Where is discrimination against women still allowed in the UK? The church
I am the vicar of a wonderful church in west London and love my work. My parishioners are a fabulously diverse group of people and they all recognise me as a priest and vicar. Most are unaware that some other churches would not accept me, just because I am a woman.
As we mark the 30th anniversary of the measure being passed which would allow women to be admitted into the Church of England priesthood, I celebrate the much greater range of positions that women now hold in the church, including senior roles. I could just choose to ignore the discrimination that remains. But it pains me to see some churches advertise for a new vicar and only accept applications from men who don’t accept female priests. And some other churches advertise only for a male vicar who doesn’t believe women can be church leaders, like vicars or bishops.
It pains me to see my diocesan bishop, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, being required to delegate authority to the Bishop of Fulham, a “non-ordaining bishop” who does not accept that women can be priests, and to the Bishop of Maidstone, who does not believe women should be church leaders, so that these bishops can oversee churches who share these beliefs. It pains me that some of my clergy colleagues, including bishops, don’t allow women to preach or teach men, and some don’t believe that women clergy can consecrate the sacraments.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...en-priests
I am the vicar of a wonderful church in west London and love my work. My parishioners are a fabulously diverse group of people and they all recognise me as a priest and vicar. Most are unaware that some other churches would not accept me, just because I am a woman.
As we mark the 30th anniversary of the measure being passed which would allow women to be admitted into the Church of England priesthood, I celebrate the much greater range of positions that women now hold in the church, including senior roles. I could just choose to ignore the discrimination that remains. But it pains me to see some churches advertise for a new vicar and only accept applications from men who don’t accept female priests. And some other churches advertise only for a male vicar who doesn’t believe women can be church leaders, like vicars or bishops.
It pains me to see my diocesan bishop, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, being required to delegate authority to the Bishop of Fulham, a “non-ordaining bishop” who does not accept that women can be priests, and to the Bishop of Maidstone, who does not believe women should be church leaders, so that these bishops can oversee churches who share these beliefs. It pains me that some of my clergy colleagues, including bishops, don’t allow women to preach or teach men, and some don’t believe that women clergy can consecrate the sacraments.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...en-priests
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
