CHURCH OF ENGLAND TO ORDAIN FEMALE BISHOPS

The Church of England has voted to ordain female bishops for first time in its history. In 2012 conservatives blocked it. 2014 General Synod approved it by majorities. House of Laity voted 152 for, 45 against, 5 abstained. House of Bishops voted 37 for, 2 against, 1 abstained. House of Clergy voted 162 for, 25 against, 4 abstained. 

Christian conservatives cite words of First Timothy as "evidence" that the Bible is against female ordination. Here is what 1Timothy 3 (King James Version) says:
"This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. [2] A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality….; [3] Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; Continue.....

Actually, First Timothy was written by Apostle Paul. It is Paul’s letter to Timothy suggesting good moral characters for a deacon (non-pastor leader) of a church. Misuse of First Timothy to exclude women from priesthood is both arrogant and silly because modern “priesthood” did NOT exist when Paul wrote to Timothy. Pompous church titles (e.g. Reverend, Bishop, Cardinal, Pope, etc.) were all invented by ordinary men centuries after Jesus as the church grew. If Jesus never set up one church while on earth why would anyone use Timothy to justify NOT ordaining women as bishops?

CHURCH OF ENGLAND IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT TO ORDAIN WOMEN BISHOPS. Conservatives claim that the word "he" in Timothy meant that only men could be priests. This is both pathetic and simplistic. Because the Bible also said "MAN shall not live by bread alone." Does “MAN” mean that only men should seek words of God? In ancient world the rule of writing and speaking was to use “he” or “man” to refer to ALL HUMAN BEINGS. The word "man" was a synonym for "humans."

For example the following ancient words (e.g. man, actor, comedian, countryman, congressman, senator, chairman, president, aristocrat, etc.) are all masculine but are used for males and females. The bible did NOT expressly exclude women from priesthood. Jesus NEVER excluded women. In fact any person with half a brain who truly read the Bible will see that women had leading roles in the days of Jesus. The Early Church Fathers of the Vatican enforced interpretations to exclude women thus subjecting women to centuries of second-class citizenship within Christianity.

These 3 pictures: two men and one woman are all ordained Bishops. The woman is The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of the Episcopal Church of USA since November 4, 2006. Yes, she was ordained Bishop almost 8 years ago. The heavens did not complain. The sky did not fall. God is still God. The only thing that suffered was the arrogance of Christian conservatives as their bigotry crashed.

So, here is a toast to the CHURCH OF ENGLAND for having the courage to do what is right. Any religion that does not move towards equality will suffer a slow death. By its action Church of England has made Christianity a little more relevant and vibrant in a world that increasingly sees religion as an anachronism if not an outright nuisance.

Patryk A. Utulu is a U.S.-based attorney and Strategic Communications Specialist
Global Defense Analyst and Global Events Commentator
Executive Vice President, Nigerian Diaspora-North America
Executive Director, The Center for Community Empowerment and Lifeskills, Inc.