Friday, November 19, 2010

Meanwhile, among the U.S. Evangelicals



Someone told me the other day that men and women are completely equal in the West and that, if anything, women now rule the earth.

Mmm.

Let's see what the Bible Boyz are doing:

The world's best-selling Bible is getting an upgrade.

At stake are millions of dollars in publishing revenue and the trust of millions of churchgoers.

Since its debut in 1978, the New International Version — known as the NIV — has been the Bible of choice for evangelicals, selling more copies than any other version. But a 2005 gender-inclusive edition bombed after being condemned as too liberal.

Translators hope their latest edition, which debuted online this month, will avoid a similar fate. They've retained some of the language of the 2005 edition. But they also made changes — like going back to using words like "mankind" and "man" instead of "human beings" and "people" — in order to appease critics.
Because Christianity (and the other Abrahamic religions) are Guy Religions. Gals are not allowed to have equality. Indeed:

Denny Burk, a professor of New Testament at Boyce College, a Southern Baptist school in Louisville, has complained about one change in 1 Timothy 2:12. That verse from a New Testament letter from the Apostle Paul, used to read, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man." Now it says, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man."

The change from "have authority" to "assume authority" is huge, Burk argues. He believes that God gave men and women different jobs — and that women can't be pastors. Burk says the new Bible sides with his opponents.

"It appears, therefore, that the NIV 2011 comes down on the side of egalitarianism in its rendering of 1 Timothy 2:12," he wrote in a blog at BibleGateway.com.
Aren't you glad that I'm an egalitarian goddess, eh?


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Added later: Even the Anglican Church is predicted to lose some Boyz Only clergy to Ratzo the Pope:

Around 50 Anglican priests are expected to defect to the Catholic church, it emerged today, as the first details were disclosed of an unprecedented initiative that will allow Anglicans disaffected over the ordination of women to convert.
Where does one go if one is disaffected over the ordination of men? Even the question is silly.