It’s really quite simple – God doesn’t discriminate between men and women when He calls them to be pastors. Baptists shouldn’t either.

This past week, there has been a lot of confusion about this Southern Baptist Convention amendment deal – although it narrowly failed, the SBC still believes only men can be pastors and is already routinely kicking out churches with female pastors.

The amendment would’ve clarified that the ban be automatically extended to all types of pastoral roles (associate pastors, senior adult pastors, etc.), and at 61%, it was just 5 percentage points away from doing so. Simply put, the SBC views female ministers, no matter how talented, as categorically inferior to male ministers. For them, in ministry, misogyny matters more than merit.

Still, we rise today encouraged, not discouraged – not because the Law amendment failed – but because more than ever, women are leading.

Baptist women who feel God’s call to serve in ministry as missionaries or pastors have the opportunities to do so thanks to Cooperative Baptists, Texas Baptists, Virginia Baptists, American Baptists, Baptist Women in Ministry, thousands of moderate Baptist churches across America, and the highest-ranked Baptist University in the world.

From the Civil War to the 19th Amendment to the Civil Rights Movement, the arc of history has always bent away from the discriminators and towards equality, not least because, as it is written in Galatians, we are all one in Christ Jesus. The same will be true of the Sexist Baptists, all in good time.

Jonathan Siktberg and Veta Sherman, Nashville 37212

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Misogyny should not eclipse merit for the Southern Baptist Convention