Without a male "legal guardian", women in Saudi Arabia presently cannot work, travel, see a doctor, or even drive a car.  For this reason, I applaud the courage of Saudi writer and human rights activist Wajeha al-Huwaider and 220 other brave souls who are petitioning King Abdullah to extend the right to drive to women. 

Women and men both were created in the image of God and are equal in value and dignity.  This governmental ban of female drivers creates an unbiblical distinction between the roles of men and women.  Our prayer should be for God to move the heart of the king (Proverbs 21:1) to grant the freedom to drive so all men and women can enjoy the common grace of travel.  Pursuing further opportunities for education and in the workplace are of little value to women without access to independent transportation.

Photo by AP Photo/Omar al-Abdullah

With the Sept. 5 death of D. James Kennedy, complementarians have lost a stalwart supporter and friend.

The longtime pastor and author died last week from ongoing complications that stemmed from a heart attack he suffered on Dec. 28. Kennedy was a longtime member of the board of reference for The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW).

CBMW Executive Director David Kotter pointed out that one of Kennedy’s most obvious commitments to biblical gender roles in the home and church was in his founding of Knox Theological Seminary, an institution that is officially and unabashedly complementarian.

"CBMW is saddened to lose another board of reference member, Dr. James Kennedy, but rejoice that he now enjoys the presence of the Savior whom he dearly loved," Kotter said.

"Kennedy was unswerving in his commitment to biblical orthodoxy and unflinching in his clear teaching on gender roles in the home and in the church. His legacy will endure in many lives touched by his ministry. This legacy also included the strong affirmation of complementarianism espoused at Knox Theological Seminary, which Kennedy founded in 1989 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida."

Knox Seminary is a division of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, a congregation that Kennedy founded in 1960 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. In both its teaching and its hiring practices, Knox is committed to the traditional biblical view of gender roles.

CBMW interviewed R. Fowler White of Knox Theological seminary on the school’s views on gender.

Kennedy is the third member of CBMW’s board of reference to die this year. Harold O.J. Brown died on July 9 and Jerry Falwell died on May 15.

Officials at Emerson College believe they are bringing "more equal opportunities" to their students at the outset of the new school year by making all their bathrooms gender-neutral.

To accommodate the Boston school’s "transgendered" student population, Emerson has changed the formerly gender-specific signs on 21 of its restrooms and in one of its two dorms, opening them to both men and women. Emerson is not the first to make the bizarre shift; Tufts University and the University of Vermont both moved to unisex restrooms over the past four years.

David Haden, associate dean of housing and resident life at Emerson, told the Boston Globe that the adoption of a gender-neutral approach to restrooms enables students to further express themselves.

"I am all in favor of supporting students and their expressions," said Haden. "Having gender-neutral bathrooms doesn't take anything away from anyone; it just gives students more options."

School officials at Emerson caved in to pressure two student groups students, the Emerson Alliance for Gays, Lesbians and Everyone, and the Student Government Association, both of which demanded that restrooms be made "gender-blind" so that transgendered students would not be made to feel uncomfortable by "being made to choose a gender at the bathroom door."

The Globe quotes one student as saying she felt "sorry for students who did not know where to go." Rik Haber, a 2007 Emerson graduate who identifies himself neither as male nor female, but as existing in the ultra bizarre category of "gender-queer," said he had felt unsafe in Emerson’s facilities because he had "seen people subjected to gender-policing" and "odd looks."

David Kotter, executive director of The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) said the move by Emerson provides a sad and disturbing picture of the depths to which humans plummet when they depart from God’s design for men and women.

"I am saddened but not shocked to see Emerson University join Tufts University. University of Vermont and a few dozen other schools in adding gender-neutral bathrooms to campus buildings and dormitories," Kotter said.

"I am saddened, because the solution to feeling uncomfortable about ‘having to choose a gender at the bathroom door’ is not a change in the signs but a return to the biblical truth about God’s design of men and women.

"This is not shocking, but what can be expected when we become unmoored from God’s design. Accordingly, at these schools student groups continue to pursue more concrete changes, including gender-neutral housing, locker rooms and bathrooms."

Kotter says the development at Emerson and other schools regarding restrooms serves as one palpable example of the utterly critical nature of the gender debate.

"People should not believe that the focus of CBMW is restricted to remote and esoteric disagreements between scholars," Kotter said.

"There is a direct path between a departure from biblical truth to confusion over gender and finally to concrete examples such as gender-neutral bathrooms. The work of CBMW affects the every day life of every believer."

