Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus

From the late 1970s through most of the 1980s, the biblical feminist movement faced several crises concerning the authority of scripture, particularly in the case of Christianity and LGBTQ+ issues. This eventually caused more conservative members of the EEWC to split from the mainline organization to form Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE).[7] Since its founding, the EEWC had been more or less united in its focus on promoting Christian feminism and its mission of gender equality based on biblical teachings. However, as more intersectional feminist views began to spread within Christian feminist circles, heated debates broke out concerning evangelical attitudes towards homosexuality and what role the doctrine of biblical inerrancy played in constructing those attitudes.[8] In 1978 Letha Scanzoni and Virginia Mollenkott published Is the Homosexual My Neighbor?, one of the first books of any Christian denomination to use biblical, sociological, and psychological data to argue against Christian condemnation of homosexuality. The book was especially charged in evangelical circles, to the point where Christianity Today named homosexuality the issue of the year.[9] Scanzoni and Mollenkott’s historical and theological conclusions were hotly debated, and while their allies in the EEWC worked to expand the organization’s purview to LGBTQ+ issues, it was not until 1986 that change was truly enacted.

During the 1986 EEWC conference in Fresno, California, resolutions on widening the organization’s focus to include advocating for LGBTQ+ civil rights caused deep divisions in the organization. Many members believed that as a feminist organization striving for equality, the EEWC should support multiple civil rights causes and other social justice movements. Additionally, there was a significant minority of lesbian members of the EEWC who felt unsupported by their fellows, and desired this resolution as a gesture of solidarity. As early as the 1982 conference caucuses of “lesbians and friends” provided support for one another over ostricization from the evangelical church.[10] During the 1984 conference, resolutions on the support of LGBTQ+ rights, the equal rights amendment (ERA), and social and economic justice were raised, but all save the support for the ERA were tabled.[11]

Many members opposed these resolutions for the expansion of the organization’s focus to include supporting LGBTQ+ issues for several reasons. Some believed that by expanding their mission, the organization would lose their sense of focus on their claim that the Bible promotes gender equality.[12] The program coordinator of the 1984 conference Kaye Cook argued that when contentious issues of LGBTQ+ rights and abortion were brought up the organization became polarized and had difficulty fulfilling its core mission.[12] However, the driving force behind these policy issues was the contention over the status of LGBTQ+ people in Christianity. In the evangelical community theological debates over the morality of homosexuality were raging. Many evangelical theologians condemned homosexuality as an immoral and even fixable condition or sickness. Some, inspired by Scanzoni and Mollenkott, argued that the traditional condemnations of homosexuality in the Bible had been misinterpreted and actually referred to much more specific sexual relationships rather than sexual orientation. And some contended that while the state of being homosexual was not immoral, it should not be endorsed outside of a traditional Christian conception of romantic relationships (committed, long-term, monogamous unions).[13] Those who opposed the resolution on supporting LGBTQ+ civil rights thought that expanding the mission of the EEWC in this way would make it even more difficult for the organization to reach its intended audience of evangelical churches that promoted gender inequality, due to their perceived endorsement of homosexual “lifestyles”.[14]

The controversy of the 1984 conference led to a requirement to propose resolutions for approval before presenting them at the conference. During this conference, a resolution was proposed for the organization to recognize and support LGBTQ+ people.

Whereas homosexual people are children of God, and because of the biblical mandate of Jesus Christ that we are all created equal in God's sight, and in recognition of the presence of the lesbian minority in EWCI [Evangelical Women's Caucus International], EWCI takes a firm stand in favor of civil rights protection for homosexual persons.[15]

The resolution passed, but was nonetheless controversial. Despite its neutral language, many members saw this resolution not as a simple recognition of the lesbian minority in the EEWC, but an acknowledgement of a “lesbian lifestyle” as congruent with Scripture.[15] While the supporters of the resolution argued that the EEWC must move forward and continue to support a variety of civil rights causes, the organization would eventually split over this resolution. Members such as Catherine Kroeger left the EEWC, and was encouraged by 37 other women to form an alternate organization. Less than a year after the 1986 Fresno convention, Kroeger and 200 other women founded the Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE) organization in August 1987.[16]