03.20.07
Christian Support for a Female President
Note: This article is not intended to provide support for any given political candidate and/or political party.
The United States of America is approaching a historic landmark in the upcoming year. Election year 2008 will see a woman running for president who stands a relatively decent chance of getting elected and becoming the first female president in our country’s history. In this election we will be forced to consider not only the election issues but also whether we are comfortable voting for a woman to be the head of our nation.
For Christians this is a particularly pressing issue because we hold unique views about gender roles between men and women which are denied by the world outside the church. Christians are taught from the scriptures that the man is to be the spiritual leader of his family and head over his wife. He is to have authority over her and he is to lead her both spiritually and in matters of importance in the secular world as it relates to their family. Wives are to humbly submit to their husband’s authority and rejoice in aiding and serving her husband:
Ephesians 5:21-28
22Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
The question arises for Christians as they go to the polls to vote this upcoming election year whether we can be assured from scripture that to have a female president is not in violation of scriptural commands for male headship and female submission.
To answer this question, lets briefly turn our attention to the book of Judges chapters five and six. In the book of Judges the nation of Israel is a a time when certain people are chosen by God to lead the nation. The judges of Israel at this time are essentially rough equivalents of the presidents of today. Judges commanded the armies and resolved issues of the state.
Specifically, in chapter four Israel has again turned away from God in idol worship to which the LORD responds by oppressing the nation by the hand of the king of Canaan. We learn in the fourth verse of chapter four (Judges 4:4) that a woman by the name of Deborah, a prophetess, was judging Israel at the time of the Canaanite oppression. Throughout the remainder of chapters four and five we see Deborah leading the nation of Israel into battle with authority and the utmost reverence for the LORD (Judges 4:6.14; 5:1-3).
Clearly God ordained for a female to lead the nation of Israel as a government official controlling the affairs of state and military actions. So we see from the scriptures that God was pleased to establish a female as a governmental head of the nation of Israel. The question still needs to be answered though whether having a female serving in such a role is in direct violation of scriptural commands for a man to lead his wife and for wives to submit to the authority of their husbands.
Many Christians have sought to answer this question with all sincerity but have come to a conclusion that is sincerely wrong. Scriptural verses such as the one listed above speak of male headship in the context of spiritual matters of the family. The husband is to call his wife and family to prayer, to study the scriptures, to regularly attend a congregation of believers, and to accountability when they err. We still believe that the husband is to have final authority in manners of the household not directly related to the family’s spiritual life (i.e. re-location, etc…) but such authority is to be exercised with love and caring consideration for the needs of the family.
We also must note what the verses certainly are not saying. The scriptures do not teach that headship is synomous with power. John Piper gives a great analogy in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism by relaying for a paraplegic man can still exercise biblical headship over his family despite the loss of his physical power and abilities. Biblical male headship then is spiritual leadership, not the exercise of physical power.
We learn from a greater understanding of Ephesians 5:21-28 and a knowledge of Deborah’s rule over Israel that to support a female president is in no way to go against biblical teaching for male-female gender roles. The American church has long struggled to overcome issues of racism and sexism and we must not allow the perpetuation of such practices based simply on the misinterpretation of scripture. With that being said, we should not simply vote for a candidate, man or woman, based on sex. We must evaluate evaluate each candidate and look at their stances of key issues and for the fruit of faith in their lives and base our votes off of these criteria, not gender.
Perry Said:
March 22, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Look, this is me commenting on my own blog because no-one else has.
Kinda sad!
Mike Said:
March 24, 2007 at 9:33 am
Hahahaha, you would be lucky to find any spiritual fruit in any of the candidates, let alone Hilary. I never thought of this that way. I have heard a lot of methodists and nazarenes use Deborah as an argument in support of female headship over the church, but when you look at it like this it changes things. Good blog Perry and I am proud to be the second comment on this one!!! : )
Perry Said:
March 24, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Mike:
Agreed. There is not a single candidate to date who we can look to to see a model of spiritual fruit, regardless of sex. I too have heard churches use Deborah as an example to advocate female headship over a church but such attempts to justify the ordination of women clearly go against 1 Timothy 2:12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34.
Chris Said:
March 24, 2007 at 10:10 pm
Well, I don’t know that the bible necessarily condemns a female leader, but you’d have to admit from a political standpoint we would be a joke. Can you imagine Hilary meeting with the Saudi princes without a hajib?
Mike Said:
March 25, 2007 at 4:03 pm
I agree with Chris. I do not hate women or anything, but we would be a joke to other countries. Aside from that Hilary Clinton is a horrible candidate. I personally would not like being under her authority, from a military standpoint.
