Sheri Klouda and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Some backgroud: Sheri Klouda joined the faculty at Southwestern Baptist Theology Seminary (SWBT) in 2000, entering a tenure-track position in 2002. She was assistant professor of Old Testament languages, and the only female teaching in the School of Theology. In June 2003, SWBT hired Paige Patterson as president. In April 2006, the Seminary informed Klouda that her contract would not be renewed, because she was a female. It is Patterson’s position that women should not instruct men at SWBT, because women are not qualified to be pastors at local churches.

A 2004 Baptist Press article touches on Patterson’s theology vis-a-vis women. The article shares Patterson’s interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:9-15, a key passage for Christians struggling with the issue of the role of the women in the church:

The portion of the passage referring to submissiveness drives many people away because they assume submissiveness indicates a lower order of being, Patterson said. But there are examples in society that disprove such thinking, he said, noting, for example, that in an encounter with a police officer, he and the officer would be equal before the Lord.

“However, he is above me,” Patterson said. “God gave him an assignment that affects me and made him a minister of God to correct my evil ways. I am obligated to submit to him, not because he is a superior human being, but because his assignment from God is such that it is.”

. . .

The same rule, Patterson said, is to be applied in the body of Christ, the church. Of the many attempts to explain what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote the passage about the submission and silence of women, Patterson said, “Oftentimes, the answer of the evangelical world is that a woman cannot serve as a senior pastor.”

“Would somebody please find that in the text? It is not in the text. That is not said. There is no mention of occupation in this text at all. This is not a question of occupation. It is a question of an assignment from God, in this case that a woman not be involved in a teaching or ruling capacity over men,” Patterson said. “It is a prohibition of a woman teaching or ruling over a man in the church,” which would necessarily mean that women cannot serve as pastors, he said.

Klouda filed a lawsuit claiming sexual discrimination. After a lengthy series of motions and counter-motions, U.S. District Judge John McBryde dismissed Klouda’s case, ruling that SWBT is, for First Amendment purposes, a church, and that Klouda is a minister. The First Amendment prohibits the government from interfering in ecclesiastical matters such as whether a given individual is qualified to serve as a minister in a local church. McBryde writes,

As the cases discussed above disclose, the Fifth Circuit has, for the most part, warmly embraced the broad “ecclesiastical abstention doctrine” and the narrower “ministerial exception” in challenges to a religious institution’s employment decisions. As to the broader doctrine, the courts are prohibited by the First Amendment from involving themselves in ecclesiastical matters, such as disputes concerning theological controversy, church discipline, ecclesiastical government, or the conformity of the members of the church to the standard of morals required. See Watson v. Jones, 80 U.S. (13 Wall.) 679, 733 (1871).

If the claim challenges a religious institution’s employment decision, an important inquiry is whether the employee is a member of the clergy or otherwise serves a ministerial function. If the answer is “yes,” then the “ministerial exception” applies, thus preventing court review of the employment decision without further question as to whether the claims are ecclesiastical in nature. See Combs, 173 F. 3d at 350. The court has concluded that a review by this court of the employment decision of defendants concerning plaintiff’s employment is prohibited by the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine as well as the ministerial exception.

The record clearly establishes that Seminary is a “church” and that plaintiff is a “minister” as contemplated by the ministerial exception doctrine. Moreover, the record establishes as a matter of law that the employment decision made by defendants concerning plaintiff was ecclesiastical in nature. If the court were to allow plaintiff’s claims to go through the normal judicial process, the procedural entanglements would be far-reaching in their impact upon Seminary as a religious organization. See Rayburn v. General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, 772 F.2d 1164, 1171 (4 Cir. 1985). The substantive implications of resolution by the courts of a dispute such as the instant action would constitute an inappropriate state intrusion into an area where Seminary has a legitimate claim to autonomy in the elaboration and pursuit of its own beliefs and practices. Id. at 1170-71.

Follow this link for PDF documents of McBryde’s decision. (The link takes you to SBC Outpost, which is generally unfavorable toward Patterson.) McBryde’s ruling has met with mixed reactions among Southern Baptists.

