Gospel Today magazine pulled from shelves by Christian bookstores due to offensive cover photo
19th September 2008
by gordo
The offending cover
The Southern Baptist Convention has deemed the cover of the current issue of Gospel Today magazine offensive, and has instructed its more than 100 Lifeway Christian Bookstores to take it off the shelves and sell it from behind the counter.
So what’s offensive about this magazine cover? According to the SBC, it’s offensive because it features women in church leadership roles:
Southern Baptist polity says that’s a role reserved for men.
Chris Turner, a spokesman for Lifeway Resources, which runs the stores for the Southern Baptist Convention, said, “It is contrary to what we believe.”
It bases those beliefs on their interpretation of New Testament Scriptures.
Southern Baptist representatives at national meetings have adopted statements saying women should not be pastors, but each church is independent. A few churches have selected women, such as Decatur First Baptist, where the Rev. Julie Pennington-Russell preaches each Sunday from the pulpit.
Southern Baptists are not the only ones to frown on women preachers. Catholics, the largest Christian denomination in the nation, do not allow women priests. And some conservative evangelical groups, such as the Presbyterian Church in America, do not ordain women.
Yes, there are a lot of denomination that either discourage the ordination of women or ban the practice outright. But I think you’re going a step further when you tuck a magazine behind the counter as though it were a copy of Juggs, simply because there’s a discussion of the issue inside. The fact that the leadership of the SBC is offended by the mere sight of women who preach the Gospel shows just how misogynist they really are.
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Of course, if this was a story about a Muslim organization, bigots like Michelle Malkin would be screaming about “Sharia creep” and telling us that this shows how Islam is a fundamentally misogynist religion. But the SBC gets a pass, either because they’re not Muslims or because Malkin was just too busy warning her readers about the evils of voter registration drives.
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:55 am
Lifeway christian bookstores are owned by or at least run by the Southern Baptist Convention, correct?
Then why criticize the convention for removing a magazine that is promoting something the convention opposes?
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:45 am
Because they are using religious bigotry and ignorance to justify sexist behavior, that’s why! It’s time for them to join the 21st century!
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:13 am
Jan Prahl–
I second what Tommy said, and I would also add this: the magazine was not removed for “promoting” something the convention opposes. It wasn’t removed at all. It was taken off the shelves to be sold from behind the counter because of the “offensive” cover. In other words, the sight of women who preach the Gospel was just too much for the SBC to bear.
Another thing: giving information about a subject isn’t the same thing as “promoting” it. Allowing people access to information about “heretical” ideas like women’s equality and evolution has the effect of forcing religious organizations to justify their beliefs, but it’s not the same as promoting those ideas. Efforts to keep the membership of the church away from the “wrong” ideas shows that the SBC leadership isn’t sure that their doctrines can stand close examination.
September 22nd, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Isn’t insecurity sad?
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:28 pm
They still want the money from the sales. I wonder if they also provide a plain brown wrapper for carrying the magazine out of the store.
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:18 pm
The fact that multiple women are on the cover conveys that female pastors are a big trend, which is probably not true, and the cover points out that they are very aware that their sex is being played on as news. The cover is sexist.
September 24th, 2008 at 3:14 am
Jerr–
You slept all the way through Logic 101, didn’t you?
September 25th, 2008 at 1:03 am
“It’s time for them to join the 21st century!”
The 21st century,damned right!
Where “sexism” is manifested in bondage, torture and gang rape,no little brown covers on ANYthing-drug addiction, sadomasochism, necrofilia, sex with goats, cantaloupes, egg cartons-let it ALL hang out!
Welcome to America’s 21st century cesspool;courtesy of the atheists and assorted left wing addle heads in this society who’ve been systematically dismantling every moral and cultural underpinning this country was founded upon for nearly 50 years now.
September 25th, 2008 at 1:41 am
BRT–
I hope you’re not saying that if Gospel Today is allowed on the shelves, then bookstores must also put Hustler on the shelves. What I’m objecting to is treating Gospel Today as you would a porno magazine, just because they featured a story on female preachers. I don’t think any reasonable person objects to the Southern Baptist Convention’s refusal to stock pornographic magazines.