The below series of articles in the Washington Post presents the consternation of liberals and the mainstream media regarding feminism vs. conservatism vs. the "submissive evangelical woman," as they strive to paint Michele Bachmann as a hypocrite for claiming to exhibit all three.
For background, read Michele Bachmann Exposed as Christian by Liberals and also read Media Prepare Anti-Christian Campaign for 2012 as well as ABC News Scrutinizes Faith of GOP Candidates
UPDATE 8/12/11: ABC News interprets Bible on "submissive wives"
-- From "Michele Bachmann: Biblical submission and servant leadership" by Janice Shaw Crouse, Washington Post 7/29/11
Few biblical passages cause more confusion than Ephesians 5:21-33 that calls for wives to submit to husbands. It is bad enough that the secular world misconstrues those verses to envision Stepford wives; it is even worse when they try to fit Christian leaders into their distortions of the biblical principle of submission. Michele Bachmann, who has served notably as a United States congresswoman and is currently a presidential candidate, is now under scrutiny regarding how she could, as a Christian president, balance submission and leadership.
In the context of women in leadership, it is important to note that biblical submission is about harmony and well-being within the home and the relationship between a husband and a wife . . .
. . . Michele Bachmann and numerous other outstanding female leaders have found ways to “do it all” and they are thriving as they successfully juggle the competing demands of home and career. Many of them, like Congresswoman Bachmann, are evangelical Christians who are leading within the framework of biblical principles in an attitude of “servant leadership.”
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Evangelical women rise as new ‘feminists’" by Lisa Miller, Washington Post 7/28/11
Now, in a reversal, some conservative Christian women are tentatively claiming the feminist label for themselves. In the reframing, feminism has nothing to do with a woman’s right to choose an abortion or with government programs for the poor.
Instead, a “feminist” is a fiscally conservative, pro-life butt-kicker in public, a cooperative helpmate at home, and a Christian wife and mother, above all. Rep. Michele Bachmann is Exhibit A. With her relentless attacks on big government and a widely circulated 2006 video in which she credits her professional success to the submission of her will to Jesus and her husband, Bachmann represents “a new definition of feminism,” says Stephen Bannon, director of “Fire From the Heartland,” a 2010 movie about the female leaders of the Tea Party.
Last year, Sarah Palin connected herself with feminists in a speech — not the kind who loaf about “in the faculty lounge at some East Coast women’s college,” as she put it, but a gun-toting, self-reliant, pro-life Christian woman who credits her gender as the source of her power. Bachmann hasn’t gone so far, but in “Fire from the Heartland,” she talks about why women should engage in the political process. “Women feel it in our gut and in our heart — and that sense is coming over us that something is terribly wrong,” she says.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Michele Bachmann reflects a changing conservative Christianity" by Marie Griffith, Washington Post 7/29/11
“The Lord says: Be submissive, wives. You are to be submissive to your husbands,” Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) told a church audience in 2006. By all accounts, she means this and lives it. Which raises the question: Can a President Bachmann balance female submission with the power necessary to lead the United States of America?
To her many fans, the answer will seem obvious: of course she can. As a matter of fact, balancing subservience with authority is something that evangelical Christian women have been working on for a very long time. . . .
So long as they pay lip service to wifely submission--and so long as they balance feminine beauty with steel force--women like Michele Bachmann are now thoroughly accepted as public authorities in extremely conservative Christian circles. . . .
Success for Bachmann will depend in part on how shrewdly she balances the conflicted ideals of femininity and female toughness, compliance and resilience, vulnerability and strength, that have long permeated American culture. . . .
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
UPDATE 8/11/11: Sarah Palin & Michele Bachmann are 'the women only a man could love,' said 60s feminist Gloria Steinem
Also read Conservative Female Candidates Don't Count as Women as well as 'Pro-life Feminist' Candidates Storm Congress plus just one more Conservative Feminists Crash Liberals' Party