• At his blog, SBC Tomorrow, Peter Lumpkins characterized the judgment as an effective acquital for Patterson: “Well, it’s now sprinkled over the internet within Baptist shouting distance: the judgement is in concerning the lawsuit of a former professor filed against both Southwester Baptist Theological Seminary and her President, Dr. Paige Patterson: Not Guilty.”
• At Southern Baptist in NC, Tim Rogers wrote prior to McBryde’s decision, “Here in Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood it seems that many have taken me to task on how I interpret the law. It appears that before long there is a Judge in Texas that will issue a decision in the Klouda vs. Southwestern case. I am not sure of the outcome, but if the judge is true to the law, I believe Southwestern and Dr. Patterson will receive a Summary Judgment. Why? It seems this case was all about the President of a seminary allowing the Bible to drive his beliefs. I mean, we still live in America where we do have a freedom of religion held constitutionally as a basic right of each individual. This case had nothing to do with contract law, but all to do with the theological convictions and the freedom to follow those convictions.” Rogers was no doubt pleased with the summary judgment.
• At Thoughts of a Christian Woman, Debbie Kaufman writes, “The verdict is in on the Sherri Klouda hearing. You can read accurate details here and here. You can read the cries of those claiming this has given religious freedom elsewhere in blogs. My question is, religious freedom for who?” In the comments section of her post, she writes, “I think that one good thing that came from the filing of this lawsuit is that it brought it to the attention of the public. Something that has not happened in the past. It should be a clear warning that if a power that be is going to do something like this again, it is not going to be hidden behind closed doors.”
• At Grace and Truth to You, Wade Burleson writes, “For Paige Patterson, and men who believe like he, the issue has never been about Senior Pastors. That is only a smoke screen. The issue, pure and simple, is this: No woman shall have any position of authority over a man – period. If this attitude is allowed to prevail in the SBC then we will be no less culpable than when we allowed leaders of the SBC to convince us that slaves should be subjected to their masters.” Elsewhere, Burleson questions McBryde’s conclusions: “Ironically, there is not a Southern Baptist in the nation who would consider a woman who teaches Hebrew a minister in terms of any Biblical definition. There is no church or ekklesia which she shepherds, no ordinances which she administers, and no title which she assumes (pastor, shephered, bishop, etc . . ). Yet, when it comes to this woman’s removal from the classroom because she is a ‘woman in a position reserved for men,’ then those who chose to remove her praise the court’s wisdom – a wisdom which is based upon the the legal precedent that professors at seminaries are considered ‘ministers’ by the courts of the land.”

Burleson’s church has established a benevolence fund for Klouda, whose family has suffered financially after her termination.

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The role of women in the church divides Baptists. Although a vocal critic of Patterson’s position, Burleson supports the prohibition of women serving as senior pastors:

In the long run, I believe people of the Southern Baptist Convention will realize that there are two ideologies causing tension within our Convention – one ideology would wish to relegate all women to a position of subordination to men, while the other seeks to acknowledge the Biblical view of equality between men and women – with the only official denominational ‘exception’ to that equality being the prohibition in the BFM 2000 for women to serve as ‘Senior Pastors.’ I personally have no desire to overturn that BFM prohibition, though I think it unwise to have placed it there in the first place. However, I do have a strong desire, and will do everything in my power to see it happen, to prevent Southern Baptists from pushing the prohibition of women ministering to others areas than that of Senior Pastor. And, if the courts cannot intervene because of First Amendment reasons, then it is up to us Southern Baptists to correct any warped application of the BFM 2000 restriction on women.

Burelson’s referent is the Baptist Faith and Message, amended in 2000 to read:

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture” (emphasis added).

The 1963 edition of the Baptist and Faith Message did not contain the restrictive language found in the 2000 version:

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of Christ, committed to His teachings, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.

This church is an autonomous body, operating through democratic processes under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In such a congregation, members are equally responsible. Its Scriptural officers are pastors and deacons.

Follow this link for a side-by-side comparison of the 1925, 1963, and 2000 versions of the Baptist Faith and Message.

What Burleson calls a “denominational exception” has been largely rejected by moderate Baptists. At the Mainstream Baptists website, Rick McClatchy responded to the change between the 1963 and 2000 Baptist Faith and Message that restricted the office of senior pastor to men. After briefly surveying relevant NT texts, he writes:

In summary, what does one see happening in the early church in regard to women?

