Women In Combat

WOMEN IN COMBAT

INTRODUCTION "In the lull of peacetime , regulations that kept women in uniform at a safe distance from combat were lifted . We are now paying the price and being made to think that our national defense rests on the ability to deploy teenage girls and single mothers . What a disgrace " - Kate O 'Beirne .1

RELIGIOUS BELIEF

Christian moral teaching holds that military service is for men - not women . The Bible presents a comprehensive pattern of differentiation between men and women . Men are to protect women , even as women

bear a special responsibility as nurturers - as wives and mothers . Scriptural texts indicate that war is for men , and "wives "little ones " and cattle are to remain in the land while men go to war [Joshua 1 :14] Christians have understood this pattern for centuries , even if some appear confused in the present . Evangelical historian Harold O . J . Brown observed this consistent teaching within the Christian tradition "Within both Judaism and Christianity , indeed almost universally in all human culture , the military profession has been reserved for males .2

A TIME FOR TRUTH

Why are we not hearing more about the issue of women in combat ? The current war in Iraq raises this issue most urgently , because women have been deployed in front-line units from the very beginning of this effort . The famous case of Pfc . Jessica Lynch should have been sufficient to awaken Americans to the fact that women are now serving alongside men throughout the combat theatre .2...