Lesson video

Hi there, my young scholars of religion.

My name is Ms. Marx, and I'm going to be your religious education teacher today.

Today we're going to be looking at the roles of men and women in Christian worship.

And so for this, we're going to look at some original texts and how these have been interpreted differently by different Christian groups over time, as well as using the tools of social science to think about Christian attitudes to this today.

So when you're ready, let's go.

So by the end of the lesson today, you'll be able to explain what gender prejudice and discrimination are, and how denominations differ on gender roles in worship.

So let's start with our key terms. Discrimination, actions that come from prejudice attitudes.

Ordination, when someone is chosen and blessed to become a church leader, like a priest or a minister.

Prejudice, negative thoughts, feelings, or beliefs about a person prejudging them based on a characteristic they have, e.

g.

their gender.

And St.

Paul, an important Christian from the first century who wrote much of the New Testament, and that's in the Bible.

So look out for those in today's lesson.

So our lesson today will have two sections, understanding gender prejudice and discrimination, and the roles of men and women in Christian worship.

So let's start with our first section, understanding gender prejudice and discrimination.

Andeep and Laura are discussing what's meant by equality.

Andeep says, "For me, equality is the belief that everyone's equal in value and worth and it means treating everyone the same." And Laura says, "I agree that everyone's equal in value and worth, but people are different, so they sometimes need different support to have the same opportunity." Andeep and Laura agree on what equality means, but why might they have different ideas about how that can be achieved? Pause a video and have a think, and you could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, for some people, they believe everyone is equal, but perhaps they might have different roles or there might be different ways that that equality can be achieved.

Now, prejudice is harmful.

We said that prejudice is the thoughts, it's the pre-judging.

It's the idea you have about someone before you know them, before you know anything about them, from something about the characteristic, you might look at them or learn something about them, and think, "Well, that's how they are." So it's a thought, you're pre-judging someone before you even know them.

You've decided something about them because of one of their characteristics.

Now that can lead to discrimination.

So if prejudice is thought, discrimination is the action that's based on that prejudice.

And that's even more harmful, isn't it? Because that's an action.

You're actually doing something to that person because of these thoughts that the person has as the prejudice.

Prejudice could be, for example, believing that women are not as good as science or maths as men are, not because of who they are or their experience or their training, but just because she's a woman.

And then that prejudice is harmful because it spreads unfair beliefs that could damage people's confidence and encourage negative attitudes, and that that can lead to discrimination.

So, for example, if the prejudice is that women are not as good at science or maths, then the discrimination is the action of refusing to let a girl join the school's advanced maths group, for example, 'cause she's a female, thinking, "Oh, it's just gonna be made up of boys because of that prejudice that girls aren't good at maths." So you can see how the thought is harmful, but it can lead to even more harm when it turns into discrimination.

So discrimination is more harmful because it turns unfair beliefs into actions that limits someone's chances in life and denies them opportunities.

Let's do a quick check before we move on.

What is discrimination? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you got in a moment.

Well done.

Discrimination is actions that come from prejudice attitudes.

So prejudice is the thought, discrimination is the action.

Well done.

Well, we have got in the United Kingdom a really good set of laws, which are all put together under something called the Equality Act of 2010, and this brought together lots of different protected characteristics.

So we are talking about gender or sex today, and the idea of gender prejudice, discrimination, but there are also many other things that are covered and every single person has one of these characteristics.

So it protects everybody in the U.

K.

So in order to ensure fairness, this U.

K.

law lists nine protected characteristics.

The law forbids discrimination against people based on these traits.

So we've got race and ethnicity, disability, religion or belief, age, sexual orientation, sex, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, and marriage and civil partnerships.

So everyone has at least one of these characteristics, which are protected by this law.

Gender discrimination would be unlawful because sex is a protected characteristic.

So the example we had earlier of a girl not being allowed to join a maths group, for example, would be a case of gender discrimination.

That would be going against the Equality Act.

Let's do another check before we move on.

Name one protected characteristic.

Pause the video and have a go.

See what you've got in a moment.

Well done.

You could have said any one of the following, age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

Well done.

So today we're thinking about Christian responses to gender prejudice and discrimination.

So along with following the laws of the land that somebody lives in, Christians are also gonna look to the Bible as a source of wisdom and authority for them to understand prejudice and discrimination, and perhaps what their attitudes and actions can be to do with this.

So if we look at the Bible, we've got this quote in Genesis 1:27.

