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November 15, 2006
A Planned Public Protest Against Mark Driscoll and his church...
I have on many occasions posted blog entries about Mark Driscoll and his theological views. One of the areas of huge disagreement between Driscoll's views and mine are his views of women and ministry, and especially what seems to be his narrowely defined view of masculinity (several posts back).
Driscoll has been getting lots of attention and has caused a lot of outrage in many circles, especially over his most recent posts on the Ted Haggard scandal and the Episcopalian Church.
Scot McKnight has a very lengthy post on Driscoll and the planned public protests against Driscoll and his church.
The majority of McKnight's blog post is an open letter of biblical counsel to Driscoll by Rose Swetman, a Vineyard pastor. Read Swetman's post as she questions Driscoll on his views regarding women and ministry, and his overall comments about women in general, etc., etc.
McKnight says: If anyone at Mars Hill reads this: for the good of the Church in Seattle, for the good of the Church in the USA, and for the good of the Church in the world-- so connected is it by the internet, I urge Mark Driscoll and the leaders at Mars Hill to gather together with the many concerned in Seattle to converse and, to the degree possible, to seek the face of God in reconciliation.
You can read here about the planned public protest against Driscoll and his church by People Against Fundamentalism
Here is an excerpt of what you can find on their site:
Mark Driscoll has been promoting a brutal form of Christianity for more than 10 years. Through his church (Mars Hill) and network of churches (Acts 29), Mark has been actively preaching misogyny to an increasingly large audience in Seattle and beyond through his books, podcasts, and blog, grinding up lives like a woodchipper. (For you fundamentalists out there who are unfamiliar with the term "misogyny" having grown up captive to its influence all your lives, Wikipedia has a nice overview.)
'Preaching' may be too staid of a term. He has been relishing in his misogyny, rolling around in it like a feline in catnip. His latest women-bashing came in a blog post about former pastor (and former head of the Christian umbrella organization National Association of Evangelicals) Ted Haggard's marital infidelity. As is typical with misogynists and other abusers, Mark blamed women for the terribly hard time pastors have controlling their sexual urges: "It is not uncommon to meet pastors' wives who really let themselves go..." The post makes for an interesting read; Helen, over at Conversation at the Edge dissected it well, so I won't rehash it here.
Mark also regularly rants against men who don't meet his minimum testosterone bar, which seems to be a Father Knows Best, 1950s, I-Am-Man-Cook-Me-Dinner, Bear-My-Children sort of fantasy ideal. His poison, though, is woven insidiously through much of his writing and thought. (See for example how he just has to bring the hammer down in an unrelated post here.)
After standing by while Misogynist Mark beats up on women regularly, it is time for us to stand up for the oppressed. People Against Fundamentalism is sickened by the injustice preached from the Mars Hill pulpit. We are done standing by while Mark the Misogynist takes his misguided religion and hollows out the humanity, dignity, and equality of the women in our midst.
Mark Driscoll, Scot McKnight, protest
Posted by rhett at November 15, 2006 01:22 AM
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