Presbyterian
Church Involved in Gender Controversy

The pastor of First Portadown, a Presbyterian church in Edenderry, Northern Ireland, has sparked a controversy involving gender equality.

For over 60 years, Portadown along with a neighboring church, Armagh Road, have held joint Christmas services. But this year Reverend Stafford Carson of Portadown said he would not allow fellow minister Reverend Christina Bradley into his pulpit because she is a woman.

"I come from Germany where this issue never arose," Bradley told the Belfast Telegraph. "I am saddened and puzzled that women -- who are fully-fledged ministers -- are not accepted by some clerics."

A Presbyterian moderator, Dr. John Finlay, told the BBC on Sunday that while the church has decided women are eligible in the same way as men, they also allow "those who have reservations about the role of women in the ministry to exercise freedom of conscience so that nobody is forced to act contrary to their own personal opinions."

Bradley said she has plans to meet with Carson to resolve the issue away from media glare. The BBC said Carson would not respond to its attempts to contact him. (The Advocate)