It's right at the very beginning of the Bible, and it says, "So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God, He created the male and female, he created them." So what does this quotation suggest about the value of people? Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the Person next to you or talk to me.

When it suggests that everybody has equal value and God-given dignity regardless of differences.

So even here right at the very beginning of the Bible, it's saying that male and female are made in the image of God.

They're both made in the image of God.

So this could be a really powerful quote to use to do with prejudice and discrimination, 'cause here it's saying that both male and female are made in the image of God.

And so this verse is also used to support the idea that all life is sacred.

If we're all made in the image of God, all life is sacred, every human, male and female.

Sometimes this is known as the sanctity of life.

And in the New Testament we've got written by St.

Paul, an important passage which is used against all different types of prejudice and discrimination, but today, we're thinking about gender discrimination.

So, "There's neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, for your all one in Christ Jesus." So what do these words suggest believing in Christ means for people then? Pause video and have a think.

You can reread the passage and talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, here we've got this suggestion, there should be no divisions made on race, class, or gender in the Christian community, because Jew or Gentile was a way of clarifying different races at the time of St.

Paul, slave nor free was to do with the different classes within society, and then we've got male nor female.

So this shows that both men and women are all one in Christ Jesus.

It's a belief in Christ that matters, not these differences.

So I think you could link that back to some of those protected characteristics.

Let's do another check before we move on.

There's neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all what in Christ Jesus? What is the missing word? Pause the video and have a go.

See what you've got in a moment.

Well done.

It was one.

So just seen there two important Bible verses which could be used against gender prejudice and discrimination.

But how might Christians actually act this out in today's world then? With the inclusive Methodist Church, so the Methodist Church is one denomination of Christianity and this is an initiative within that church, and it emphasises the importance of equal opportunity and diversity.

And let's see what they do.

Here's Louise, who's a Methodist.

"As a Methodist, I believe everyone is equal in the eyes of God and should be fully included in the life of the church and society.

I support justice and I challenge gender discrimination.

My church supports me as a woman and I feel equal to men." Thank you, Louise.

There's also the United Reform Church denomination, and this has an inequalities policy that welcomes people of all identities and all backgrounds.

So all of those different protected characteristics.

And here's Simon, who goes to United Reform Church, and he says, "As a member of the United Reform Church, I believe everyone's made in God's image and should be treated with dignity.

I speak out against gender discrimination and help make the church and society more welcoming to all." Thank you, Simon.

And then we can also look at the Roman Catholic Church as a denomination.

And in the catechism of the Catholic Church 1935, it teaches that discrimination is sinful.

Individual Catholic organisations create their own policies on equality to be able to show this.

So here's James, who's a Catholic, and he says, "As a Catholic, I believe God created all people with equal worth.

Discrimination goes against God's wishes, so I treat others with compassion and stand up for those who are treated unfairly.

Whilst men and women may have different roles in worship, they are equally important to our community." So here we can see James suggesting there might be different roles within the church for men and women, yet they are equal, and he will speak up against gender discrimination if he sees it.

Whereas we didn't have that caveat with Louise and Simon from the other denominations.

So maybe this can point us towards some differences in the roles of men and women in Christian worship in these different churches.

And then we have the Quaker Church, also known as Society of Friends.

And the Quakers in Britain have an equality and diversity policy, which aligns with their core teachings, and they believe that there is that of God in everyone.

So here's John, who's a Quaker, and he's gonna explain to us.

"As a Quaker, I believe that because God is in everyone, all people are equal in worth.

I act with simplicity, fairness, and care, challenging discrimination wherever I see it, and working for a world where everyone is treated with respect.

We have a priesthood of all believers in our church, and so no one is a leader of others, so both men and women are equal in our worship." So here we're starting to see what some of those differences could be in some churches to the roles of men and women in worship.

Whereas in the Quaker Church, there is no leader who's leading the worship.

And so the idea of it being male or female leadership isn't really relevant 'cause everyone is equal in the worship.

Thank you, John.

Let's do another check.

Which denomination has no leaders of their worship, meaning neither men nor women are the leaders? Is it A, Roman Catholicism, B, Methodist, C, Baptist, or D, Quaker? Pause the video and have a go.

We'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done.

It was the Quaker Church, also known as the Society of Friends.

So let's do a practise test to see what we've learned so far then.

Alex and Aisha are working on the question, explain, from either two religions or two religious traditions, beliefs about gender, prejudice, and discrimination.

You're going to expand on the explanations by filling in the missing parts.

So, first, we have a point from Alex.

One Christian belief on gender prejudice and discrimination is that men and women are equal.

