Evangelical Pastor Questions If It is Biblical For Sarah Palin To Be Vice President?

Below is a partial transcript of the discussion:

KYRA PHILLIPS: And here's what's interesting, Reverend Baucham, she is winning over church leaders that don't even allow women to preach at the pulpit, yet she could be leading the country.
What do you make of that?
VODDIE BAUCHAM: Well, it is interesting, the bottom line on that is people look at this ticket and their fear is that we will have Barack Obama as our president, that we will be moved toward a socialist agenda, that we would have the most radically pro-abortion candidate ever to run for president to serve in that office. And that is an untenable position for evangelicals, and so they look at this and they're trying to decide this based on what is best for the nation in the here and now, and oftentimes, overlooking some of those other issues.
PHILLIPS: Do you think that that is something - are you saying that shouldn't be overlooked? I mean, do you think that women, in evangelical circles where women are not allowed to preach - let's say that Palin and McCain do win and here you have this woman that could possibly be leading the free world, and yet, there is evangelicals voting for her that don't even believe that a woman should preach at the pulpit?
Could this change the face of how evangelicals believe in the woman's role?
BAUCHAM: I don't think it will change the way evangelicals believe about women's roles. I think it has sparked a discussion and quite frankly feminism has gained a foothold in many evangelical churches -
PHILLIPS: Do you think it is a good thing?
BAUCHAM: No I don't. Not at all.
PHILLIPS: Why not?
BAUCHAM: Well because we are about the gospel. The culture does not dictate truth. The gospel dictates truth. My job is not to be a political pundit or a political activist, my job is to be a pastor and proclaim the truth of the gospel as clearly as I possibly can.
PHILLIPS: Well wait a minute. What about the Old Testament and the prophet Deborah? She was a political leader, she was a wife, she was a mother. She was one of the biggest forces in the book of Genesis, so that is the gospel right there.
BAUCHAM: She certainly was, and the fact that something happened doesn't mean that it's normative for the church. In Isaiah Chapter 3, for example, one of the signs that a culture is under judgment is that women are in leadership in their nations. So Deborah was actually a sign that things were very bad in Israel. Not a norm for the church.
PHILLIPS: Margaret, I am curious to see what you think about this and what the reverend is saying.
MARGARET FEINBERG: I think that that is a fair perspective, Voddie, but I think we also need to look at Ephesians 5, which describes - it is saying that husbands are to lay down their lives for their wives, just as Jesus Christ laid down his life for the church. And in the same way, I think Todd has done an incredible job opening up the opportunity for Palin to use the gifts and the talents and passions that she has been given in order to make a difference in her community and possibly in our nation and world on a significant political landscape and affect.
PHILLIPS: Margaret, does the reverend sounding a little sexist, or is it just me?
FEINBERG: I would have to say the reverend is sounding a little questionable there. But in the sense that I believe that everyone, despite gender, has an opportunity to serve, to give and to play a role in making a difference in their communities, in their churches and around the world.
PHILLIPS: Reverend, this could be an exciting time. This could break through. We are becoming progressive in so many ways. We're seeing a black man possibly winning the presidency, we're seeing a woman here that - on the Republican ticket - that's rousing up evangelicals, possibly to think twice about the woman's role in the church. This is fascinating times.
BAUCHAM: They are fascinating times. And they are also frightening times. When you see Margaret Feinberg use Ephesians Chapter 5, which clearly says that a husband is head of the wife, in order to justify somehow with this slight of hand that Palin's husband is laying down his life by allowing her to do that, No. 1 she is playing fast and loose with the text. And secondly, she is also ignoring the fact that Palin's responsibility as a wife and mother is governed by scripture, not by whether we feel it is progressive about our culture.
PHILLIPS: Margaret, final thought there?
FEINBERG: Well, Voddie, I believe that is a narrow interpretation and a boxy interpretation of the text, as well as the role of women who in today's working families - many families in the United States need both the man and the wife in order to work outside of the home in order to support the family. And to put that kind of burden on the family, whereby a woman must stay at home, I just don't think that translates into many working class families today.
BAUCHAM: Well, my job is not to translate into working class families, my job is to be honest with the text. And the text says, in Titus Chapter 2, verse 5, the woman is to be to the keeper of her home. Now I will not violate the teaching of the text in order to somehow sound more appropriate for the culture. I am a herald of the truth of the gospel and my job is to teach the gospel according to what the authors have said, not according to what I think the culture wants to hear.
FEINBERG: But Voddie, being a keeper of the home can be translated in so many different ways. And that means that if a woman happens to be the breadwinner, shouldn't they have the opportunity to step out and take care of their family in that way?
BAUCHAM: Listen -
PHILLIPS: All right. What about the text that says the man and the woman should submit to one another. I think I'm just going to leave it right there, folks. And I'm going to be studying the Bible tonight and I promise to bring you two back, especially as we see this go forward and seeing how evangelicals vote.
Thank you so much, Margaret Feinberg and Reverend Voddie Baucham.
BAUCHAM: Thank you.