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Church Fires Teacher for Being Woman

New York TimesMonday, August 21, 2006

WATERTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — The minister of a church that dismissed a
female Sunday School teacher after adopting what it called a literal
interpretation of the Bible says a woman can perform any job — outside
of the church.
The First Baptist Church dismissed Mary Lambert on Aug. 9 with a
letter explaining that the church had adopted an interpretation that
prohibits women from teaching men. She had taught there for 54 years.
The letter quoted the first epistle to Timothy: ”I do not permit a
woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.”
The Rev. Timothy LaBouf, who also serves on the Watertown City
Council, issued a statement saying his stance against women teaching
men in Sunday school would not affect his decisions as a city leader in
Watertown, where all five members of the council are men but the city
manager who runs the city’s day-to-day operations is a woman.
”I believe that a woman can perform any job and fulfill any
responsibility that she desires to” outside of the church, LaBouf
wrote Saturday.
Mayor Jeffrey Graham, however, was bothered by the reasons given Lambert’s dismissal.
”If what’s said in that letter reflects the councilman’s views,
those are disturbing remarks in this day and age,” Graham said.
”Maybe they wouldn’t have been disturbing 500 years ago, but they are
now.”
Lambert has publicly criticized the decision, but the church did not
publicly address the matter until Saturday, a day after its board met.
In a statement, the board said other issues were behind Lambert’s dismissal, but it did not say what they were.

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