And the importance of this is this means Christians should not treat anyone as less valuable because of their gender.

And Aisha says, "Another Christian belief on gender prejudice and discrimination is that men and women are sacred." And the importance of this is that prejudice and discrimination ignore the inherent dignity of men and women.

Now, for each their points, you're going to develop it and also include a source of wisdom and authority.

So you can think back to the quotes that we had earlier in the lesson, pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

Some really good thinking there.

So you could have said, "One Christian belief on gender prejudice and discrimination is that men and women are equal." And you could develop by saying, "This is because Christians believe everyone is one in Christ and should be treated fairly regardless of their gender.

The source of wisdom or authority could be the Bible says, 'There's neither Jew nor Gentiles, slave nor free, male nor female, if you are all one in Christ Jesus.

'" And that was in Galatians in the Bible.

And this is important because it means Christians should not treat anyone as less valuable because of their gender.

And Aisha's point was another Christian belief on gender prejudice and discrimination is that men and women are sacred.

And you could develop this by saying, "This means everyone should be treated with dignity regardless of their gender." And your source of wisdom or authority could be that quote in Genesis, "The Bible teaches us that everyone was made in the image of God." And the importance of this is prejudice and discrimination ignore the inherent dignity of men and women.

So number one, everyone is made in the image of God and everybody's equal, and that passage, they're saying male and female.

And then number two, we've got the idea that everyone is one in Christ.

So in the Christian community, everyone is equal too.

Well done.

So onto our second section then, the roles of men and women in Christian worship.

So we've seen that really strong teachings within Christianity and within different denominations, the idea that prejudice and discrimination based on gender is wrong, and that Christians do and should speak up against this because of the inherent worth in every human, male or female.

But whilst Christians may be opposed to gender prejudice and discrimination, some denominations have separate roles for men and women in worship.

And we saw that in the point from James or Roman Catholic earlier.

Some Christians will say, "Everyone's equal.

There should be no prejudice and discrimination based on gender, but there may be different roles within worship." However, many Christians who attend churches has separate roles for men and women in worship may believe men and women have equal roles in the home and wider society.

So now that we're going to look at some examples of Christian worship.

It doesn't mean that all the people within that denomination therefore think men and women have different roles in the home or in society.

This is specific to the idea of Christian worship.

So we can see here that all the dominations branch off from Jesus, and then the disciples who followed Him and kind of compiled the Bible.

And then we have the different branches that come off of that.

So we're going to look at a few of these as examples and how they may have different roles for men and women in Christian worship.

So the way in which Christians interpret the Bible has a huge influence on the teachings of different denominations on leadership of worship within the church.

So all Christians will have the Bible as their sort of foundational text, and it's very important, but sometimes it can be translated differently 'cause it wasn't originally written in English.

And then it can be interpreted in different ways.

And the meaning of it to apply that text from 2,000 years ago to today can be different depending on the different denominations.

So that leads to a difference in ideas about leadership of worship within the church.

And here's one example.

We've got in a letter that St.

Paul wrote to Timothy.

"I do not permit a woman to teach or assume authority over a man.

She must be quiet." I wonder if you can think of how that could link to the leadership of worship within the church.

Pause a video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, this seems to suggest that female leadership in the church would be wrong, doesn't it? I do not permit a woman to teach or assume authority over a man.

She must be quiet.

How can a woman be teaching, preaching in church, or leading some of the sacraments if she has to be quiet? But it's actually interpreted in different ways by denominations today.

Remember, this is just one line that I've given you here.

I gave you two lines earlier on as well.

It's just one line of the Bible that we're looking at here.

So maybe we can understand it in different ways.

So some churches and Christians understand this verse as clearly teaching that female leadership of worship would be wrong.

So, Jason is a Roman Catholic priest, and he's going to explain how his church interprets this teaching.

So here's the teaching again, "I do not permit a woman to teach or assume authority over a man.

She must be quiet," from St.

Paul.

And Jason says, "This teaching shows that women should not be leaders above men in the church, nor should they preach, which is when people might give talks or sermons during the service, or administer the sacraments.

There are however many other important things that women can do in the church and they are equal to men, even with different roles." So here we have this idea again, everybody's equal, made in the image of God, but there may be different roles.

And women can take positions of the church, but not be above or over authority over men.

So within the Roman Catholic church, because of interpretations of verses like this, there will not be female priests and there won't be female popes, for example.

But other churches and Christians understand this verse as only applying to that particular time and place.

I said to you, it was one line that we've lifted to then apply to today.