(1)Women were actively involved in many areas–teachers, prophets, deacons, apostles.

(2)Women were included in worship and religious instruction as active participants.

(3)The basic theology of spiritual gifts, priesthood of all believers, and oneness in Christ all moved toward the idea of women serving in an unlimited capacity in the church.

. . .

The Bible teaches that women do have an active role in every aspect of the church’s life under the leadership of God’s Spirit. The two times when Paul restricts women were under special circumstances – to establish order and to check the spread of heresy. Paul was trying to get sick churches back into order.

Paul and the early church did not ever establish rules to limit the freedom of the Spirit’s work in the lives of women. The Spirit can work in the life of any woman and lead her into an role in the church. The church must recognize the Spirit’s leadership and not develop rules which restrict the Spirit (emphasis added).

The staff of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention defended the new BFM language in an article posted at Baptist2Baptist:

The Bible’s teaching on pastoral qualifications does not mean it is anti-woman. On the contrary, numerous passages speak clearly and forcibly to the inherent worth and value of women. Women in the New Testament engaged in significant ministry, performing valuable service in sometimes difficult situations. This is readily seen in the Acts of the Apostles. Both Priscilla and Aquila spoke privately to Apollos at Ephesus (Acts 18:24-26), correcting his incomplete and flawed theology. Further, women clearly played a considerable role in the work of the apostle Paul. In his letter to the Romans, Paul identified sixteen noteworthy helpers in ministry (16:1-16), and at least ten of them were women. Women in the New Testament, as they do today, participated in varied ministry, which served to strengthen and conserve the churches.

Southern Baptists are not anti-woman; indeed, they affirm the leadership of women in family, business, politics, and a wide array of human endeavors. Furthermore, women are an integral and invaluable part of the Body of Christ, serving in a broad variety of important roles both as volunteers and vocational ministers. We don’t know how to say this more strongly: women and men are of equal value! However, because Scripture speaks specifically to the role of pastor, churches are under a moral imperative to be guided by that teaching, rather than the shifting opinions of human cultures (emphasis in the original).

The writers’ core argument is similar to that used by Baptists, both conservative and moderate, to support Believer’s Baptism:

Southern Baptists believe the place to begin in this, as in all doctrinal questions, is to ask, “What does the Bible say?” Even a cursory reading of the pertinent texts prompts three important observations: 1) there were no known women pastors in New Testament times; 2) none of the instructions regarding church order include instructions for women pastors; and 3) some texts on church order explicitly forbid women to occupy that role. In 1 Timothy 2:12, written with the specific purpose of regulating the office of pastor and the orderly function of the churches, Paul writes, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man” (NIV). Paul does not expect that women will not or cannot learn or teach (compare with Titus 2:3-5 and 2 Tim. 1:5; 3:14,15). He concludes women cannot have a pastoral position, or perform the pastoral function, for that puts them in authority over men in the life of the church.

Nevertheless, moderates remain unconvinced. At Mainstream Baptists, McClatchy and Bruce Prescott criticize the changes made by conservatives to the Southern Baptist Convention, noting among other things that the role of women has been fundamentally altered:

In 1845, when the SBC began, the role of women in society, church, and the family was rather restricted. In time, things begin to change. Among advocates for change were noted Baptist missionaries such as Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong. WMU was very instrumental in advancing the role of women in church life. By the 1960’s, churches were calling women as committee chairs, deacons and ministers.

The Patterson-Pressler [coalition] began a reversal of these developments. In 1984 the SBC passed a resolution stating that women were excluded from being deacons or pastors. They ignored examples like Phoebe the deaconess in Romans 16:1 and insisted that women must submit to men because a woman was the first to sin in the garden of Eden. In 1998 Southern Baptist called upon women to “graciously submit” to their husbands, ignoring the fact that Ephesians 5:21 calls for mutual submission in the Christian home. Two years later, the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message confession stated that women could not serve as pastors. All who work for the SBC as missionaries or as teachers in the seminaries must now affirm and teach these ideas about women.

Note: My church, Farmville Baptist Church, voted to leave the Southern Baptist Convention in 2000. (I arrived in Farmville in June, 2006.) We openly embrace women in leadership positions. Our associate pastor is a woman, and several women serve as deacons.