Dani Ward and @fatgirlmedia.bsky.social made new artwork for @childliberation.bsky.social! I absolutely love it. 😍

New logo and banner artwork by the amazing Dani Ward and @fatgirlmedia.bsky.social!

"There are still 47 [states] where parents convicted of crimes against children can homeschool."

"[Janusz Korczak] challenged authoritarian models of education and discipline long before children’s rights were recognized internationally."

"The case is one of many in recent years in which young people have sued officials and government agencies over climate change."

A great loss.

Evangelical Christianity’s distrust of abuse survivors and those who help them was a very popular sentiment among evangelical Christians during the 1980s and 90s and still continuing today.

The very first person who preached Jesus's resurrection was a child. Image from Joseph A. Grassi's book "Children's Liberation."

Children are not an insult.

“The New Testament opposes all forms of mere human discipleship that rely only on obedience whether to teacher, leader, or parent." ~Joseph A. Grassi, “Children’s Liberation”

"That's what Stollar is talking about here. Eschatology is not this faraway future thing- it's about how the kingdom of God comes into our world right now. It's about the systems and powers in this world, and how they need to be redeemed and transformed."

"Under the banner of 'parental rights,' conservative lawmakers are dismantling protections that allow minors to access confidential contraception and reproductive healthcare."

YES

"When we love children, we acknowledge by our every action that they are not property, that they have rights—that we respect and uphold their rights." ~bell hooks

The Supreme Court has blood on its hands.

Conversion therapy is child abuse. Queer children are images of God.

"As @rlstollar.bsky.social incisively notes, the parental rights movement does not simply want to elevate parents: it wants to deny children their own rights." ~ @brucelesley.bsky.social

"The existence of adultism in sacred texts should never be seen as blessing or baptizing evil. Adultist beliefs and practices within our holy scriptures must be identified, named, and challenged directly."

Have you read Michael G. Long's "Peaceful Neighbor: discovering the countercultural Mister Rogers"? It's full of Rogers' deeply thought out convictions about peace and recognizing the value of every child, and speaking the truth in love.

"[Evangelicals] do not value children as people. They see children as mission fields, as objects to convert rather than as people to be in relationship with."

"Places of faith should not only be speaking out prophetically against discrimination against and abuse of children; they should also be empowering children to speak out for themselves."

"Parents who refuse to acknowledge the harm caused by Christian authoritarian parenting risk alienating their kids long-term."

"In the first seven months of [Trump's] second term, authorities arrested and detained parents of at least 11,000 U.S. citizen children... That’s an average of more than 50 U.S. citizen kids a day with a parent pulled into detention."

I was interviewed by @unclosetedmedia.bsky.social on the topics of Katy Faust, the "Greater Than" campaign against marriage equality, and children's rights! Check it out:

"As the only United Nations member state that has yet to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United States stands alone in failing to codify the most basic protections for its youngest citizens." More at @brucelesley.bsky.social's Substack:

As I told @unclosetedmedia.bsky.social, Katy Faust's rhetoric can be difficult to refute because she uses progressive rights language to advance a regressive, evangelical agenda. You have to look beneath the rhetoric at her policy ideas to understand the danger.

Child Liberation Theology's @rlstollar.bsky.social was interviewed for this insightful piece on Katy Faust and the "Greater Than" campaign's efforts to use children's rights to attack marriage equality.

For more information on Katy Faust, see my @religiondispatches.org article from 2023:

Honored to be interviewed for this important article on Katy Faust's "Greater Than" campaign, which dangerously abuses the concept of children's rights to attack marriage equality in the United States.

The solution to abuse in homeschooling MUST involve taking away homeschooling parents' absolute power over children. There's no way around that. Homeschooled children's rights must be defended by law. The homeschooling movement will NOT self-police.

"Under Trump, ICE has deported thousands of children under 18."

“He would talk about the fact that you are somebody and you are important. This was compared to my orientation of being put down or told, ‘Boy, you are not going to be anything.'"

My goal was not to say the Christian narrative about Jesus as child is a superior narrative than the other narratives about child saviors, but to highlight for fellow Christians the full implications of our narrative's claims.

This is an excellent critique of the chapter on comparative religion in my book on child liberation theology, "The Kingdom of Children." It helps me think about how I could have written the chapter to more accurately communicate my point.

Children’s rights are human rights because we all rise together.

"While purity culture claims to 'protect' kids, it has a long history of looking away from real abuse. Epstein thrived in a world that polices girls’ clothing more than men’s violence."

"A lot of people are raised to be fearful of disobeying, and so when that moment happens, it’s a challenge to stand up for themselves and go against the flow or be an active bystander."

As a Christian theologian, I don't think you can undo conservative Christian supremacy in the United States with progressive Christian supremacy.

As long as children think adults are allowed to violate their bodily autonomy and consent by hitting their erogenous zones out of “love,” they are vulnerable to sexual abuse just as much as they are to physical abuse. Ending corporal punishment is child sexual abuse prevention.

"Almost a third of generation Z men and boys think a wife should obey her husband, according to a global survey of 23,000 people that found young men hold more traditional views about gender roles than older generations."

"The release of the Epstein files has us (me included) spiraling in despair every time I hear another horrific story. But I believe with every fiber of my being that how we treat children right now matters more than almost anything else we can do." ~ @floparisoakes.bsky.social

Looking forward to reading this. Leslie Priscilla is doing vital work with Latinx Parenting.

When you destroy a child’s will, you are destroying their ability to feel safe, to have a healthy sense of selfhood, and to draw boundaries. You are also setting children up to be abused.

"Jesus gave priority to children because they were on the lowest rung of society... Without a sound bottom rung all climbing is dangerous… We must build from the bottom up if we want to form a just society." ~Joseph A. Grassi, "Children’s Liberation"

"Bellies are very intoxicating." "Pretend it is your Grandpa!" Pedophilia underlies and animates purity culture.

Grateful for this thoughtful engagement of "The Kingdom of Children"!

I really appreciate this engagement with my book on child liberation theology, "The Kingdom of Children." I also respect the author pushing back against some of my interpretations of biblical stories. They are valid critiques.

"We are collectively witnessing the mass-scale abuse of children."

Important.

As a child protection professional, I can tell you the death penalty is NOT an awesome solution to child sexual abuse. Most children are abused by family members; they will not report if their family members will die as a result.