So other Christians interpret it in a different way.

Ji-eun is a Methodist minister.

She's female and she's a minister.

So already that gives us a clue as to what her denomination thinks about this verse.

And she's explained to us how her church interprets this teaching.

"I do not permit a woman to teach or assume authority of a man.

She must be quiet." And Ji-eun says, "This verse should be read in its historical context.

It's attributed to St.

Paul, who wrote this letter to a specific Christian community, yet in Galatians, he declared, 'There's neither male nor female.

'" So actually that St.

Paul who wrote the passage we sought from Galatians earlier.

"Also, Jesus entrusted women with announcing His resurrection to the disciples." So Christians believed that when Jesus rose from the dead, some of the first people to see Him were some women, including Mary Magdalene.

And He said to them to go and tell the disciples that He'd risen from the dead.

So it is as if He gave them a message to go and speak it to the disciples.

And for Christians, it's almost the most important message really, isn't it? That Jesus rose from the dead and He entrusted that to women to go and say it to the men.

So Ji-eun is saying here, you know, if we take the whole story of the Bible, when we take all of Paul's writings rather than one line, we don't have to interpret it in that same way.

Thank you, Ji-eun.

So because we have these differences, and that's just two examples I've shown you, but there's lots of different interpretations that Christians can have of these verses and others, we have got different denominations, who may or may not allow ordination of women.

So ordination, if you remember from our keywords, who someone's given within a church group, a particular authority, they're blessed and sort of given that role to lead the community.

So like Jason does for the Roman Catholic Church that we just saw and Ji-eun does in the Methodist church.

So some Christian denominations allow female ordination in worship, but some do not.

So here we've got some different Christian domination.

The Church of England, also known as Anglican, does allow female ordination.

The Methodist church, as we've seen with Ji-eun, does allow female ordination.

The Plymouth Brethren takes a very literal view of St.

Paul's words in the Bible.

So not only do women not lead the services, but often they'll remain silent in the church services or even if they're singing, they'll sing quieter than the men, so their voices are not heard over the men as to follow that in a very literal way.

The Quakers, or Society of Friends do allow female leadership within their services, but don't have ordination because they have that priesthood of all believers.

The Roman Catholic Church does not, and the Orthodox church does not.

Whilst women cannot be ordained in the Roman Catholic Church though, they can take a very active role in other forms of leadership such as administrative roles, education, and take up holy orders as nuns.

So there are many, many roles for women, and there's been some very important women within the Roman Catholic Church throughout history and today.

So there are important roles for women.

They just cannot take that ordained role and lead the sacraments and lead the services.

And then we have the Orthodox Church, which also doesn't allow female ordination.

And one of the reasons the Orthodox Church doesn't allow this isn't just that verse from St.

Paul, but also the fact that Jesus was male, He appointed male disciples.

However, there are still important roles that women can have within the Orthodox Church, and they are still seen as equal to men.

Well done.

Let's look at a case study of female ordination then.

Here's Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin.

Now, you know she's not going to be in the Roman Catholic Church or in the Orthodox Church because she's an ordained bishop.

So within certain churches, you have got priests or ministers.

And then above them, in a kind of hierarchy, people who manage whole groups of churches are called bishops.

And so here's Bishop Rose.

So she's not only become a leader of a local church, but also a leader of other churches.

She was ordained bishop in the Church of England, or Anglican, and she was the first female Black bishop to be ordained.

She has held the role of the speaker's chaplain, meaning that she's led prayers and worship in the Houses of Parliament.

So not just a group of churches, but the whole House of Parliament, which kind of manages and governs our whole country.

She's led then in prayer and worship.

And she's also led prayers at royal weddings.

So she's a fantastic example of someone who's female, who's been ordained, and who has been given great authority in the Church of England.

And what if you can think of any Bible verses which might have inspired her to do this? Pause the video and have a think, and talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Let's do a quick check.

Rose Hudson-Wilkin is a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a go.

We'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

It's false, isn't it? But why? It's false because the Roman Catholic Church does not ordain women.

She's a bishop of the Church of England because they do ordain women.

Well done.

Now, there we were looking at some sort of broad different denominations that have particular kind of official stances on whether women can be ordained or not.

But within a church, the members of that church can have different views, with between different denominations, you've got different views, but also within a denomination because Christians have their own conscience and they can make up their own minds about these things.

So we can look now an example of this.

Using the tools of social science, we can better understand what some of the views are within Christian churches and why this may differ from the church's teaching.

