On July 24, 2010, I demanded an apology from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood at a Seneca 2 Falls Conference in Orlando, Florida, for their teaching against women. Got a little bit of press at the time. As most of you know, my Christian background was Baptist, and I was also employed for almost 15 years with the state organization, Baptist General Convention of Texas. The Baptist Standard is the premier Texas Baptist newspaper, and below is a link to an interview I had with them on August 3, 2020 about my demand for an apology in 2010. The Apology Demand is a relevant today as it was 16 years ago, or may be more so because of the Resolution Rev. Al Mohler introduced at the 2026 SBC meeting.
So, what is the Demand for an Apology that we issued to the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood at the Seneca 2 Falls Conference in Orlando, Florida, on July 24, 2010?
Apology Demanded from the
Council on Biblical Manhood and Biblical Womanhood
The following “Apology Demand”1 letter was drafted by Co-founders of the Freedom for Christian Women Coalition, Shirley Taylor, founder of bWe Baptist Women for Equality and Jocelyn Andersen, author of Woman this is WAR! Gender, Slavery and the Evangelical Caste System. It was presented live and via video at the Seneca Falls 2 Christian Women’s Rights Convention held in Orlando, Florida on July 24, 2010.
Taylor and Andersen, along with seven others, signed the Demand, and On July 26, 2010, sent it by FedEx to Dr. Randy Stinson, President Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and to Dr. J Ligon Duncan III, Chairman of the Board of the CBMW.
As of this writing, it has been 16 years since this Demand for an Apology was issued to the CBMW. The only thing we heard was Al Mohler tweeted that we were “confused,” possibly because it was written in readable English.
Directed to the
Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood from
the Freedom for Christian Women Coalition
At a time in our church history that the main focus should be on winning lost souls and spreading the gospel to a hurting world, we fear for the future because the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood has placed a greater priority on women’s submissive roles rather than on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is with that thought in mind that we make the following statements:
1.) We are concerned that men are being taught that they are god-like in their relationship to women within the church and home. As the mothers, wives, and daughters of these men, it is our concern that this doctrine is setting them up for failure as Christian fathers, husbands, and sons.
2.) We are concerned about the sin that evangelical church leaders commit when they deny the love of Christ fully to women simply because they were born female.
3.) We are concerned about the damage this causes to families when husbands and fathers are told that they have headship over their wives and daughters.
4.) We are concerned about wife abuse, girlfriend abuse, and abuse to female children that takes place in many homes where evangelical men are taught that they have earthly and spiritual authority over women.
5.) We are concerned that the children who attend churches that have adopted the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood will grow up not knowing the full redemptive power of the blood of Jesus for both men and women.
6.) We are concerned for the mental and emotional development of the girls and boys who attend churches that teach that males have superiority over females.
7.) We are concerned that men who are taught that they have Male Headship over a home and church feel they are not accountable for abusive attitudes and actions towards women.
8.) We are concerned about the mistranslation of scriptures by complementarian translation committees and by the false teachings propagated by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
9.) We are concerned that pastors who teach and preach male domination/female subordination cannot relate in a loving, Christ-like manner to female members of their congregations because they have already judged them and found them lacking.
10). We are concerned that the issue of wifely submission, promoted by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, is more about power and control than about love or obeying the Word of God.
It is Because of These Concerns That:
1.) We demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood acknowledge the harm that has been done to the church by the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and confess it as sin, and renounce it.
2.) We demand that denominational leaders and all churches and seminaries which have adopted the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Biblical Womanhood do the same.
3.) We demand a public apology from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and from all heads of seminaries and Bible colleges that have adopted the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood for the inestimable damage this statement has done to all Christians whose lives have been influenced by it.
4.) We demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood begin to promote the Biblical design of functional equality for all Christians alike, both men and women.
5.) We demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood begin to speak out against pastors who continue to demean women and oppress Christians by the use of the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
6.) We demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood chastise pastors who claim that abuse of women is acceptable and is justified because the wife is not submitting to the husband.
7.) We demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood make known to every boy and every girl who attends an evangelical church, that God is their head—equally, and that God has not granted males authority over females.
8.) We demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood teach men that they share equally in the burden of society’s ills, and that all that is wrong with society today cannot be blamed on women.
9.) We demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood do everything in their power to teach seminarians to show the love of Christ to both men and women.
10.) We demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood teach pastors to be loving towards those Christian men and women who disagree with the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
11.) And, finally, for the sake of all Christians, both men and women, we demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood make a public apology for the misuse of Holy Scripture as it relates to women and cease to publish or promote the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
Shirley Taylor Books (available on Amazon in print and on Kindle)
The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling
The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist
Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood
Women Equal: No Buts
Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition
From Wife to Widow: What I Know Now
Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
