I knew a pastor who felt that women shouldn't hold positions of responsibility in church because he felt that women were ethically inferior to men. He based his view on the following flawed argument:

1. In the Garden of Eden story it was Eve that ate the apple first. And because she ate it before Adam, she must be ethically inferior to Adam.

2. He then generalized and claimed that ALL women are ethically inferior to men.

3. He then concluded because of female ethical inferiority that they shouldn't hold positions of responsibility in church.

At the time that he told me this argument, I felt totally disgusted by it but I couldn't think of anything to respond to it. But now I see that his argument has lots of logical flaws in it. First of all why is Eve ethically inferior to Adam simply because she "sinned" first. Think of this: Suppose 2 murders are committed on the same day; one in the morning and one in the evening. Does the legal system punish the morning murderer more simply because it is earlier in the day? Of course not, that would be completely arbitrary.

Secondly, even if Eve was ethically inferior to Adam, it would not mean that ALL women are ethically inferior to men.

Thirdly, who tempted Eve to eat an apple; it was Satan, a most evil creature. It is not too surprising that Eve fell victim to his tempting. But what about Adam, who tempted him to eat an apple; it was just an human being (Eve). If anything I would say Adam was ethically inferior to Eve because he gave in to a weaker temptation.