Lawsuits vs. True Equal Rights

"I am tired of having my rights violated and being treated as a second-class citizen." 

The sentiment captured in this quote echoes a universal cry resonating in the hearts of all people.  Being created in the image of God instills inalienable rights and should guarantee fundamental equality for everyone regardless of gender.  By God's grace over the last century, men and women have responded to this cry and have put an end to many egregious injustices.  We can celebrate today the fact that women in this country now have the freedom to vote, own property, and pursue higher education.  This is pleasing to God, and the impetus to correct evils should not cease as long as gender discrimination like selective abortion, female infanticide, or sexual slavery exist anywhere in the world.

Yet we must be sure that we are guided in this quest by the truth of Scripture rather than a self-defined sense of injustice.  If we replace the sinful pride behind male domination with the sinful pride inherent in radical female liberation, there is no advance in godliness.  Further, the societal tools that have been used to give rights to women are now being unleashed in unintended ways.

For example, the above quote is not from a woman, but a man who recently filed a lawsuit against Columbia University for offering courses in "women's studies" without a comparable program in "men's studies."  The plaintiff, Roy Den Hollander, considers this an intolerable situation that must be remedied by the courts.

His class-action suit accuses Columbia of using government aid to preach a "religionist belief system called feminism" which is discriminatory toward men.  In Mr. Den Hollander's suit, he called women's studies "a bastion of bigotry against men" and said its women's studies program "demonizes men and exalts women in order to justify discrimination against men based on collective guilt."  Such academic programs at Columbia and at universities nationwide, he said, are "spreading prejudice and fostering animosity and distrust toward men with the result of the wholesale violation of men's rights due to ignorance, falsehoods and malice."

Broadening his egalitarian crusade, Mr. den Hollander is also seeking class-action status in federal court for a lawsuit against restaurants and nightclubs, alleging that "Ladies night" —which offer discounted or free beverages to women —illegally discriminates against men.  One of the defendants in this case described the lawsuit as "pathetic."

Unfortunately the courts system will never be able to completely end gender-based discrimination, because it is a spiritual problem of the heart.  While governments are instituted by God to reward those who do good and punish those who do evil, in many cases the court system can only bring equality in the same way that a lawnmower makes a yard egalitarian:  the tall grass is cut down to size. 

The gospel, on the other hand, is like fertilizer on a lawn.  Jesus Christ lifts up the downtrodden and brings a different type of equality at the foot of the cross, where both male and female sinners can find forgiveness.  Only through the transforming power of the gospel will men see women as equal heirs of salvation and honor them accordingly.  Only through sanctification will enable women to assume a complementary role in the home and church and stand against the temptation to conquer. 

Without the gospel, there will never be an end to the court battles seeking to level out unequal rights.