So now we can use some of our tools from social science.

One tool is to use surveys.

And in 2025, PEW research surveyed Roman Catholic Christians to find out what they thought about female ordination in the church.

What do you think they found out? Pause video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

While PEW research Asked Roman Catholic Christians not only whether they thought females should be ordained in the church or there should be female priests, but also how often they attended the church, and they wanted to see if that had an impact on what their view was about female ordination.

Let's see what they found out.

So here we've got two pie charts showing this difference.

We've got people saying yes, no, and not sure to the question, should the Catholic church allow women priests, should women be able to be ordained in the Catholic church? Can you spot a difference between those who attended at least every week and those who didn't attend every week? What's the difference here between the two pie charts? Pause the video and have a think, and you could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

While regular attendance to church seems to influence the opinion on whether the church should allow ordination of women.

Here we've got people who attend at least weekly, so at least once a week.

58% of the people who responded said, "No, the Roman Catholic Church should not allow women priests." So that is over half of them.

And then we've got some saying, "Not sure," 3% here, and then 41% saying, "Yes, the Roman Catholic Church should allow women priests." But look at the difference with those who attend less often.

So they still identify as Roman Catholic, they view themselves as Roman Catholic Christians, but they don't attend every week.

Here we've got 67%, saying, "Yes, it should allow women priests here." And that amount saying no has gone down to 32%.

And actually, more people seem sure of their view, don't they? 'Cause you've only got 1% saying, "Not sure." So it seems to suggest that attending church regularly might have an influence on the opinion on whether the church should allow ordination of women or not.

Let's explore this a bit more.

We've got Niamh and Danielle here who are going to talk to us.

Niamh and Danielle are both Roman Catholic Christians.

Danielle attends every week and Niamh does not.

So let's see what they say.

And Niamh says, "I think men and women should have equal opportunities in all areas of life, especially in the church, because one type of person isn't more important than another." And Danielle says, "Yes, but being ordained doesn't make you more important than others in the church.

Jesus' mother was not ordained but she is very important to me." So perhaps for Niamh, she feels that if men and women could both be ordained at the church, that would seem to be that they were just as important as each other.

But for Danielle, she doesn't see importance as the person who's ordained.

It's just a role that they're fulfilling.

There's other roles that people can perform that are very important too.

Which of these views do you find the most convincing and why? Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

And why do you think attendance to church could influence their views on this then? Have another think.

You can pause the video and talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

So time for a quick check.

We have seen that there can be different religious views on the ordination of women in the church.

So let's together give the first of two Christian views about the ordination of women in a church.

Hm, women can be ordained as we're all one in Christ Jesus.

So over to you then.

Give the second of two Christian views about the ordination of women in the church.

Pause a video and have a go, and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done.

We could have here that Jesus only chose male disciples, so women cannot be ordained.

Well done.

So let's do another practise task to see what we've learned.

You're going to decide whether the arguments below support the statement, Christians should accept the ordination of women in the church, or do they argue for a different point of view.

You're going to complete the table by explaining how.

So here are the points.

Remember, the statement is, Christians should accept the ordination of women in the church, and the points are St.

Paul said women should not have authority over men.

St.

Paul said there's neither male nor female, all are one.

Genesis states that we are all made in the image of God.

And Jesus only chose male disciples, who later became the apostles.

Now does that support the statement or go against it, and explain why? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done.

You could have said, St.

Paul said women should not have authority over men.

That doesn't support the statement because St.

Paul's words here suggest women cannot have authority over men, so they can't leave the whole community in a church.

St.

Paul said there's neither male nor female, all are one.

Yes, that supports the statement because St.

Paul's words here support men and women having equal access and opportunities in the church.

Genesis states that all are made in the image of God.

Yes, that seems to support it because it suggests all people are equal and sacred as made in the image of God.

And Jesus only chose male disciples, who later became the apostles.

No, it doesn't seem to support it because Christian traditions states the first leaders of the church were men and the authorities been passed down through men.

Well done.

So let's summarise everything we've learned today then.

Prejudice means forming unfair opinions or attitudes about someone without really knowing them.

Discrimination happens when people act unfairly towards others because of prejudice.

Gender prejudice and discrimination happens when someone is unfairly thought of or treated because of their gender.

The majority of Christians are opposed to gender prejudice and discrimination.

Some denominations have equal access to leadership and ordination in their churches.

Other denominations do not allow female ordination, and in some cases, other forms of female leadership in the church.

So, well done your hard work today, and I hope to see you again soon.

Bye-bye.