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HAS THE SECULAR FEMINIST MOVEMENT INFLUENCED WOMEN TO ASSERT THEMSELVES MORE IN THE CHURCH?

Briscoe: I think what drives the secular women's movement, to be fair to them, is the notion that women are people. And you can't argue with that. That's something I share as a Christian. In the way that works itself out, of course, I would differ with them. But I think those issues ought to be raised in the church. How many of us refer to the "pastor's wife"? You don't say the "garbage collector's wife" or the "engineer's wife" when you're introduced. She has a name. She is a person. And I see a lot of Christian women struggling with that.

Thompson: Some of the issues that the feminist groups have brought up have been very good and needed to be addressed. Some have wanted simply to help women gain basic rights, and God has used these gains in the church. But a philosophy has also crept in that, if you are at home with your children, then you're enslaved—and we're going to free you. Women are being taught that if the child is an inconvenience to you, get rid of it. Take care of you, no matter what.

That's not all feminists, of course. But some, I believe, desire to destroy the family. That's where the church needs to step in and affirm women who choose to bear children, and then help them if they need help.

Kassian: There have been advances in opening up different professions and arenas for women as a result of secular feminism. But I also think that there has been a destructive backlash, and you see horrific crimes against women now to a greater extent than ever before. And men are not protecting women as they used to. December 6 was the sixth anniversary for a horrendous slaying at the University of Montreal. A fellow who had been denied a place in the engineering school went into a classroom with a semi-automatic and methodically separated the women from the men, telling the men to leave the room. He pointed his gun at the remaining women and said, "You are all feminists" and shot them. There were 14 killed, numerous others wounded. Fifty years ago those men wouldn't have left the room because they would have seen it as their duty to protect the women. There were enough of them that they could have easily jumped the gunman.

The feminist movement has sent a number of confusing messages to men. They've been told that "maleness" is responsible for all the evils in the world. And there is a frightful trend toward identity confusion.

Adeney: When it hasn't been extreme, the feminist movement has raised our awareness of some important themes. And Christian women have taken some of the best of it and have become salt and light around the world. I'm thinking about some women who are now with World Vision, or Food for the Hungry, or World Concern, or others who are involved in inner-city ministries. These women leaders are very concerned about women in poverty, here and around the world, who are true victims. They're aware, for example, of the feminization of poverty, of sexual harassment, of the problems in health care—especially in the Third and Fourth Worlds. These women are not only concerned about basic health and education, but even about the possibility of having access to water or land. These are life-and-death issues for a lot of women in the world. And our gains as women leaders in Christian service—due in part to feminist sensitivities—have enabled some to "love our neighbors" and have a concern for other societies.

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April 8 1996, Vol. 40, No. 4