If you want to buy the latest copy of Gospel Today down at the local Christian store, you may have to ask the clerk to get it for you from the behind the counter.
100 Lifeway Christian Bookstores across the United States have pulled the magazine off the public racks because of its offensive cover that features something so hideous they don’t want the children, especially the little girls to see: the smiling faces of five ordained female preachers.
Teresa Hairston, owner of Gospel Today, whose glossy pages feature upbeat articles about health, living, music and ministry, said she discovered by e-mail that the September/October issue of the magazine had been demoted to the realm of the risque.
“It’s really kind of sad when you have people like [Gov.] Sarah Palin and [Sen.] Hillary Clinton providing encouragement and being role models for women around the world that we have such a divergent opinion about women who are able to be leaders in the church,” Hairston said. “I was pretty shocked.”
I’m not sure why Hairston would be shocked. It would be like putting the smiling faces of gay and lesbian clergy like myself on the cover of the magazine. It is anathema to the Southern Baptists to celebrate what they see as wholly against God.
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.
These women are not qualified to preach, yet Sarah Palin gets the conservative Christian endorsement to lead this country? What part of hypocrisy is so hard to understand here?
