I was asked to write an article about the role of women in the ministry of the church, pointing to some arguments in my own Polish cultural and theological context for and against women's ordination. But I found that I am no fighter for or against women in the church. So let me invite you instead for a short trip through Semko's vision of the equality of human beings.

All humans are equal

The first basic rule is very well known and obvious for at least most of us Reformed Christians. All humans are equal.

I really don't know what kind of explanation I can give you of how I came to this conclusion. I mean, of course, feelings, not a logical reflection. I will tell you a few words about my journey toward Christianity and maybe it will explain what I mean.

I was born in Poland, a country which is said to be about 97% Christian. I was born into a Catholic family that was strongly traditional but very weak in reflection and religiosity as well as in its need for worship.

I went through all basic sacramental requirements of my faith (at this time and even long afterwards I was taught to call it simply "the faith", with the implication that there was no other phenomenon under the sun that could be so called). So from the point of view of my family I was a proper Catholic kid.

Maybe it was because of the teachers of religion at my church (at this time, in the deep communist era in Poland, we were taught religion only in church, at school it was forbidden), or because of the hypocrisy of those around me acting contrary to all that was preached in the church, or because of something else, but I began to have doubts.

First, of course, I went to my family with my religious problems, but they were unable to solve them. Then it was the turn of the priests. The result was no different. The only answer I got was of this kind: "Be silent and obey, maybe then you will get an understanding of the mysteries of the faith". I suppose that not very many people would be satisfied by this kind of answer.

So I tried to go elsewhere. It was nothing like revolution or rebellion against the church. It seems funny to me now, but at that time I didn't even know that there was something like Protestantism around me. Eastern religions were much closer. At this time in Poland we had just been introduced to Hare Krishna, Zen, different kinds of Hinduism, etc. So I started with literature like "Yogasutra" by Patanjali and some works by Sen Sa Nim Seung Sahn, a master of Zen Buddhism. I still think that they gave me a foundation of tolerance and peace that faith in Jesus Christ concretized much later in my heart and mind.

Afterwards I went through a few sects or religious minorities (what you call them depends on your attitude towards them), but not reaching any stage of my personal development I would be satisfied with, before meeting for the first time a different branch of Christianity that until then I didn't even know existed.

My story about how I became a Christian again, if told in detail, would probably be too long to fit into this text, so let me just say that finally I came back home and that I found a good and safe harbour. I am Reformed now. However, I don't think I forgot what I went through at all or what I learned along the way.

Difference and tolerance

All these religious journeys gave me a lot of tolerance toward different people. How can I say that others are bad, or worse than me, if I have done the same as some of them did? The only category I was able to find without hypocrisy was "different", but not "worse".

"Different" is a good word. It means that somebody does something else than I do. It could mean that she/he believes in some other values than me. It could mean as well - to extend a bit - she/he can look a bit different than me, have different skin, hair, eyes, voice, nationality, knowledge, etc., etc.

It cannot mean, however, any kind of discrimination.

For me, all my life, difference was a source of enrichment and personal growth.

I cannot depreciate the other because of the difference between us and value myself very highly at the same time. This would be blindness and racism in their clearest form.

So, I guess this would be my personal definition of the need for tolerance, equality, freedom, etc: to love, value and respect my neighbour, my fellow creature, is an irrevocable requirement even for basic self-esteem.

Here I would use a Polish saying that if I want to be able to look into the mirror at my reflection and shave myself without a shaking hand, then I have to live without hypocrisy.

Exclusion

From time to time I am awoken by some new thought or idea. It happened once that I was awoken by discovering that around me in my society there is a lot of intolerance towards women which is not even mentioned. I have seen the same phenomenon with regard to people of different colour, to some nationalities (i.e. Russians, Germans, Jews, etc.), to political options, etc.

It starts from exclusive language and ends in an exclusive mentality. Our Polish language sharply distinguishes feminine and masculine forms. It is really hard to speak inclusively of men and women in this language, but with some effort and, perhaps, some artificiality, it is possible. Normally, however, people do not notice how they are excluding half (or, in our demographic situation, even more than half) of humanity just by talking. This influences, of course, all the other spheres of life built on the logical sign that is the word.

It is the same situation with other kinds of exclusivity.

Lately, however, I have recognized (and this is not only a Polish phenomenon) that the people or movements that try to draw our attention to this issue are also infected by the same exclusivity.

For example - I tell it as a joke but it is true as well - here, in Europe or in the USA, standing in any kind of election I have two disadvantages. First, I am white. Secondly, I am male. If there is a female, non-white candidate standing against me she will win without any doubt, if only because of these two reasons. So, in what is a kind of irony, I now find myself in the position of those who for a long time have been oppressed by people like me.

It is not that I am sorry about "the sunset of white domination"- it wasn't most fortunate event on this planet - but it seems to me that the tendency to exclude others is not only a unconscious phenomenon but unfortunately deeply rooted in the character of humankind.

This is a much more serious and much wider problem than what is just one of its parts - the attitude toward women in the church.

We humans should start to think more about the harmony of God's creation, about all of us being created by the same Almighty God, about all of us being equal in everything. Differences stemming from culture, education, ethnicity, language or gender are part of our human richness, not reasons for division.

And churches, Christian congregations, are especially places to manifest this equality in all its meanings. Without it, we cannot speak about Christianity at all.

Semko Koroza of the Reformed Evangelical Church in Poland is currently minister of the congregation in Lodz.