A Noise of War in the Camp
This chapter discusses the ramifications for Christian belief and practice of the application of human rights ideology to questions of gender and sexuality. It was only in the course of the twentieth century that rights ideology crossed the gender divide, giving rise to the women's suffrage movement and the substantial erosion of previously unquestioned assumptions about the God-given roles and hierarchical relationship of the sexes. From the second decade of the century in North America and Europe, inherited Christian convictions about the theological and ethical legitimacy of restricting ordained leadership in the churches to men began to be questioned. In Protestant and Anglican churches, these convictions were slowly and unevenly abandoned as the century proceeded. The chapter then considers the shifts in popular attitudes to sexual ethics. By the final decade of the century, some of the global denominational forums had become the arena for heated debate between conservatives and liberals. Churches or individuals could be “liberal” on an issue such as the ordination of women and “conservative” on homosexuality.