JAN. 20, 2004

PUBLIC LIFE
Women clergy: more liberal, more political?

Amid public debate over clergy’s role in politics and deep divides among clergy over political issues comes a new factor: the steady increase in women clergy. Studies show that they tend to be more liberal and, in some cases, more likely to engage in political and civic issues. From researchers to congregants, more people are finding out how these women are affecting issues outside church and synagogue walls.

Although overall numbers of Protestant clergywomen are unavailable, the Association of Theological Schools reports that women constitute a steadily rising share of the students seeking master of divinity degrees in member seminaries – multiplying almost seven times in 30 years, to 32 percent in 2002. Individual denominations report large increases, too. Reform Judaism began ordaining women in 1972 and now has nearly 400 female rabbis. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America says the percentage of its ordained clergy who are women doubled from 1991 to 2003, to 16 percent.

The next question is how clergywomen will affect community life and politics as their numbers grow. Studies show that they tend to be overwhelmingly liberal on most issues and tend to vote for Democratic candidates. They often support abortion rights, gay rights and gay marriage, peace advocacy and social justice issues. In some denominations, such as the Episcopal Church, clergywomen seem to be more activist than their male counterparts. African-American clergywomen tend to carry on the African-American tradition of politically active and liberal clergy whether they are in predominantly black or predominantly white denominations. Scholars say politically conservative women clergy are more likely to be found in rural areas and evangelical Protestant traditions that ordain women.

Why it Matters
The role of women in organized religion remains a much-debated topic: In 2000, the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, decided women could no longer serve as senior pastors. Roman Catholics, who make up a quarter of the U.S. population, do not ordain women. At the same time, women continue to far outnumber men in the pews and move into more positions of religious leadership.

Questions for reporters
Stories about women clergy have often focused on disparities in pay, prestige and position, or "glass ceilings." Talk to women who were "firsts" in your area - first senior pastor in a faith tradition, first pastor of a large church, first senior rabbi - and ask them their perspective on how women's roles have changed. Talk to women clergy in your area about what formed their views on how they should engage in political issues and what results they have seen from their work. Talk to men who are involved in the same issues about how women have affected issue-oriented work.

Who are the politically and civically active women clergy in your area? (If you find one, she can probably refer you to more.) What causes are they involved in? Are they concentrated in a few issues and organizations, or scattered among several? Are they using different approaches to political activism than men clergy do? How do they think clergy's community work might change if there are more women clergy?

What do African-American women clergy say about their political and civic work?

What do congregation members say about how they view clergy's roles in community? Do they see differences in the ways men and women clergy act on their faith outside church and synagogue walls?

While some denominations do not allow women in senior clergy roles, there are still many ways women serve, often in high positions. What do Southern Baptist women who serve as educators or Roman Catholic women who serve as chancellors in dioceses say about how women's roles in the church have changed and how they are valued? How are these women involved in community and political issues?

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Click the map for interview sources in your state and region

National sources

ACADEMIC SOURCES
• Adair T. Lummis is a sociologist of religion and a faculty associate in research for the Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Connecticut. Her specialties include women in church leadership. Her books include, as co-author, Clergy Women: An Uphill Calling (Westminster John Knox Press, 1998). She says some data from a 2002 Episcopal study on which she worked indicates that Episcopal clergywomen are significantly more active in a range of political/social advocacy than Episcopal clergymen. Contact 860-509-9547, alummis@hartsem.edu.
• Laura Olson has studied the role of clergy in politics. She is associate professor of political science at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C., and co-author of Women With a Mission: Gender, Religion and the Politics of Women Clergy, under advance contract from the University of Alabama Press. Her books include, as co-editor, Christian Clergy in American Politics (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001) and, as author, Filled With Spirit and Power: Protestant Clergy in Politics (State University of New York Press, 2000). She says women clergy are overwhelmingly politically liberal, and they vote for Democratic candidates and hold liberal positions on most issues. She says some politically conservative women clergy can be found in rural areas and in evangelical Protestant traditions. Contact 864-656-1457, laurao@clemson.edu.
• Corwin Smidt is directing a study surveying clergy about political participation. He is a political science professor at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., and executive director of the Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics at Calvin. He edited In God We Trust? Religion & American Political Life (Baker Book House, 2001) and Religion as Social Capital: Producing the Common Good (Baylor University Press, 2003) and co-authored The Bully Pulpit: The Politics of Protestant Clergy (University Press of Kansas, 1998) and Evangelicalism: The Next Generation (Baker Book House, 2002). Contact 616-957-6233, smid@calvin.edu.
• Sue Crawford is a political science professor at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. She co-edited Christian Clergy in American Politics (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001) and co-authored Women With a Mission: Gender, Religion and the Politics of Women Clergy, under advance contract from the University of Alabama Press. She says studies in which she has participated found only around 5 percent of women clergy reported ever running for office. They are more typically involved in advocacy, campaigning, political education/awareness and civic and service work. She says that most women clergy sampled were moderate to liberal and that female mainline clergy tend to be more liberal than male mainline clergy. Contact 402-280-2569, Crawford@creighton.edu.
• Religion scholar Barbara Brown Zikmund teaches at the Graduate School of American Studies at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. Her books include, as co-author, Clergy Women: An Uphill Calling (Westminster John Knox Press 1998). She has conducted several major studies of clergywomen and teaches a course on women and politics. She says there are few politically conservative women clergy because conservative denominations do not have many women clergy. She says the most politically active clergy in American Protestantism are African-Americans - either in black denominations or in black congregations within predominantly white denominations - and that the few black women clergy carry on the tradition of political activism, usually with liberal politics. Contact +81-75-251-3931 main office, +81-75-251-3915 her office, bzikmund@mail.doshisha.ac.jp or bbz@hartsem.edu.

