"Let your women keep silent in the churches...for it is shameful for women to speak in church," wrote the apostle Paul to Corinth (1 Corinthians 14:34-35). He mentored the evangelist Timothy with the instruction, "And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence" (1 Timothy 2:12).

The leadership of the Southern Baptists agrees, but they may have difficulty convincing their 15.9 million members and 41,000 congregations. They issued the following policy statement on May 18: "While both men and women are gifted for service of the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture." The new policy cannot be imposed on their membership, but it must be ratified at their upcoming annual meeting on June 13 and 14.

The proposed policy reverses current policy, which has allowed approximately 1,600 women to be ordained into the ministry of the Southern Baptists. Approximately 100 of these women ministers pastor leading congregations. The new policy would not cause those women presently recognized as ordained ministers to lose their credentials, but it would prevent further ordinations.

Comments from some of those women who are presently serving as elders indicate that opposition to the proposed policy will be strong, even if the measure passes. Statements of opposition are framed with words like "repression," as many see the new proposal as indicative of unjust treatment of women.

How do opponents deal with the seemingly plain statements of the New Testament quoted above? They say that the biblical statements about women's service reflect the cultural setting in which they were written, and that these guidelines are not applicable in today's world. (AP)