After almost 1500 years, women are given another place in the Christian church.
The Church of England has voted to allow women to become bishops within their church.
Huge Step Forward.
This is a huge step forward in the Christian religion. It is as big of a step forward as when certain denominations began to allow women to become pastors of churches.
The reason that this is such a huge step forward is because, too often, Abrahamic religions have viewed women as weaker, as the temptress, and solely responsible for the fall.
However, this step forward shows an understanding that women are equal and that they deserve to have ?more of a voice within the church. This step forward brings about the conversation of the place of women- and it finally gives them equal standing to men within the church.
What This Means.
This means that the door of ministry has opened even further to women.
It also means that the conversation can begin in earnest among other denominations about what positions women should hold and whether or not the dogmatic traditions that have been previously held are the correct ones for an ever evolving church and an ever evolving people.
The vote was in favor of women as bishops by more than three to one.
Of course, there are traditionalists that feel that the Bible expressly forbids women from having any position of power in the church. There has been anger expressed at this decision, while others have expressed joy and happiness at this decision.
Issues Behind The Vote.
As already pointed out, there are many who feel that the Bible prohibits women from having positions of power, due to a letter from Paul to Timothy about women being silent in the church. This is if you only take the words at face value, rather than considering the context they were written in and the why they were written.
More than 20 years ago, the Church of England voted to allow women to be priests.
And while most opponents have realized that there will be female bishops, many opponents have demanded safeguards in place for those who do not want a female bishop over their church.
This could, supporters fear, limit the authority of female bishops over their diocese.
While there are still issues to be hammered out, this is still a major step forward.
I hope that this continues to happen!!
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