Ten years ago, I demanded an apology from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and overnighted it to the president of that organization. It is now 10 years and we are still waiting for the apology.
The CBMW is a religious organization that exists solely for the purpose of keeping women under male submission in the church and home. Their influence spreads across evangelical denominations, and it was also the foundation for the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 that the majority of Baptist churches subscribe to.
The Christian community is divided over the issue of women’s equality. This is a unique time in modern history. The church is the last holdout to giving women equality, when it should have been the first to recognize women as equals. Certain religious leaders work to keep women in what they have determined is “women’s place.” The result is that women across all denominations are being restricted even more to certain roles, with female submission becoming the dominant theme in marriages and in the church.
Since I spoke in Orlando, Florida, at the conference and issued this demand, my life has been devoted to working for women’s equality in the church and home and religious organizations.
On August 8, 2008, as I sat in church at Elkins Lake Baptist Church in Huntsville, Texas, I heard within my soul “Your ministry here is through.” I was startled and looked around and thought, “I am not doing anything here.” But I felt the call to get up and go and I got up and went. I had no idea where this would lead.
- It led me to writing six books, three on women’s equality. (www.shirleytaylor.net)
- I demanded an apology from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood at the Seneca Falls 2 Conference in Orlando, Florida, on July 24, 2010. I Fedexed it to the president of the CBMW. We have posted videos online of our conference.
- In 2010, I began blogging for women’s equality.
- CBE (Christians for Biblical Equality) contacted me about helping host a CBE Houston Conference. I was instrumental in forming the Houston Chapter of CBE and helped host the CBE Houston Conference at Heights Church of Christ in Houston in 2012.
- I began calling myself “the Street Evangelist for Women’s Equality.” I gave away hundreds of my book Women Equal – No Buts: Powered by the same Source to those I met and talked with.
- I attended CBE conferences in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Helsinki, Finland, and Houston.
- In November 2018, I was interviewed and filmed for a documentary about those of us who are working for equality. It is called “Baptizing Feminism” and I am only one of many men and women who were interviewed. The husband/wife team spent from 8:00 a.m. to 8 p.m. with me. Hopefully it will be shown before the end of this year. Film company is Big Voice Pictures.
This is a 5 part series. Next post will be what led up to the Demand for an Apology, The actual Apology Demand is in Part 5.