Read the Boston Globe’s full story on the restroom revisions at Emerson.

Photo of a gender-neutral bathroom sign at Emerson College by Aram Boghosian for the Boston Globe

In the first such ruling for America's heartland, an Iowa judge Aug. 30 struck down the state's ban on "gay marriage" and ordered Iowa's most populous county to begin granting marriage licenses immediately to homosexual couples.

The decision by Judge Robert B. Hanson will be appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court, although its impact was felt Friday morning when upwards of 20 same-sex couples acquired marriage licenses in Polk County before Hanson issued a stay on his decision. In fact, one male couple -- two Iowa State University students -- acquired a license and got a judge to waive the customary three-day waiting period, and then found a Unitarian minister to perform the ceremony.

"They are now official. The marriage license is the official document," Unitarian minister Mark Stringer said after the ceremony, according to the Des Moines Register.

It is not known what will happen to the licenses pending the appeal. Undoubtedly, though, Hanson's 62-page ruling pushes the controversial issue of "gay marriage" to the forefront of the mostly rural state, less than five months before Iowa hosts its presidential caucuses -- the first-in-the-nation test of the Democratic and Republican candidates.

Until now, such rulings have been handed down only in coastal or left-leaning states, such as Massachusetts, the only state where "gay marriage" is legal. Supreme courts in Connecticut and Maryland are expected to rule on the issue any day.

But despite Iowa's conservative leanings, Hanson's decision was a slam-dunk for homosexual activists. He said "marriage has evolved over time" and that "homosexuality is a normal expression of human sexuality." He argued that the natural, traditional view of marriage reflects "old and overbroad stereotypes." He even criticized the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

But perhaps most concerning to conservatives, Hanson rejected the argument that the state's current marriage laws were valid because of the ties between man-woman marriage, procreation and childrearing.

"[L]esbian and gay parents are as effective as heterosexual parents in raising well-adjusted children," Hanson wrote, before asserting that it is "well-established that children do not need a parent of each gender to be well adjusted" and that "children do not need male and female role models in the home to develop normally."

The lawsuit was filed in December 2005 by the homosexual activist group Lambda Legal on behalf of six same-sex couples. Although the ultimate decision will be made by the Iowa Supreme Court, conservatives already are pushing for a constitutional marriage amendment, which would trump any state court decision. One reason conservatives already are at work is because amending the Iowa constitution is a lengthy multi-year process, requiring passage in the legislature by simple majorities in two consecutive sessions, and then approval by voters. The Iowa Supreme Court likely will hear and rule on the issue in the next year or two.

Baptist Convention of Iowa Executive Director Jimmy Barrentine said Baptists in the state will be involved.

"We will continue to do what we have done -- we have taken a public stand that we believe that marriage is defined by Scripture and is a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman," he told Baptist Press. "We have affirmed that in annual meeting sessions. We encourage our people to continue to deliver that message to their elected officials, and we've asked them to do that in a non-partisan manner."

Hanson's decision overturned a defense of marriage act passed by the legislature and signed into law in the late 1990s. He ruled that the law violated both the due process and equal protection clauses of the Iowa constitution.

"Plaintiffs' inability to marry their chosen partners is a painful frustration of their life goals and dreams, their personal happiness and their self-determination," Hanson wrote.

The decision, conservatives say, affirms what they have been arguing for years: Constitutional amendments, and not statutes, are the only guaranteed method to protecting the natural definition of marriage.

"It's very disheartening and disappointing that the special interests -- Lambda Legal and homosexual legal activists -- would trump society's interests in having strong families and homes where children can have both a mom and a dad," Chuck Hurley, president of the Iowa Family Policy Center, told BP.

But any push for a marriage amendment in the Iowa House and Senate likely will be an uphill battle, Hurley said. Both chambers are controlled by Democrats who so far have thwarted attempts to pass an amendment. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy seemed cool to the idea of a marriage amendment, telling the Des Moines Register that people should "take a deep breath and calm down."

"I cannot imagine them quickly or easily going against one of their core funders and constituency groups," Hurley said of the Democrats.

Republican House Minority Leader Christopher Rants seemed more optimistic, telling the Associated Press, "I can't believe this is happening in Iowa. I guarantee you there will be a vote on this issue come January [when the legislature meets again]."

Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat, issued a statement taking no position on an amendment. He technically would have no role in its passage but could promote it.

