Sept. 12, 2015

For Immediate Release

By Josh Christian, student news writer

CAMPBELLSVILLE, KY.- Dr. Mimi Haddad, president of
Christians for Biblical Equality, spoke about prejudice and equality on the
campus of Campbellsville University at chapel and at a Kentucky Heartland
Institute for Public Policy event Sept. 2 and 1, respectively.

“If you
have ever experienced the sting of prejudice, you know how gratifying it is to
break the silence,” Haddad said.

Haddad
spoke on the injustices of gender inequality. Gender inequality is defined as
the treating of women and man unfairly or unequally.

“How many times have we made assumptions about people?”
Haddad asked. Haddad discussed how assumptions affect our views.

“Too often we allow our assumptions to change our view of
the Apostle Paul,” Haddad said. “ The truth is that Apostle Paul was one of the
greatest advocates of women in the ancient world.”

“Jesus also
continually broke social and gender barriers,” Haddad said.

Haddad
described Jesus' treatment of women as a whole. Unlike most Rabbis, or
teachers, in the ancient world who would not engage women in daylight, Haddad
described Jesus treating women as real human beings.

 

“Jesus
broke social and religious taboos related to gender, and he consistently
challenged the cultural devaluation of women's bodies, such as when he healed a
hemorrhaging woman in public,” Haddad said.

“Jesus prepared women and outsiders as disciples,” Haddad
said.

Women were then, as Haddad described, equal to males.

“Thus, in
the New Covenant, baptism replaces circumcision to become the outer expression
of our union with Christ, and baptism was open to any person, male or female,
Jew or Greek, slave or free,” Haddad said.

Haddad said the true identity of us all is the same — “to
serve the living God.”

Haddad explained the importance of looking past gender in
church leadership.

“Not only is leadership service, but it is about character,”
Haddad said. “We should be looking for people not based on gender, but on
spiritual gifts.”

Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed
Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 3,500 students offering 63
undergraduate options, 17 master's degrees, five postgraduate areas and eight
pre-professional programs.