By the by, I grew up Southern Baptist and became Catholic in my teen years — so I have a foot in both worlds, with two first cousins who are SBC pastors.

This I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt: there never WAS a language of complementarianism among Southern Baptists. /1

The idea the the entire bible and all Christian revelation hinges on the biological distinction between male and female: that& #39;s a borrowing white evangelicals have taken — shame for both sides — from Catholics. Quite specifically, this ideology comes from St. John Paul II. /2

John Paul II crafted his theology of the body with its notion of complementarity, of all revelation hinging on the biological distinction between male and female (with straight men at the pinnacle of creation) to put women and queer folks back into their places. /3

And because white evangelicals love that project of shoving women and LGBTQ people back into their subordinate places, they have eagerly lapped up a theology completely alien to their foundations, just as they have done with the abortion issue. /4