Women leaving church

[47of74]

Many women are leaving church due to the disrespect and the second class citizen status too many churches impose upon them;

“At church I had to hide my thoughts, questions and life choices,” says Susan, a woman who works as a therapist in Seattle and, after a lifetime of following Jesus, left Christianity. “I didn’t think I could do anything by myself, because as a Christian woman I’d learned that I needed a man to get places.”

Susan’s story was published in January by a small Christian publishing house in the book “The Resignation of Eve.” In its pages, the author, an evangelical minister named Jim Henderson, argues that unless the male leaders of conservative Christian churches do some serious soul-searching — pronto — the women who have always sustained those churches with their time, sweat and cash will leave. In droves. And they won’t come back. Their children, traditionally brought to church by their mothers, will thus join the growing numbers of Americans who call themselves “un-churched.”

Nevermind that the Bible talks about women submitting to men and sitting silently in church, Henderson declaims. That’s ancient history. “Until those with power (men) decide to give it away to those who lack it (women), I believe we will continue to misrepresent Jesus’ heart and mar the beauty of his Kingdom,” Henderson writes.

Henderson bolsters his argument with data from the Barna Research Group. Between 1991 and 2011, the number of adult women attending church weekly has declined 20 percent. The number of women going to Sunday school has dropped by about a third, as has the number of women who volunteer at church.

I'm male and I had my fill of the disrespect towards women from politicians and church leadership.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. They need to join one of the denominations that ordains women

Episcopalians, LCA Lutherans, United Methodists, UCCs, and others.

[kwassa]

2. and to follow on what Lydia said, the head of The Episcopal Church is a woman.

as is the Bishop of Washington, my diocese, headquartered at National Cathedral.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. Yes, and the bishop of Washington used to be rector at the church down the block

but I didn't attend because they didn't have a choir, and that's a non-negotiable demand for me.

[Liberal Insights]

3. Do you know what "G.O.P." stands for?

IAlthough this addresses the Republican Party, rather than the Conservative churches, since their positions on so many things are indistinguiashable these days, I think this is relevant.
I used to think it meant "Greedy Old Party". But with all these Republican legislators going wierder and wierder and now even going so far as to publicly "practicing medicine without a license", I've made a 1 x 4 foot sign for my car that reads: [ G.O.P. = "Goofy Oldmen's Party" ] (which includes many Goofy Old Priests)

[Tripod]

5. Love yourself, then you know God,,, simple.

[E_Pluribus_Unitarian]

6. Unitarian Universalism has long been a faith of women.

From the earliest leaders and pioneers of the women's movement in America to the present, we've been leaders in this area. Currently, there are more women entering the UU ministry than men.