Heresy!
The Rev Dr Peter Cameron, principal of St Andrew's College at the University of Sydney, has been charged with preaching a sermon which may amount to heresy under the law of the Presbyterian church. The sermon, which was given before a church women's group, the Dorcas Rally, at Ashfield church on March 2, 1992, criticised blind adherence to the so-called "the Word of God", as contained in the Bible, especially in relation to the role of women and attitudes to homosexuality.
Dr Cameron spoke at length on the infamous passage in Paul's first letter to Timothy in which he, besides exhorting Timothy to "...no longer drink only water, but take a little wine for the sake of your stomach" also advises him to "...suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence".
"Are we bound by his views?" he asked his congregation "I think not. It's not simply that his views are time-bound, it is actually possible he got things wrong... However much people quote 1 Timothy 2:13 the answer should simply be: 'So what?' "
It is this cavalier attitude to "the Word of God" which has given rise to the charge of "...preaching a sermon in part inconsistent with Chapter 1 of the Westminster Confession of Faith on the authority of Scripture..." But no doubt more annoying to the good men of the church, although less incriminating under church law, was Dr Cameron's stated opinion on the reasons behind the overturning, in 1990, of the Presbyterian church's 1971 decision to allow the ordination of women.
"...one of the ostensible reasons behind the decision to ban the ordination of women was the passage in First Timothy", he said. "But there are probably other, more sinister reasons under the surface, such as fear, insecurity, puritanism and... vanity".
As feminists we could add more reasons to Dr Cameron's list, not least being a conscious intention to keep women servile within the church, the family and within society. If The Reverend Doctor had gone that far it may have been necessary to reintroduce death by burning at the stake as punishment for heresy.
His comments went far enough, however, to bring on the first heresy trial in the Presbyterian church since Dr Samuel Angus questioned the virgin birth in 1934.
This new row within the Presbyterian church comes within days of historic victories for women in the Church of England in Britain and the Anglican church in Australia. If the good men of the Anglican church (and the women who want to be doormats) don't want to "suffer" the leadership of women (or such leadership as they will be allowed — since clearly the battle for equality within the churches is not won, it has merely entered a new stage) they may be obliged to find themselves another church. Many have indicated an intention to do just that, and have made overtures to the Church of Rome. An influx of anti-women ex-Anglicans will not help the women and men still struggling for gender equality within the Catholic Church — the major remaining bastion of sexism within mainstream Christian churches. Many feminist Catholics worked hard, behind the scenes, in the battle to win rights for women in the Anglican church and are hopeful the recent decisions might have positive repercussions for their own church. No doubt this will be the case, although in the short-term they may be required to put up with some of the sexist dregs of the Anglican church who prefer their women silent.
By Karen Fredericks