American Christians Idolize Motherhood
Please see my previous post that I just made an hour or two ago before this one:
(Link): Un Happy Mother’s Day – universal church continues to worship parenthood, family
I did not plan on making another post about this subject so soon (or at all, really), but I just listened to an online radio program, hosted by Chris R. (“Fighting for the Faith, Christian Pirate Radio”). Reminder: I do NOT agree with all this guy’s view points (see this post). Sometimes Chris R. is right on the money, sometimes he is very wrong. About this Motherhood topic, I think he’s correct.
Here’s the specific Chris R. radio show I listened to:
Fake It Til You Make It?
On that radio show, Chris mentions that his church will NOT be honoring motherhood at his church this Sunday (Mother’s Day). He says his preacher will not be acknowledging motherhood at all.
What Chris also mentions is that some churches, on Mother’s Day, perform some horrid song in front of the congregation called “Mommy Rhapsody.”
Chris says there are a million videos of different churches putting on a “Mommy Rhapsody” during Sunday church services in honor of Mother’s Day. You can view these performances here on You Tube:
(Link): Mommy Rhapsody on You Tube
I have a pretty good sense of humor, and unlike Chris, I’m not opposed to some frivolity in church services, but this “Mommy Rhapsody” crap is ridiculous. It’s perhaps even worse than the ‘handing of carnations’ to all the mothers.
Christian Pundit 
Yes, parenthood is idolized all year long. But on mother’s day, churches congregate around the golden calf of motherhood. And they do the same on father’s day. I skip them both. Too nauseating. Too unbiblical. It is ironic that mothers don’t think they get enough attention while there are people (i.e. older singles) whose mere existence is not recognized.
I was thinking doing a new post about this.
Yes, a lot of Christian mothers think that the church/ society/ husbands don’t honor them ENOUGH. Even though culture dotes on motherhood each and every day and Christian sermons and blogs discuss parenting and marriage constantly. They still feel under-appreciated, not given enough attention or honored enough.
Even the more sexist, gender complementarian churches honor motherhood a lot, because they falsely tell women all the time their only, or greatest role in life, is to be a mother (and a wife).
Meanwhile, your virginal, never- married adults get nada, zero honor or attention from churches and Christian magazines, no holidays for us, no carnations on a Sunday morning.
I was even more disappointed to see that people at one blog where I sometimes visit who are normally quite sensitive to people’s pain, did a post where they were upset that some churches suggest that Christians need to de-emphasize Mother’s Day a little bit – now, the reasons these churches gave for wanting to de-emphasize are different from the ones I gave, which I don’t want to get into, but the majority of the respondents at the blog (most are Christian) found the idea mean-spirited. They think it’s rude or mean to suggest that churches should take the Mother Day stuff down a few notches.
I like the people at this other blog, they are usually very nice and understanding, but I was dismayed that even after a few people gave a different view on Mother’s Day, gave them a reason why and how Mother’s Day (and Christian people’s constant fixation on parenting/ marriage) can be alienating for some people (such as singles or people with dead mothers), their comments were pretty much ignored (last time I looked any way), and most of the discussion was, “Oh, how awful for any preacher to bad-mouth Mother’s Day or want to diminish it at all!”
And again, that’s a blog where most participants are usually very sensitive to the hurts and feelings of Christians who have been stabbed in the back by other Christians.
But on that particular topic (Mother’s Day and similar issues, such as babies), most of them couldn’t seem to understand how or why “Mother’s Day” might not be such a happy occasion for some Christians.
Another thing I was surprised about is that some of the ladies on the other blog were defending baby-honoring type ceremonies, despite several people in the thread saying, “Mother’s Day can be painful for infertile people, or unmarried people.”
It’s like some of these people feel their role of motherhood need to be honored, or for the institution(?) of Motherhood itself to be honored, is more important than the feelings of childless, single women (or of single men) in the audience, who feel so excluded and left out when churches do these baby dedication or mommy ceremonies.
They feel Mommyhood being acknowledged is more important than people who don’t fit the Mommyhood bill being marginalized. And this is a blog of usually sensitive people, but even about 90% of them don’t comprehend. It is scary, sad, and dumbfounding. I guess the motherhood/ marriage/ baby cult-like mentality runs very deep, even in Christianity.
But yeah, most churches most of the year, dote on parenting, motherhood, and marriage and kids, but singles are not ever recognized in churches, unless it’s the throw away line in sermons on marriage,
“Remember, you college kids who are single, that sex is wrong until you’re married, so wait until you’re married.” And there you are, still single past 35/ 40, and you don’t get a holiday or a flower like the moms and dads do.
Or how about a special hoopla with carnation for the youngest mother, oldest mother, and mother with the most kids? Believe it or not, some churches do this.
Yep, I mentioned the carnation thing in another blog posting about Mother’s Day (Link): here.
I will never, ever get any flower or any sort of special holiday or recognition for being a never married, childless female.
What’s even more unbelievable is even after you explain to Mothers why you find Mom’s day painful, many of them (not all, but quite a few) still sit there and insist churches need to hail and honor mommies. They feel like they do not get nearly enough recognition from hubbies, society, or church – and my mouth falls open that they feel this way.
Other than extreme pro-abortion liberal nuts, even secular society pays a big tribute to motherhood (TV shows and movies often romanticize and sentimentalize motherhood)- and good Lord knows churches harp on motherhood, daddy-hood, and marriage all the frigging time, but these ladies say no, they don’t see it.
I remain amazed at their blindness at how most churches have idolized parenthood and not just on Mother’s Day, but the entire rest of the year.