You can also view this press release at the Christian Newswire -- an agency that apparently reconsidered their position on the matter of the Freedom for Christian Women Coalition's press release and the subject of the subjugation of women.
(Thanks to them for publishing this second item, though the fee for service should be thanks enough.)
SOUTH FLORIDA, April 22, 2014.
In March of 2014, the Freedom for Christian Women Coalition (FreeCWC) launched a petition through Change.org demanding an apology from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) – an apology that the Council has deemed insignificant. The petition was adapted from a Letter of Demand issued by the FreeCWC in 2010 on behalf of those who have suffered as a consequence of CBMW's doctrines.
The CBMW organization based at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY defines men and women as adversaries and offers a gender hierarchy program as the panacea for most of society's ills. Despite reports of abuse resulting from their teachings, CBMW continues to deny the role they play in religiously motivated suffering, identifying a lack of female submission as a first, primary cause of domestic violence. Affiliates John Piper, Paige Patterson and Bruce Ware also teach confusing ideas about how women should respond to domestic and spiritual abuse.
CBMW refused to acknowledge the receipt of the FreeCWC's 2010 Letter of Demand. However, on April 18, 2014, CBMW Executive Director Owen Strachan responded to the Change.org Petition on his Patheos Thoughtlife blog by saying that the organization has “canceled any apology tour.” Earlier this year, Strachan used his blog to reaffirm CBMW's belief that wives will serve their earthly husbands in the afterlife. The new Biblical Woman initiative at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has also been linked to the petition.
With 200+ signatures, Evangelical Christian men and women join with the FreeCWC to change derogatory attitudes and teachings against women. May the effort foster a spirit of Christian liberty and loving empathy for all.
The petition can be viewed and signed at: http://chn.ge/NrF3eV.
The FreeCWC is a group of interdenominational Christian Evangelicals who support functional equality for Christian women – freedom in Christ for each woman to be everything that God calls her to be. Visit the Coalition at http://FreeCWC.com and their video channels at YouTube, GodTube and Vimeo.
ABP News/Religious Herald Articles:
- History of the Petition (24Mar14)
- Wifely Submission (26Mar14) – notes Dr. Mimi Haddad's rationale for signing the petition
- Waiting for Apology (03Aug10)
- FreeCWC Video Posted Online (11Oct10)
