Well, she finally did it. Feminist Lutheran “pastor” Nadia Bolz-Weber has given abortion propagandist Gloria Steinem the vagina sculpture she made of Christian purity rings last year, reports The Blaze.
Last November, the founding pastor of Denver’s House for All Sinners and Saints — who once described herself to The Washington Post as a “tatted-up, foul-mouthed” leader of a “new, muscular form of liberal Christianity” — announced on Twitter her “massive art project” to create a golden idol to female genitalia in protest of evangelical purity.
“Beginning November 12th, until December 17th, you’ll have the opportunity to send in your purity rings to be melted down and recast into a golden vagina,” she explained on her website about her plans to create her feminist idol. “This sculpture will be unveiled at the 2019 Makers Conference.”
Women who sent Bolz-Weber their purity rings were given a “certificate of Impurity as well as a SHAMELESS, impurity ring.” Evangelicals sometimes refer to such purity rings as “promise” or “chastity” rings. They are typically given to young girls as a sign of promise to abstain from pre-marital sex.
When Bolz-Weber received enough rings, she had to hire a female welder to create the vagina statue after five men refused to make it. Upon presenting the statue to Steinem at the 2019 Makers conference, the feminist pastor denounced the purity rings as a “footnote” in a vast history.
“Every single thing and person that seemed so powerful as to feel inescapable, I name them, and then I just go ‘footnote,'” Bolz-Weber said. “I mean, seriously — Pontius Pilate? He’s a footnote. Your bully from middle school? Footnote. Your depression? Footnote. Your sh*tty boss? Footnote. All those things are very real, and the harm that they have on us and the world is also real.”
“But to me, the whole point of having faith is that it allows us to believe in a bigger story than the one we tell ourselves,” she added. “Those purity rings are a footnote.”
Bolz-Weber explained to HuffPost at the 2018 Makers Conference her motivation to “take down” the evangelical purity culture.
“This thing about women that the church has tried to hide and control and that is a canvas on which other people can write their own righteousness ― it’s actually ours,” Bolz-Weber said. “This part of me is mine and I get to determine what is good for it and if it’s beautiful and how I use it in the world.”
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has developed generally liberal views on abortion, homosexuality and universalism. Bolz-Weber said her denomination has largely supported her.
According to The Christian Post, the modern purity movement among evangelicals began in the 1990s and 2000s partly because of Joshua Harris’ 1997 book “I Kissed Dating Goodbye,” in which he suggested that dating should only be for preparing for marriage. Harris has since apologized for that viewpoint, saying he presented an unhealthy view of recreational dating.
“I didn’t leave room for the idea that dating could be a healthy way of learning what you’re looking for in a long-term relationship, that it could be a part of growing personally,” he admitted. “I gave the impression that there was one formula that you could follow, and if you followed that, you’d be happily married, God would bless you, and you’d have a great sex life and marriage. Obviously, the real world doesn’t work that way.”