Male-headship evangelicals endorsed Palin’s candidacy purely as anti-Obama expediency.

Evidence

Palin’s candidacy, however, raised the issue of gender. For evangelicals who believed in male headship, was it appropriate for a woman to be in such a position of power? If the alternative was Barack Obama, then the answer they gave was yes. Days before the 2008 election, John Piper wrote a blog post with the title, “Why a Woman Shouldn’t Run for Vice President, but Wise People May Still Vote for Her.” Piper made clear that he still believed that “the Bible summons men to bear the burden of primary leadership, provision, and protection,” and that “the Bible does not encourage us to think of nations as blessed when women hold the reins of national authority.” But a woman could hold the highest office if her male opponent would do far more harm by “exalting a flawed pattern of womanhood.” — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 531

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s own central claim about gender complementarianism being contingent and politically weaponized rather than doctrinally fixed — the principle bends when the political alternative is worse.