Latvijas Evaņģēliski luteriskās baznīcas sieviešu ordinācijas aizlieguma zemūdens akmeņi

This is a study of the ideological background behind the decision of the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church (LELC) to officially exclude women from ministry. The ideological tendencies can be difficult to detect and systematize. In order to do that, the study researches the online presence of seven select ministers of LELC, including Archbishop J. Vanags and the former Dean of the District of Riga K. Kalniņš. Social media is a fruitful source of information regarding topics that tend to be excluded from other forms of public discourse. Its informal climate seems to provoke people – the ministers included – to be more frank and less constrained in speaking their minds. The research reveals the following tendencies in the ideological landscape of LELC representatives: emphasis on values and tradition, rigid understanding of gender roles, the idea of the battle between the Christian and the liberal worldviews, and queerphobia. The perception of the world as a battlefield proves to be especially fundamental. In view of the LELC representatives, themselves and the conservative Christians are on one side of the battle line, while the malicious liberal Western ideologues who want to disrupt all the traditions and life as we know it are on the other. Unfortunately, some of these tendencies manifest themselves in dangerous misinformation or even borders on hate speech. When one sees the world as a battlefield, it is of no surprise that the perceived enemy – often already marginalized groups of society like queer people – are thought to deserve the worst. Also, the political anti-Western sentiment can be of concern. Altogether, the research clearly demonstrates that the question of the ordination of women is only a manifestation of a much larger phenomenon. This decision arises from a climate of fear, anger, and reluctance to accept changes in the world.