Women should ‘submit graciously’

The nation’s largest Protestant faith has amended its statement of beliefs for the first time in 35 years to include a statement that says women should “submit graciously” to their husbands. The Southern Baptist Convention adopted the declaration at its annual meeting Tuesday, minutes after electing a new president who long has been the scourge of the moderate and liberal wings of the church.

Do you agree with the Southern Baptist Convention's declaration on married women?

WHILE HUSBAND and wife are of equal worth before God, according to the article, a husband should provide for, protect and lead the family.
       “A wife is to submit graciously to the servant leadership of her husband, even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ,” reads the new 18th Article of The Baptist Faith and Message.
       A wife has “the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his ‘helper’ in managing their household and nurturing the next generation.”
       The new article also defines marriage in heterosexual terms as “the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.”
       “We needed to say something about what a biblical family is,” said Paige Patterson, the newly elected president. “I’ve been a bit surprised that anyone would be surprised by this.”
       But such a strong statement is rare from prominent Protestant and Catholic denominations. Four years ago, Catholic bishops released a document that urged men and women to share their feelings and household duties.
       It read, in part: “Marriage must never become a struggle for control. For, unlike other relationships, marriage is a vowed covenant with unique dimensions. In this partnership, mutual submission - not dominance by either partner - is the key to genuine joy.”