Too Few Men

THIS SPRING, more than 2,500 Southern Baptist women published a letter denouncing the misogyny and apparent toleration of domestic abuse exhibited by Paige Patterson, then head of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and one of the Southern Baptist Convention’s most influential leaders.

These women are speaking truth to power at a critical time, affirming that “the Bible’s elevated view of womanhood,” as they put it, is completely incompatible with Patterson having counseled a woman who was being physically abused by her husband to keep quiet and pray for her husband, and with Patterson’s sexually objectifying comments about a 16-year-old girl. (In late May, Patterson was removed from his position as president of the seminary.)

The letter was a real risk for the signers in a religious world as conservative as the SBC, but it quickly opened up a needed conversation in the denomination and beyond.

We should be grateful for and inspired by the courageous witness of women in the church and broader society who are saying #MeToo and demanding accountability for predatory behavior and the pervasive sexism that creates an environment where sexual harassment and assault too often thrive. Too few men have demonstrated sufficient commitment to end domestic and sexual violence and dismantle the patriarchal system that undergirds them. Changes in both personal attitudes and structures are needed. Men in our churches, as in broader society, too seldom speak up on these issues.

A few years ago, Sojourners commissioned a poll of clergy across the country. We found that 65 percent of pastors speak once a year or less about sexual and domestic violence; 1 out of 10 pastors never address this topic. These distressing facts correlate with another of our findings: 74 percent of pastors underestimate how prevalent sexual and domestic violence is in their own congregations.

For our churches to be safe communities that offer protection and healing for survivors of domestic and sexual violence, pastors need to preach regularly on these topics and pastor in ways that protect and empower women.

TO THAT END, Sojourners has issued a call for 100 sermons against domestic and sexual violence. Our goal is to highlight churches that are speaking out against domestic and sexual violence from the pulpit and to inspire others to do the same. Once we collect 100 sermons, we will spotlight them on our website, with resources for combatting domestic and sexual violence in faith spaces.

We’ve received about 60 sermons so far, and they are powerful, moving proclamations of the word of God. We can’t wait to share them with you. But there’s also a problem: We’ve only received 10 sermons from men, which represents just 17 percent of our total. Given that men make up 91 percent of all senior pastors leading congregations, this is a striking and sobering disparity. Of course, the fact that the pastors leading churches in the U.S. are so overwhelmingly male is a function of the deeply engrained structures of patriarchy in the church. Since women are much more likely than men to be victims of domestic or sexual abuse, it is understandable why women pastors might be more likely to preach on this topic, but the fact that we understand why this dynamic exists does not make it acceptable.

That’s why I’m writing this—to urge male clergy to preach on domestic and sexual violence this year and tell us about it so we can include your sermons in our series. Even more important, of course, is that you preach on these topics regularly as part of a visible and holistic commitment to combat domestic and sexual violence in your congregations and beyond.

Opposing domestic and sexual violence openly and explicitly, including providing practical resources for faith communities to combat this evil, is an essential element of faithful Christian witness. If we believe that how we treat the most vulnerable is how we treat Christ, we must be in deep solidarity with the women and men who experience domestic or sexual abuse at some point in their lives. If we believe that we are all created in the image of God, we cannot tolerate that only half of U.S. churches have a plan for assisting victims of abuse. If we believe that in Christ “there is no longer male or female,” it’s time for men to do their part to make that vision of God’s love a reality in our churches and in the world.

Responding to the witness of the Southern Baptist women, Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson wrote, “the founder of Christianity was radical in his elevation of women to equality in God’s kingdom.” If we are followers of that same Christ, so should we be.