The House Armed Services Committee's recommendation that women be required to register for the draft has provoked reactions from an array of evangelicals, including Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary first lady Dorothy Patterson and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr.
Though mandatory female registration for the Selective Service is still a long way from becoming law, the House committee's 32-30 approval of the idea April 27 led Patterson to note military service for wives and mothers "has never been the norm."
Women generally should not participate in "military maneuvers ... not because a woman does not have the giftedness and intellectual prowess to do the job, but because her assignment in managing the home and helping her husband and nurturing her children is not only one of great magnitude but also one of overwhelming importance to the nation,"...