Why not female ministers?
612794
Episcopalians are Protestants, by the way.  \n\nMethodists, Pentecostals, and many Baptists have female ministers.  Christian history is peppered with female leadership that varies by historical situation.  The main reason that conservative Christians (most of whom would call themselves "evangelicals" or more rarely,"fundamentalists") oppose female leadership, especially as pastors, is because they interpret scripture to say that women should not be allowed to teach, especially to teach men.  More educated/historically grounded denominations usually have less trouble accepting female ministers for several reasons:  1) They read the Greek and see that the key passages against female authority are later interpolations. 2) They read the New Testament and see in Paul's own words that women were apostles and church leaders. 3) They read other historical documents from the early church and see that women held certain clerical positions from the beginning. 4) They understand scripture and church politics through the centuries in their historical and political contexts.   5) They are more open about the fact that all scripture is interpreted, so they do not have many adherents to the conservative (and narrow minded, usually poorly educated) views of scripture such as "God said it.  I believe it.  Discussion over."\n\nWomen being in power is not against the Christian religion.  It is against many of the cultures in which Christianity has grown up.  The message of Christ can be understood in a radically egalitarian, and even gender-transcending way.  "In Christ there is no male or female" is a powerful fulfillment of "male and female God created them."
330175
ROFLMAO.   Yep, you sure would.  Hell, ministers take so many different REAL jobs.  Why not a clown?
1069520
Gender of the PM want please...
48889
Because Christianity (Especially Catholocism) is grossly out of date. Think about it, this religion COMPLETELY segregates people by gender. The Catholic church has roles that a man fills and roles that a woman fills, that's the way it always has been, and probably always will be.
1131713
Great question!  I believe that we should never elect someone based on gender, but rather on their platform.  However, I think a woman would bring  a unique perspective to our country.  I think a woman will be elected president at some point, and I can't wait to see how it plays out.
1000560
It is because there is a glass ceiling.  Women can't get high-powered jobs as easily, so they are stuck in the low-level ones.
660057
I think a candidate should be chosen and a President elected based on his/her integrity and suitability (based on experience, commitment to community development etc) for the job, not gender, race etc.\n\nHaving said that, I personally think it's highly unlikely that we'll see a woman elected to this office in the next few decades. The fact of the matter is that breaking into the good ole boys club is hard enough as it is, without facing gender-biased stereotypes once you get to Capitol Hill.
805988
Yes.  Being a religious leader has nothing to do with gender in my religion.  I don't see why gender would matter.  It also does not matter what color ones hair is, what the color of their eyes are, or what color their skin is.  The country that they were born in doesn't matter or the financial class that their parents were in.  What matters is that they are a good religious leader that people want to follow.
670262
I can't think of ONE woman qualified to hold the office of President.  Come to think of it...there aren't to many men either....\nThis race will be an interesting one!
654176
Because no female candidate has yet to supercede the popularity of a male candidate. Hilary intends to run in 2008\n\nhttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8260059923762628848
336575
At present, women don't have the numbers in other branches of the government, in business, in law, in other positions of power. When these numbers increase, there will be enough female people in key positions to make sure that a woman has an equal chance at becoming president. It's been a long hard struggle, but soon women will have equality with men.
347362
So not true, I am a consultant for medical groups.  Most of the office managers and practice administrators are women.  I think that different fields of work are dominated by a certain sex about the whole equality issue is no longer an issue
587378
Next election we have 2 female candidates, and I believe both are the favored candidates. \nSecondly a womans nature isn't to lead in a head position, but in a behind the scenes position. I'm not saying it's impossible, however, most wouldn't exactly shine. Third, the number of female candidates has been far to low for one to have been elected. Fourth, foreign negotiations would probably have trouble with a female leader. Many countries still have women in lesser positions and believe women aren't fit for head positions in anything. A probably distant fifth reason is that some guys wouldn't except a female president so they would lose votes there, but noone's ever gonna be excepted by everyone. Don't take this as unfair treatment, it's fairly equal, and it's also natural. Most people I know would be open minded enough to accept a woman, that was qualified, to be president.\n\nI believe that's 5 good reasons, and also I gave you some info on the fact that we might soon get a female president, so whatever sexism you were trying to 'bring to light' or w/e  you should probably drop. Sexism is similar to racism, most is fueled by the person who is 'hurt' by it, for the simple reason that they can't understand, someone's always going to find some reason not to like you, it doesn't matter what you say. If you're perfect in every other way, they'll use your race, your sex, or your ethnicity against you. Grow past it and stronger than it and you'll probably notice less of it.\n\nAnd trust me, just because we get women leaders, we would not be without war. Men are more logical than women, and women act on emotions. Emotions are feelings and feelings are temporal. If a girl's on her period and then also ends up with some problem with her kid if she's married, and then has to negotiate with Russia, I'd personally be scared. That's one of the reasons women operate better behind the scenes. But my point was, impulse and emotion cause a whole lot more fighting than logic does. Women are human just like men, and there's going to be fighting regardless.
1047783
To really be objective, you have to look at the reason that women have been mostly excluded from the clergy for so long. \n\nThe Episcopalian church has had female priests for a long time - and has never had an actual rule against female bishops. This is just the first time one has been promoted, and so it's the first time people have had to deal with it. \n\nSo why hasn't it happened sooner? Because the Episcopal church is closely related to the Catholic church, and the Catholic church does not allow female priests. Why is that?\n\nBecause when it was founded, and for a long (long) time after that, only men could be land owners. The church needed land. So, when a man joined the priesthood he brought with him whatever land he owned. He wasn't allowed to marry because that would give him an heir to the land. Since he had no heirs, he would leave the land to the church on his death, and the church's land holdings grew. It made a lot of sense.\n\nNone of that happens anymore, and so there is no practical reason for the prohibition of female priests or married priests. However, the dogma is still there that says only unmarried males can be priests. \n\nPersonally, I'm Roman Catholic - and I'd love the see my church do away with that antiquated law. The Episcopalians already have. And for that, I say, "Good for them!"  Hopefully the Catholic church will eventually follow. \n\nWayne
689419
To a certian extent, I beleive it would be. There would be less wars and that's a very good reason to me. It is a fact that women leaders do not normally start wars.
419340
i honestly dont see why women are thought of as being less powerful or able, it is discrimation of the worst sort.\nwhichever sex, the better candidate should dominate, male or female.
388543
Presbyterians are distinctive in two major ways: they adhere to a pattern of religious thought known as Reformed theology and a form of government that stresses the active, representational leadership of both ministers and church members.   \none of the places where the church has had the opportunity to live up to its proclamations for the equality of all persons is in the status that it gives women in its own life and work.