In my last post I talked about women and leadership and how it is that some Christian groups insist on arguing that, as my friend Pam puts it "ontologically equal and functionally subordinate" in her view a fancy way of saying simply separate but equal, and that puts a whole new slant on the meaning of equal!
She also raises the questions: " Are there categories of people who God views as inferior to others?If the answer is "yes", then we start trying to figure out who God thinks is inferior and we can come up with a whole range of answers which jive with our own prejudices..."
The thing is that people are always categorising other people, it is a trait of humanity to define ourselves as normal and then there are others. We define others by gender, sexuality, colour, race, creed, religion,wealth, poverty, ability and disability... the list goes on...
My son recieved a letter today from a Bible College that shall remain nameless, offering him a place on a MA course, it went on to add that he must find a suitable ministry to be involved in, adding that "folk like you" might find the job centre helpful. Folk like you was a reference to his heart condition and complications following surgery that have left him with a limp! It seems that although they found him a suitable candidate for an MA they needed to offer him advice about job seeking, perhaps they thought that "folk like you" would not have thought of that...
Needless to say he has turned them down, they were patronising in the interview and continued to be so even in their offer of a place...
But all of this has made me stop and think, who are the people I define as other, and the answer is probably those with whom I strongly disagree on matters such as sexuality and gender, ability and disability, race, creed, poverty etc, etc...
I can only pray; Loving God help me by your grace to see others as you see them...
