Top Ten Reasons Men Should not be Ordained

there's been more buzz in my corner of the internet lately about gender in church than usual. Mostly because the CRC Synod is approaching and some members are organizing a protest about the seven year morotorium on even discussing gender equity, and the continued exclusion of women as synod delegates. I've made my position on this issue clear in the past.

People have been reposting this list, which, as far as I can tell, comes from transforming seminarian.

Top Ten Reasons Why Men Should Not Be Ordained (think David Letterman)

10. A man's place is in the army.
9. For men who have children, their duties might distract them from the responsibilities of being a parent.
8. Their physical build indicates that men are more suited to tasks such as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be "unnatural" for them to do other forms of work.
7. Man was created before woman. It is therefore obvious that man was a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment, rather than the crowning achievement of creation.
6. Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. This is easily demonstrated by their conduct at football games and watching basketball tournaments.
5. Some men are handsome; they will distract women worshipers.
4. To be ordained pastor is to nurture the congregation. But this is not a traditional male role. Rather, throughout history, women have been considered to be not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more frequently attracted to it. This makes them the obvious choice for ordination.
3. Men are overly prone to violence. No really manly man wants to settle disputes by any means other than by fighting about it. Thus, they would be poor role models, as well as being dangerously unstable in positions of leadership.
2. Men can still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can sweep paths, repair the church roof, and maybe even lead the singing on Father's Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they can still be vitally important in the life of the Church.
1. In the New Testament account, the person who betrayed Jesus was a man. Thus, his lack of faith and ensuing punishment stands as a symbol of the subordinated position that all men should take.

proud of my alma mater

Some of you may have already read about the equality riders - a group of glbtq persons and supporters who are traveling around to christian colleges. Apparently they have had some interesting experiences, including being arrested at Cornerstone University, just down the road from Calvin (note, this is the school that just decided to stop offering tenured faculty positions. They are not my favorite). Anyway, they visited Calvin this week, and appear to have been overwhelmed by the loving attitude they encountered there.

I think this indicates an openness that I didn't observe when I was a Calvin student, only a few years ago. Although it seems they are still having serious debates about a religious understanding of gender and sexuality, they also seem to be focusing more on the primary calling of christians - to love others.

As I've mentioned before, I think that the way the church in the US has shown hate instead of love toward so many people is horrifying, and I seriously hope that a few decades of hindsight will leave us as ashamed of this time in our history as we are of slavery and Jim Crow. I'm glad to see that Calvin College is taking steps in the right direction.

Something about Virginia Tech

I can't imagine what it must be like to be a student or faculty at Virginia Tech this week. I saw a professor talking on CNN about one of the professors who died. He said what a great person and colleague he was, and that they both had daughters the same age. Sometimes I think that's all we know to do when confronted with tragedy - realize how similar the victims are to us. That person is so much like me, except they were touched by this unspeakable tragedy and I was not. It makes life seem random and unfair. It reminds us how much we all share. Maybe it brings us closer to real community, where we feel each other's pain and joy.

I wonder, too, how close we are to the perpetrator? What, before yesterday, made Cho Seung Hui different from any of us? What could possibly drive someone to do something so horrible? Is it possible that you or I could be driven to that point as well?

ADDENDUM: since I wrote this post, I've been thinking about the Sufjan Stevens song "John Wayne Gacy Jr." which makes a similar point, but more subtly. "And in my best behavior I am really just like him/look underneath the floorboards for the secrets I have hid."

weird covers

I'm sure many of you are aware of my deep love for weird covers. Let me direct you today to Lore Sjoberg's blog (he's a columnist for Wired) which features several that are new to me and even more in the comments. How exciting!

see also the dinosaur comic that expresses my love.

US torture issue blog

One of my colleagues is teaching a course on the rhetoric of torture this semester, and her class has a blog that publicizes some of the information they're learning and the discussions they are having in that class.
I reccomend it to most of my readers because it offers straightforward, brief posts about an important contemporary issue. A few of you may also be interested in it because it demonstrates a cool pedagogical strategy as well.


(weird note: I had trouble coming up with an eye-catching title for this post - "torture blog" just gives the wrong impression!)

GodTube

A friend of mine directed me to GodTube a few weeks ago and it got some coverage in this week’s Newsweek, so I feel compelled to comment. Although I find the content and the concept of this site less disturbing than Conservapedia (I’m sure if you are familiar with this blog you can imagine my snarks if you start looking around that site…), I still think GodTube is kind of… dumb.

Like Christian Rock music before it (and Christian Tea and Mints and… well… you know....) GodTube makes me wonder why. Why start a site for “Christian” videos with specifically religious content separate from the video site that everyone else watches? Indeed, I have seen that banana video on YouTube months ago. Do Christians need to be protected from the dangerous world of YouTube? Are they persecuted or excluded there? Why is it necessary to make a sectioned off website for christians, inviting those who are talented to put their art with religious content there instead of in a place where it might actually reach more people. Where it might even make someone think differently about religion, or justice, or humanity.

Does this strike anyone else as completely unnecessary?

march madness

those who enjoy laughing at my sports ignorance (and I know there are several who read this blog) can visit Morgan's website to see my bracket. Even though I used ESPN to construct the bracket, I didn't taint my ignorance by reading the information provided and trying to make educated guesses. No, no, I went with the same strategy I used last year: random guessing. Sometimes I selected schools I am not mad at to beat schools I am mad at, but not in any systematic way. So basically there is little/no pride on the line for me. That's the way I like it.

today's rock star

I found this blog strangely compelling. It chronicles who is referred to in the news as a "rock star" each day. The blogger says Barack Obama and Al Gore are tied for "biggest rock stars" currently. Notably absent: actual rock stars.

Happy Valentines Day, friends and blog readers. I potato you.

you know, and I appreciate your reading.

Obama Campaign and Web 2.0

Barack Obama's website launched social networking software today, as a way to organize and mobilize supporters. Really. I already have a profile, in case you want to be my friend (I'm not even kidding. you can make friends and I really do have a profile. there is no place to put your relationship status, though, so I don't suggest using my.barackobama.com to find a politically active date).

I think it's a great idea to harness the power of web 2.0 toward politics. I think that Obama supporters are the most likely to go for it. At least, if I'm any indication. He also is using U2's "city of blinding lights" for a campaign song, so pretty much he's got me pegged. Too bad I don't have any money.

These developments raise some interesting questions, though, about the power of internet culture in politics. Many will argue that political blogs have had a huge impact in the '06 election, and others before, but '06 did not see the kind of assault on web media forms we are seeing already now. It will be interesting to see how other candidates use this technology and what effect it has on the election, especially given the narrow demographic of those who spend a lot of time on the internet.