Is The Church Failing Childless Women? by Diane Paddison
(Link): Is The Church Failing Childless Women?
Does the church know how to love childless women? It’s a difficult but important question.
I recently read a pair of articles from two different perspectives that touch on this issue.
One was (Link): from Suzanne Burden, a married woman in her early 40s who has struggled with infertility; the other was (Link): from Amanda Bast, an unmarried 26-year-old. Both presented quite a poignant picture of how lonely—even alienating—the “Christian community” can feel when you don’t fit the traditional, get-married-young-and-start-a-family-early” mold.
… These articles were eyeopening and convicting to me. I have to admit that at times I have been guilty of some of the exact things that Suzanne and Amanda described [eg, ignoring or mistreating childless women].
And I should know better.
Even though I do have kids, as a fulltime professional I certainly know what it feels like to not fit into the traditional image of the Christian mom.
..But really, we should all know better.
There are so many women (and especially professional women) who are waiting longer to have children these days that this is an issue that we as a church desperately need to get a handle on.
… But it is good to be reminded sometimes that “church” is about a lot more than our own individual growth. It’s also about our growth as a community.
Related:
(Link): Loving the child-free people in your church by S. Burden
(Link): Parenthood Does Not Make People More Loving Mature Godly Ethical Caring or Responsible (One Stop Thread)
(Link): Population Decline and Bay-bee Obsession – Patriarchy, Quiverfull, Traditional Family, Christian Gender Complementarian Nuts
(Link): Federalist Magazine Staff Annoyed that Other Outlets Publish the Down Side of Motherhood and Are Requesting Sunny Motherhood Propaganda Pieces – As If Conservatives Haven’t Pushed for Motherhood Enough? The Mind Boggles
(Link): Conservative Motherhood Idolaters Once Again Upset Over People Finding Mother’s Day Painful, Re: Companies Allowing People to Opt Out of Mother’s Day Ads Has Them Incensed
(Link): Hypocrisy: Conservative Christians / Catholics Pressure Women To Feel Their Only Worth is in Becoming Mothers, But If Women Try to Use Medical Technology to Get Pregnant, the Women Are Condemned by The Same Groups
(Link): Southern Baptist Al Mohler Intimates That Childless And Childfree Adults Are Not Human (2019) – and He Thinks This is a Good and Biblical Worldview
(Link): Christian Patriarchy Group: God Demands You Marry and Have Babies to Defeat Paganism and Satan. Singles and the Childless Worthless (in this worldview).
(Link): Never Married Christians Over Age 35 who are childless Are More Ignored Than Divorced or Infertile People or Single Parents
(Link): If the Family Is Central, Christ Isn’t
(Link): The Netherworld of Singleness for Some Singles – You Want Marriage But Don’t Want to Be Disrespected or Ignored for Being Single While You’re Single
(Link): To Get Any Attention or Support from a Church These Days you Have To Be A Stripper, Prostitute, or Orphan
(Link): Misapplication of Biblical Verses About Fertility (also mentions early marriage) – a paper by J. McKeown
(Link): The Irrelevancy To Single or Childless or Childfree Christian Women of Biblical Gender Complementarian Roles / Biblical Womanhood Teachings
(Link): Lies The Church Tells Single Women (by Sue Bohlin)
(Link): 23 Responses to 23 Awful Statements Made to Childfree People by TAURIQ MOOSA
(Link): Conservatives and Christians Fretting About U.S. Population Decline – We Must “Out-breed” Opponents Christian Host Says
(Link): Why all the articles about being Child Free? On Being Childfree or Childless – as a Conservative / Right Wing / Christian
(Link): Women Are Having Fewer Babies Because They Have More Choices by Jill Filipovic
(Link): I’m Childless, Not Child-Incompetent (editorial by G. Dalfonzo) – The Christian Tendency to Worship Family, Motherhood, and Children
(Link): Family as “The” Backbone of Society? – It’s Not In The Bible
(Link): Cultural Discrimination Against Childless and Childfree Women – and link to an editorial by a Childless Woman
(Link): Widows and Childless and Childfree Have Better Well Being Than Married Couples and Parents says new study
(Link): Totally Obnoxious Parent: Childless Couple Who Donates to Childrens Charities Lambasted by Snotty Adult Sister for Not Showering Her Kids with Christmas Presents – Parents Who Discriminate Against the Childless or Childfree
(Link): Prejudiced Writer Stupidly Blames Slutty Halloween Costumes and Societal Ills on Childless the Childfree, and Unmarried Adults – but Married people and parents are not perfect either
(Link): Study: Couples Without Children Have Happier Marriages / Study: Having Kids Ruins Your Life
(Link): Want To But Can’t – The One Christian Demographic Being Continually Ignored by Christians [and Social Conservatives and Republicans] Re: Marriage
(Link): Hypocrisy in Christian Culture – Those who idolize parenting chide infertiles for trying to have kids
(Link): Infertility/ Kids/ The Male Biological Clock
(Link): The Decline in Male Fertility (article)
(Link): Fox News Channel Guest Encourages Female Host To Quit, Get Married, Have Babies – Look, I’m Right Wing, But Also A Never-Married Woman, and I Find This Obnoxious
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