WOMEN CLERGY
• Rabbi Janet Ross Marder is the first woman elected president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the association of Reform rabbis in the United States. She is senior rabbi of Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, Calif. Contact 650-493-4661, rabbi_Marder@betham.org.
• The Rev. Delores Carpenter is professor of divinity at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and pastor of Michigan Park Christian Church. She is the author of A Time for Honor: A Portrait of African-American Clergywomen (Chalice Press, 2001). She says black women pastors are more likely to be politically active than white pastors. Contact 202-806-0636, REVPROF@AOL.COM.
• Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun, lecturer and writer, is the executive director of Benetvision, a resource center for contemporary spirituality in Erie, Pa. She co-chairs the Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders, a group that formed from the Fourth United Nations Conference of Women in Beijing in 1995. The initiative's current project is facilitating a peace meeting between Israeli and Palestinian women in Jerusalem in 2004. She is a founding member of the International Committee for the Peace Council. Chittister is past president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the national organization of leaders of the 75,000 Catholic religious women in the United States. Contact her through 814-459-5994 or 814-459-0314, matobin@verizon.net.
• The Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, who has standing in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and American Baptist Church, directs the Department of Religion for the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, N.Y. She chairs the Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders and serves on the national committee of the Clergy Leadership Network for National Leadership Change. Contact her through 716-357-6274 or sthayer@chautauqua-inst.com.
• The Rev. Marion Jackson, director of continuing education for ministry for the United Methodist Church, can discuss the increase of clergy women in the denomination and suggest interview sources in different regions. Women currently outnumber men in Methodist seminaries. Read a 2000 backgrounder on Methodist women clergy. Statistics show that, in 2002, 19 percent of Methodist clergy were female. Contact 615-340-7391, mjackson@gbhem.org.
• Debra M. Gill is commissioner of discipleship for the Assemblies of God denomination in Springfield, Mo., and an ordained pastor. The commission’s web site links to articles she has written about women clergy in the Assemblies of God. Contact 417-862-2781 ext. 4080.

Background

• The Association of Theological Schools reports that the percentage of women in its member seminaries more than tripled in 30 years, from 10.2 percent in fall 1972 to 36 percent in fall 2002. The percentage of women enrolled in those schools' master of divinity programs grew by nearly seven times (from 4.7 percent to 32 percent) during the same period. Contact Nancy Merrill, director of communications, at 412-788-6505 ext. 234, merrill@ats.edu.
• The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America says the percentage of women ordained ministers has doubled from 8 percent in 1991 to 16 percent in July 2003. Read the ELCA facts.
• The Episcopal Church in 1973 had no women priests, but in the 1998 Episcopal Clerical Directory, women accounted for 13.8 percent of those listed, according to statistics on Episcopal women clergy compiled by Louie Crew, an English professor emeritus at Rutgers University in East Orange, N.J., who is Episcopalian. Contact 973-395-1068 or lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu.
• An Episcopal Church study reported 3,481 women ordained priests or deacons in 2002, compared with 855 in 1987, and 11 women bishops compared with none in 1987. The study also reported acceptance of women in leadership positions is greatest at the national level and steadily decreases at the diocesan and congregational levels. Adair T. Lummis, a sociologist of religion and a faculty associate in research for the Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Connecticut, participated in the study and is doing a further analysis of data gathered. Contact 860-509-9547, alummis@hartsem.edu.
• The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, voted in 2000 that "While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture." Read an article, "Southern Baptists and Women Pastors," by the SBC's executive committee. Read a June 14, 2000, CNN.com article.
• Read about the Cooperative Clergy Research Project, in which Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics at Calvin College is studying clergy's political participation across denominations.
• Read a Dec. 15, 2003, article, "Politics in the Pulpit," by religion historian Martin E. Marty about an extensive study of clergy and politics published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion in December 2003.
• Read a report on a 1998 conference called "Clergy in Politics: Choices and Consequences" at Creighton University, which looked at why and how clergy engage in politics.
• Antoinette Brown 150 years ago became the first woman ordained in any major Protestant tradition. Brown, a well-known lecturer on temperance and the abolition of slavery, was ordained on Sept. 15, 1853, in a small Congregational Church in South Butler, N.Y., according to a September 2003 article by Barbara Brown Zikmund in the United Church News.
• Women clergy tend to be liberal, feminist, tolerant and concerned about the poor, according to a 2000 Sightings article by religious historian Martin Marty posted by Beliefnet.com.
• Read "Women, Men and Styles of Clergy Leadership," a 1998 Christian Century article posted by the Hartford Institute for Religious Research.
• Read a Time.com article reporting on the growth of women in ministry in general.