Perry Said:
March 25, 2007 at 8:50 pm
Chris and Mike:
Why would America be a joke to the world by having a female president? Many leading countries in Europe and Latin America have female presidents/heads of state (i.e. Germany’s chancellor and Chile’s president). Again, no advocation is being made for Hillary. In fact, I would vote for an Arminian before I would vote for Hillary! And why should we concern ourselves with how we look to the Muslim world. We condemn Islam for its oppressive treatment of women but then concern ourselves with how we treat our women is judged by them? Sorry, but I don’t buy into that one.
Mike Said:
March 28, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Because the world sees women as inferior. I am not saying I agree with it, but that is the simple fact. America should worry about how we look to the muslim world. Right now we are superior militarily and led by a male commander-in-chief. The muslim world may see our election of a female president as weak and attack. Not 100% guaranteed, but a possibility. As I feel a woman should not be a head pastor, so I feel of the presidency. I feel like men are meant to lead and be strong in that. I know there is women, such as Deborah, who could be fit for the role, but I would say that this would be few and far between.
Perry Said:
March 29, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Mike:
That was the intent of this specific article - to differeniate between spiritual and secular leadership in the context of male-female relations.
Mike Said:
March 29, 2007 at 3:06 pm
I have been studying Judges 4 and 5 for an upcoming blog. In Judges 5:7, Deborah is referred to as a mother figure in Israel, while still a judge and leader, this is a definite contrast to the presidency. I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel as if our American presidency is a mother type role. In old testament times the Judges were expected to lead, but to assist when needed in that leading, such as Deborah going with Barak. In our modern day, women are not allowed on the frontlines of the war, so how can we expect to have a female president, she could not assist if needed. I know this is a far cry, but one to take into consideration, because of what is said in Judges 4 and 5. I will be talking about Deborah in a series on men and womens roles on my blog site pretty soon.
Brandon Said:
October 1, 2007 at 4:29 pm
I am continuously appalled that people are still using outdated religious texts to keep women in submission. I find more and more that women, when given the chance, show that they can perform just as well (and sometimes better) than men in positions that have been traditionally male dominated.
The excuse that we would be a joke to the rest of the world is nonsense. As someone else pointed out, many other countries throughout the world have had (and have now) female leaders. You think that a female president would embarrass this country any more than Bush already has?!?! The fact that religion is still a dominating factor in our government makes our country more of a joke than having a woman president ever could. Many of the best leading nations in the world are now secular. So why do we continue to let religion dominate in our country? If you don’t believe that this makes us a joke to many a country, then you should do some unbiased research on the subject.
I hope Hilary gets elected. It might be good for you all to know what it feels like to have a woman as the authority for the whole country. It might lead this country in a better direction as far as gender goes.
Perry Said:
October 12, 2007 at 10:57 am
Brandon,
If you had read the article you would see that I was arguing that Christians CANNOT pose a biblically based argument that a woman could not, or should not, serve in a secular role of leadership (i.e. the presidency). Maybe you should have read my comment from March 25:
“Why would America be a joke to the world by having a female president? Many leading countries in Europe and Latin America have female presidents/heads of state (i.e. Germany’s chancellor and Chile’s president). Again, no advocation is being made for Hillary. In fact, I would vote for an Arminian before I would vote for Hillary! And why should we concern ourselves with how we look to the Muslim world. We condemn Islam for its oppressive treatment of women but then concern ourselves with how we treat our women is judged by them? Sorry, but I don’t buy into that one.”
Before telling me to do more unbiased research maybe you should take your own advice, just a suggestion though.
PSP
Mike Said:
October 19, 2007 at 7:14 pm
“I am continuously appalled that people are still using outdated religious texts to keep women in submission.”
Which outdated texts are you referring to here brandon??? Which countries are led by women that are anywhere near to be considered a world power??? Where do you get that religion is a dominating factor in our government??? You make a lot of statement such as the ones that I mentioned above with no facts!! I agree with Perry in that you should put some thought and research into your posts. Sounds like more of an angry rant to me.
HN1 Said:
November 21, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Perry makes a good point. Any time someone asks ‘Is America Ready for a Female President?’ it’s utterly embarrassing. They either don’t think much of the American people or have never read the World section of a newspaper. MUSLIM countries have a better record of female leaders.
Benazir Bhutto, Megawati Sukarnoputri, Tansu Çiller. America is behind the times. Not too great for a superpower.
The idea that a female president would be ‘embarrassing’ or even dangerous is a joke.
jeanpotts Said:
June 23, 2008 at 3:20 am
you have to remeber one thing that a female chief minister made a glorius rule in south india then why not in us…
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jeanpotts
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