Who Supports Women’s Ordination in America?

Abstract

This chapter examines the “who” of support for women’s ordination: who supports and who opposes female clergy in their congregations? It examines the nationwide Gender and Religious Representation Survey to uncover which factors are associated with support and which with opposition, paying special attention to things like personal demographics, religious behavior and attitudes, congregational context, and political orientations. The results show that support for female ordination is much more a function of congregational context and religious and political orientations than it is of demographics, most notably gender. Political and theological liberals as well as those currently attending congregations that admit female clergy support women’s ordination regardless of whether they are male or female. Also, those who have lower levels of sensitivity to “sanctity/purity” moral reasoning are more supportive of women’s ordination.