RIPON, Wis. -- A Lutheran congregation is losing members over a decision to maintain a policy barring women from voting on church issues, according to The Associated Press.
The male electorate at Messiah Lutheran Church in Ripon, Wis., voted 25-17 last month to let women vote on church matters, but the rule change failed because a two-thirds majority was needed for the measure to pass.
The 400-member church is one of only a few in its synod without women's suffrage.
"There is unhappiness over this issue," said Allen Mortenson, a founding member of Messiah Lutheran, which belongs to the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
About 20 percent of churches in the Missouri Synod don't let women vote, said Samuel Nafzger, executive director of theology at the denomination's headquarters in St. Louis.
