limit the
contribution that women might have in church goes against the
whole spirit of Christ.''

Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention denounced the
decision and noted that the ``submit graciously'' amendment
had passed with overwhelming support. They said it is little
more than a paraphrase of the apostle Paul's teachings.

R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., called the vote ``an
intentional rejection of a clear teaching of the Bible.''

``This is another lamentable sign of the determination of some
Texas Baptist leaders to alienate Texas Baptists from the
Southern Baptist Convention,'' he said.

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