Sarah Palin och kvinnligt ledarskap

Håller en del av USAs konservativa kristna på att slå knut på sig själva?

De är entusiastiska över valet av Palin som McCains vicepresidentskandidat, men samtidigt är många av dem medlemmar av kyrkor som inte skulle låta henne vara vare sig pastor eller äldste. Många skulle inte ens låta henne predika i deras kyrkor.

Om McCain blir vald, så är Palin bokstavligt ett hjärtslag från positionen som världens mäktigaste ledare.

Men hon skulle inte ens få vara äldste i många kyrkor vars medlemmar har röstat fram henne.

Hur går det i hop?

Dan Kimball,  en av pastorerna i Vintage Faith Church, Santa Cruz, Californien (och dessutom en av de där emerging ledarna som verkar tycka det är viktigt att ha sin egen personliga frisyr...), skriver på sin blogg:

"It is dawning on me however, as I have been reading some blogs and hearing which Christian leaders are excited about her - many of them are from conservative complementarian churches. Which means as they are enthusiastic about her becoming vice president and making incredibly important decisions for our country for both men and women and make speeches and lead - she couldn't teach in most of their pulpits, or be an elder or pastor in their church and make decisions and lead both men and women in a church setting.

So we would be OK with her taking on the leadership role of vice president. By doing so, we are also supportive of her being president if John McCain wasn't able to lead and she stepped in to lead the 303 million people of the USA. But the irony and theological practical tension is how we are supporting her as a leader to that extreme capacity of 303 million people, yet in a complementarian rural church of 50 people, she would not be able to lead both men and women there".