Social media provides a less-than-perfect forum for civil discourse, riddled as it is with free-range trolls and operated by internal algorithms designed to promote verbal conflict.

But sometimes a post can provide a jumping off point for a reasoned discussion. Like this assertion from a Facebook page billing itself as The Holy Bible, King James Version, which was shared recently by a friend.

“When a church changes their values to match current culture they’re no longer following the Bible, they’re following the lost,” it stated.

This was followed in the comments by a number of “Amens,” with up to three exclamation points. So, at least among those readers, general agreement. Though not from me.

Case in point: The Southern Baptist Convention met recently in New Orleans, a city not normally associated with godly pursuits. Be that as it may, delegates – known as “messengers” – voted overwhelmingly to affirm the expulsion of two churches for having women as pastors.

The two churches had appealed. Three others similarly booted didn’t bother, perhaps having learned from the biblical tale involving the prophet Daniel about the importance of reading the handwriting on the wall.

At issue is this tenet from the denomination’s statement of faith, known as the Baptist Faith and Message: “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”

I happen to have some skin in this game. My early through teenage years were spent attending a Southern Baptist church, with a profession of faith and baptism at age 9. (Full immersion, of course, a real test of commitment for an aquaphobe like me.)

My parents taught Sunday school. Mama sang in the choir. I ate the cracker bits and drank the grape juice at the quarterly Communion services. I accepted the injunction against dancing, mostly because I could not dance.

But I eventually walked away from the church, convinced that it no longer spoke to me in any meaningful way. Jesus is said to have spent 40 days and 40 nights being tempted in the wilderness. I was there more than 20 years, though the Devil never made me any enticing offers.

In the fullness of time, as the Bible phrases it, I made my way out of the wilderness to a different kind of church. And, as providence would have it, that church was led by a woman.

Thirty-odd years later that woman, Lisa, remains my all-time favorite pastor. I suspect more than a few of her past or current congregants feel the same way. She combined just the right combination of faith, warmth, communication skills and humor to overcome my initial doubts. She would easily fit some definitions of angel.

Lisa, or any woman like her, could not lead a Southern Baptist congregation.

I don’t know how many other denominations follow the No Women Allowed rule for pastors, but the Roman Catholic Church is famous for its exclusionary policy for the priesthood. The same kind of biblical authority is cited by the Vatican: Jesus chose only men as his apostles.

Not surprising, that. Women of that time weren’t accorded anything approaching equality with men. We need look no further than Paul’s letter to the Ephesians to appreciate the gender-related pecking order: “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church.”

Here’s where I argue that a church should change its values to “match the current culture.” Otherwise, among the other biblical practices, we could still be allowing slavery, polygamy and animal sacrifice. Shoot, maybe even human sacrifice, if we accept Abraham’s willingness to immolate his son Isaac before God called funsies on the whole thing.

The Catholic Church, I should note, has considered the argument that Jesus appointed only men as apostles simply because he was following the cultural ethos of the time. It has also rejected the argument.

The result is a situation that can be defended only by men who think of women as a second-class variety of human beings. And accepted only by women who agree.

Joe Rogers is a former writer for The Tennessean and editor for The New York Times. He is retired and living in Nashville.