"While some Iowans may disagree on this issue, I personally believe marriage is between a man and a woman," Culver said. "I also believe in the rule of law and respect for the judicial process."

Culver said he would "continue to follow this matter closely as it continues through the judicial system before determining whether any additional legislative actions are appropriate or necessary."

Despite the push by homosexual activists for legal "gay marriage," statistics show that once it's legalized, fewer and fewer same-sex couples take advantage of it. In Massachusetts, 6,121 homosexual couples received marriage licenses from the state in the final half of 2004, the only half of the year when it was legal. But in 2005, that number dropped to 2,060, and in 2006, to 1,427. Through April 26 of this year, only 87 same-sex couples had "married."

"Once marriage is available to homosexuals, they don't choose it," the Iowa Family Policy Center's Hurley said. "That's not commensurate with their lifestyle."

Barrentine, of the Iowa Baptist convention, encouraged Christians in the state to speak the truth in love during the coming months.

"What we believe has nothing to do with any lack of love for people in the homosexual community," he said. "It has to do with the biblical standard. Scripture tells us what marriage is and what marriage is not."

(Michael Foust is assistant editor of Baptist Press)

Are you a mother or wife who feels as if there are not enough hours in the day to accomplish all the tasks that your overloaded life requires?

If so, the authors of a new book, Shopping for Time: How to Do It All and Not Be Overwhelmed (Crossway), have good news for you: it is possible to do all the things God has called you to do without being overwhelmed.

Written by Carolyn Mahaney and her three daughters, Nicole Whitacre, Kristin Chesemore and Janelle Bradshaw, Shopping for Time gets right to the heart of the battle for time experienced by so many Christian women. Mahaney and her three daughters operate the popular weblog girltalk.

The wife of C.J. Mahaney, a member of The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, Carolyn Mahaney is also the coauthor with Nancy Leigh Demoss of Feminine Appeal (Crossway) and coauthor with Whitacre of Girl Talk: Mother-Daughter Conversations on Biblical Womanhood (Crossway).

"Overwhelmed. Miserable. Exhausted. We know the feeling well," the authors write. "As wives and mothers with toddlers and teenagers, and husbands who serve as local church pastors, we often feel pulled in five directions at once. We’ve learned there is no such thing as simply a busy month or a busy year. It’s a busy life, pure and simple. Around every corner is another hospitality, another counseling opportunity, another church meeting, another diaper to change or carpool to run.

"But we have to learn from God’s Word that it is possible to deal with life’s demands without becoming overwhelmed, miserable, and exhausted. We can surmount the numerous responsibilities that threaten to wear us down. More than that, we can actually do all the God has called us to do."

The book helps women order their priorities according to Scripture, an undertaking that alone will reduce draining, unfruitful activities as well as the stresses they create. Drawing on Ecclesiastes 3 and Ephesians 5:15-16, the authors show how women must prioritize their time rightly. They compare the use of time to finding the best bargains at a sale.

"We’re to approach life the same way we go after bargains," the authors assert. "We need to discern the be opportunities life has to offer. Then we must seize these opportunities and make them our highest priorities. Every day presents us with countless options for how to spend our time. However, only some are truly great deals. Only a few things are really important.

"Our job is to figure out what these prime deals are—these key opportunities—and devote our time and energy to them. This means choosing not to do a thousand other things. It means saying no to a lot of enticing options. Here’s where it gets tricky. Obviously, we don’t want the ‘bad deals’ to keep us from what is truly valuable.

"We don’t want sinful pursuits to deter us from what is God glorifying. But, it’s often the good things such as a ministry opportunity, a relational pursuit, a money-making venture, a leisure activity, or a hobby that hinder us from making the best choices. It’s frequently these good things distract us from the best things."

The first tip the authors give is to rise early—a reality they call "joining the 5 a.m. Club." They encourage women to rise early and begin their day by praying and meditating upon the Scriptures. This critical devotional pursuit will set the tone for the remainder of the day.

This is particularly important for women who have young children, because in the hubbub of activity that comes with each day, "waking up late means your morning devotions are probably the first to go," they write.

A secondary reason for early rising, the authors argue, is the potential it brings for women to serve their families. They point out that the Proverbs 31 woman rise early to provide food for her family.

"Would it bless your husband to have you cook a hot breakfast or say a cheerful good-bye before he leaves for work? Or would your children’s morning schedule run more smoothly if you were one step ahead instead of rushing around?"

Other chapters deal with topics such as evaluating personal relationships carefully and daily planning, among others.