Christ Church Elder Dale Courtney’s blog, Right-Mind, has a bit on an event five years ago in Pullman that involved Muslim men and boys at a religious service in one part of the Gladish Community Center, with another for women and girls elsewhere in the building. Dale’s sarcastic comment, intended to show his derision for such sex segregation, is “where are the ‘colored’ drinking fountains?”
We’ll trust that Dale and other Kirk elders would indeed have translated their disgust for segregation into direct action during the civil rights movement. However, there’s no need to lament missed opportunities. All he has to do to remain consistent is to condemn Christ Church and Trinity Reformed Church’s policy of sex segregation. Kirk “heads of household” meetings are attended by women only if they are the heads of their households — that is, when no man is under the roof. Heads of households meetings are as sex-segregated as the Logos School Board, which, by design, has been only open to men, as is CC and TRC eldership.
I’m glad to see Dale condemn an interpretation of Islam that results in such limitations on the roles and activities of Muslim women, and I’m eager to see what comes of his condemnation of sex-segregated leadership and activities at the Kirk.
I’ll keep you posted, of course, on what I hear.