(RNS) — The United States Constitution rightly secures protections for Americans whatever their race, religion and ethnicity. But not gender.
Any rights and protections based on gender — equal pay for men and women, equality in marriage, freedom from workplace discrimination and sexual harassment and from gender-based violence — are rooted in laws that may be repealed or modified by legislatures according to political winds and whims. There is no guaranteed enforcement of gender rights.
The Equal Rights Amendment can change that. President Joe Biden has the authority to make the ERA the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution before he leaves office. The ERA was approved by Congress in 1972 and reached its ratification requirement with Virginia in 2020. Indeed, in the opinion of the American Bar Association, “the ERA has satisfied all constitutional requirements to become the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”
Protecting human rights, safety and dignity is fundamental to Christianity and aligned with how Jesus lived and what he taught. The ERA would provide much-needed foundational protections against discrimination and violence. Christians can answer the call by demanding that the president push the ERA across the finish line.
Importantly, the amendment will also protect against some of the most radical elements of Project 2025, a proposed agenda for the incoming Trump administration put together by some of President-elect Donald Trump’s advisers. Items on this agenda include restrictions on contraception, a national abortion ban, overturning marriage equality, gutting assistance programs, denying health care and other measures that would put women and families at risk and strip LGBT people of their dignity and humanity.
Jesus’ words made clear he deeply valued all people, including women for their strength, wisdom and leadership. They played a central role in his ministry. Women were by Jesus’ side when he preached, as he suffered on the cross and when he was resurrected. In the Gospel of John, he chooses the woman at the well as an evangelist, and the only example we have of Jesus learning from someone comes in the Gospel of Matthew, when a mother desperately seeking healing for her daughter reminded Jesus to live out the lessons he was teaching — namely, to treat everyone equally. He obliged.
Women also helped lead the early church. The New Testament names Phoebe, the deaconess, and Chloe, Nympha and Apphia. Paul was impressed with Junia; Priscilla was a church planter. In the Book of Acts, Tabitha leads a ministry and Philip’s four daughters each became prophets. The gifts of the Spirit — wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues — are all poured out to men and women equally. Paul put women in ministry roles, and Galatians makes it clear all are equal and worthy.
The Bible is also filled to the brim with patriarchy, reflecting ancient times when women were often seen as not much more than possessions. But these are no longer ancient times. Today, gender equality is included in 168 countries’ constitutions, but not the United States’. For its part, the United States tied with Syria in 2018 on a list of the most dangerous countries in the world for women, where women were at greatest risk of sexual violence, harassment and coercion into sex. The U.S. ranked sixth that year for domestic abuse.
Still, women continue to lead. Allyson McKinney Timm is a human rights lawyer, scholar and faith leader who founded Justice Revival. She’s been mobilizing Christians to support the ERA for many years. According to longtime human rights lawyer and ERA activist Kate Kelly, “I think that women are realizing that nothing that we have is permanent. Nothing is too sacred to be rolled back, and things that we have taken for granted in the past are now up for grabs.”
The bar for any new constitutional amendment is rightly high. It must pass both houses of Congress with a two-thirds majority, and three-quarters of the states (38 states) must ratify it. One mom was determined to see that happen. Kati Hornung, who credits her kids for “reigniting her passion for equality and fairness in our Constitution,” led the successful effort to make Virginia the 38th state to ratify the ERA.
That was in 2020 and — no surprise — politics got in the way. Hornung is now executive director of VoteEquality and is working alongside an ambitious alliance created in the wake of the ugly misogyny that surfaced during this recent election. Renewed vigor around the ERA has also attracted numerous faith-based organizations.
The goal is clear: Get the ERA onto Biden’s desk. Given the grave uncertainties around the corner, Biden has not just the authority but the moral obligation to act before he leaves office.
And that is why he needs to hear from you.
We need the faith voice — especially the Christian voice — to help flood the White House with postcards and letters calling on Biden to make the ERA the 28th Amendment. (There are also petitions, protests and plenty of online actions — lots of ways to engage can be found here.) But there’s nothing like finding a personal note in your mailbox. So Take Back Christianity invites you to pull out those magic markers and get creative. Get your church involved. We did! Biden needs to hear from you because 170 million women and girls who deserve better are waiting to hear from him.
(The Rev. Mark Sandlin is a Presbyterian Church (USA) minister in Greensboro, N.C., and the Rev. Caleb Lines, affiliated with United Church of Christ and the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ, serves in San Diego. They are the founders of Take Back Christianity. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of RNS.)
