Ouroboros
Ouroboros
If you don't know what that means, don't worry about it
The traditional values movement has claimed a new class of victims:
single, heterosexual men:
Like all too many Americans, Mark Almlie was laid off in the spring of 2009 when his workplace downsized. He has been searching for an appropriate position ever since, replying to more than 500 job postings without success.
But Mr. Almlie, despite a sterling education and years of experience, has faced an obstacle that does not exist in most professions: He is a single pastor, in a field where those doing the hiring overwhelmingly prefer married people and, especially, married men with children.
Mr. Almlie, 37, has been shocked, he says, at what he calls unfair discrimination, based mainly on irrational fears: that a single pastor cannot counsel a mostly married flock, that he might sow turmoil by flirting with a church member, or that he might be gay ...
... Mr. Almlie, an ordained evangelical minister who lives in Petaluma, Calif., has also had to contend with the argument, which he disputes with scriptural citations of his own, that the Bible calls for married leaders. "Prejudice against single pastors abounds," Mr. Almlie wrote in articles he posted on a popular Christian blog site in January and February, setting off a wide-ranging debate online on a topic that many said has been largely ignored.
Some evangelical churches, in particular, openly exclude single candidates; a recent posting for a pastor by a church on Long Island said it was seeking "a family man whose family will be involved in the ministry life of the church." Other churches convey the message through code words, like "seeking a Biblical man" (translation: a husband and a provider).
"I'll get an e-mail saying 'wonderful résumé,'" Mr. Almlie said in an interview. "Once I say I'm single, never married, I never hear back."
Federal anti-discrimination law specifically exempts religious groups when they hire a person for religion-related activities, and courts have been loath to interfere in ministerial employment, said David Middlebrook, a lawyer and a specialist in religion law in Dallas and Fort Worth.
R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., said it was unfair to accuse churches of discrimination because that word implied something "wrongful."
"Both the logic of Scripture and the centrality of marriage in society," he said, justify "the strong inclination of congregations to hire a man who is not only married but faithfully married."
(Eckholm)
Erik Eckholm, writing for
The New York Times notes, "If the job search is hard for single men, it is doubly so for single women who train for the ministry ...."
But, of course, that's hardly news. But as the courts have been reluctant to help out women and homosexuals in such circumstances, we should not expect them to ride to the rescue of Mr. Almlie or any other men who want to be evangelical Protestant pastors who aren't married.
Scott Cormode, professor of leadership development at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. — where Mr. Almlie received his master's of divinity before he worked as an assistant pastor in California — said he did not believe that the bias against single pastors was as pervasive as Mr. Almlie contended. He noted that finding a position was always hard in a crowded field.
But Jackson W. Carroll, emeritus professor of religion at Duke Divinity School, suggested that the preference for marriage might have been hardened by the social upheavals of recent decades.
"Evangelicals are responding to the sexual revolution of the 1960s, which they saw as a real threat to the family," he said. "A pastor with a wife is less likely to be a homosexual and more likely to mirror the traditional image of a family."
Matt Steen, 35, encountered concerns about the possibility of sexual misconduct during the year he fruitlessly sought a new position as a youth pastor. "I had some pretty candid conversations with churches," he recalled of his interviews in 2006. "They'd say, 'Tell me about your wife and kids,' and I'd say, 'I haven't met them yet.'"
Many interviewers seemed to fear that he might "do something stupid, like get involved with a student," he said. "I told them that I understand the concern, but that I've seen married pastors make the same mistakes."
Mr. Steen later married and for family reasons moved to Long Island, ultimately leaving the ministry. He now markets accounting services to churches.
Some religion experts suggested a less charitable reason for the marriage requirement: the expectation that a pastor's wife will provide unpaid labor, perhaps leading the choir or teaching Sunday school.
"Sometimes, parishioners have an unspoken preference for a happily married male with a wife who does not work outside the home," Cynthia Woolever, research director at U.S. Congregations, wrote in a 2009 article. "She also volunteers at the church while raising 'wholesome and polite children.'"
(ibid)
Mr. Almlie, for his part, is working hard to satisfy his potential employers, trolling through dating sites like eHarmony, though, "Ultimately," he admits, "I do begrudge not being hired."
It is a curious situation he finds himself in, to be certain.
Dan Savage reserves his sympathies for something ... uh ... more ... ah ... er, less ... um ... yeah. Anyway:
He was ordained by an anti-gay church, attended an anti-gay theological seminary, and committed himself—in part—to injecting hate and intolerance into the culture, helping to create a climate where gay people are discriminated against, bashed, and murdered. And now that homophobia and bigotry is coming back to bite this unmarried man on his ass. My heart bleeds.
And it is, admittedly, a curious question. If one willingly enters and hopes to profit by a bigoted system, to what degree can they really complain if that bigotry comes down on them? Did Mr. Almlie
really not know how it works? Did he
really not understand that a traditional values congregation probably wants a pastor that exhibits those values, including the good little wifey in tow?
Meanwhile, it is all too tempting to simply shrug and say, "Have faith; God will provide."
____________________
Notes:
Eckholm, Erik. "Unmarried Pastor, Seeking a Job, Sees Bias". The New York Times. March 22, 2011; page A1. NYTimes.com. March 22, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/us/22pastor.html
Savage, Dan. "How Did That Bit About Reaping And Sowing Go Again?" Slog. March 22, 2011. Slog.TheStranger.com. March 22, 2011. http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/ar...id-that-bit-about-reaping-and-sowing-go-again