Baptist Clergy Rejects Woman Minister

The Memphis Baptist Ministerial Assn., a black organization that is the city’s largest clergy group, voted 86-27 to reject a woman minister’s request to join.

Sybil Mitchell, an associate pastor at Springdale Baptist Church and religion editor of the Tri-State Defender, said she was given no reason for the rejection. But Springdale’s head pastor, the Rev. Lee Brown, said, “It’s because she’s a woman.”

Many Baptists, black and white, believe a literal reading of the Bible forbids women from the clergy, though ordination is controlled by each local congregation.