Editing Ordination (section)

==Ordination of women==
{{Main|Ordination of women}}

The ordination of women is often a controversial issue in religions where either the office of ordination, or the role that an ordained person fulfills, is traditionally restricted to men, for various theological reasons.

=== In Christianity ===
{{More citations needed section|date=December 2020}}
{{Main|Ordination of women#Christianity}}
The Christian priesthood has traditionally been reserved to men. Some{{Who|date=May 2013}} claim that women were ordained deacons in the first millennium of Christianity, but their claims are disputed. After the Protestant Reformation and the loosening of authority structures within many denominations, most Protestant groups re-envisioned the role of the ordained priesthood.  Many did away with it altogether.  Others altered it in fundamental ways, often favoring a rabbinical-type married minister of teaching (word) and discarding any notion of a sacrificial priesthood.  A common epithet used by Protestants (especially Anglicans) against Catholics was that Catholics were a 'priest-ridden' people.  Hatred for priests was a common element of [[anti-Catholicism]] and pogroms against Catholics focused on expelling, killing, or forcefully 'laicizing' priests.{{Citation needed|date=May 2013}}

Beginning in the twentieth century, many Protestant denominations began re-evaluating the roles of women in their churches. Many now ordain women.{{Citation needed|date=May 2013}} According to the biblical [[book of Judges]], a wise and brave woman named [[Deborah]] was the fourth judge of the ancient [[Israelites]]. She was instrumental in implementing a strategic military strategy that delivered the Israelites from the oppressive Canaanite king [[Jabin]]. Likewise, [[Jael]] was courageous and primary in the Israelite victory. Her prudent actions killed the commander [[Sisera]] after he fled on foot following the battle. Within the Book of Judges, there is a repetitive cycle of sin and deliverance. There is also a proposition regarding the cyclical offenses: "In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes" (Jdg. 21:25). Based partially upon the leadership of the prophetess, Deborah, some Protestant and non-denominational organizations grant ordination to women. Other denominations refute the claim of a precedent based on Deborah's example because she is not specifically described as ruling over Israel, rather giving judgments on contentious issues in private, not teaching publicly,<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+4;&version=47|title=Bible Gateway passage: Judges 4 – English Standard Version|website=Bible Gateway|access-date=9 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160521154908/https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges%204|archive-date=21 May 2016}}</ref> neither did she lead the military.<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto">{{cite book | last = Grudem | first = Wayne | author-link = Wayne Grudem | title = Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth: An Analysis of more than 100 Disputed Questions | publisher = Multnomah Publishers, Inc. | year = 2004 | location = Sisters, Oregon | page = 864 | url = http://www.efbt100.com/index.php | archive-url = https://archive.today/20070703234757/http://www.efbt100.com/index.php | url-status = dead | archive-date = 3 July 2007 | isbn = 1-57673-840-X }}</ref> Her message to her fellow judge Barak in fact affirmed the male leadership of Israel.<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto"/> The [[United Church of Canada]] has ordained women since 1932. The [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]] ordains women as pastors, and women are eligible for election as bishops. [[The Episcopal Church in the United States of America]] ordains women as deacons, priests and bishops. [[The Lutheran Evangelical Protestant Church]] ordains women at all levels including deacon, priest and bishop. Other denominations leave the decision to ordain women to the regional governing body, or even to the congregation itself; these include the [[Christian Reformed Church in North America]] and the [[Evangelical Presbyterian Church (United States)|Evangelical Presbyterian Church]].  The ordination of women in the latter half of the 20th century was an important issue between Anglicans and Catholics since the Catholic Church viewed the ordination of women as a huge obstacle to possible rapprochement between the two churches.{{Citation needed|date=May 2013}}

The Catholic Church has not changed its view or practice on the ordination or women, and neither have any of the Orthodox churches; these churches represent approximately 65% of all Christians worldwide. In response to the growing call for the ordination of women, Pope John Paul II issued the statement ''[[Ordinatio sacerdotalis]]'' in 1995. In it, he gave reasons why women cannot be ordained, and defined that the Holy Spirit had not conferred the power to ordain women upon the Church. In the wake of this definitive statement, many theologians considered the issue settled, but many continue to push for the ordination of women in the Catholic Church. Some have even begun protest churches.{{Citation needed|date=May 2013}}

=== In Judaism ===
{{Main|Women in Judaism}} 
Policy regarding the ordination of women differs among the different [[denominations of Judaism]]. Most Orthodox congregations do not allow female rabbis, while more liberal congregations began allowing female rabbis by the middle of the twentieth century.