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.

"Children are not mere creatures of parents. They are not projects or weapons. They are inheritors of God’s Kingdom, images of that God, and they are capable of prophecy, leadership, teaching, and theology."

For Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo, God’s principles for parenting look a lot like Johanna Haarer’s Nazi principles.

"Every [argument], every [theory], every [proposal] about 'parental rights' must be measured against this reality: children are being abused physically and sexually, some are dying, and the systems meant to protect them are already failing." ~ @brucelesley.bsky.social

Via @floparisoakes.bsky.social.

"I don’t see enough examples of how I could do [motherhood] as someone who is left of center and advocates for certain politics... Being a mom is so political."

James Dobson is in the Epstein files, per the vital research of homeschool alum @dlmayfield.bsky.social. Link to post: www.threads.com/@d_l_mayfiel....

On Tear-Gassing Children The Federal Assault on the ICE Out! Labor March in Portland crimethinc.com/PortlandTear... On January 31, ICE agents attacked a demonstration in Portland, blanketing a whole neighborhood in tear gas and injuring a number of small children. An account from eyewitnesses.

"Many of these kids are not simply passive victims. They, too, have been resisting the regime."

If it’s assault to do it to an adult, it’s assault to do it to a child.

Hitting a person who lives with you, who loves and trusts and relies on you to survive, is abuse. Children are people. Hitting a child who lives with you, who loves and trusts and relies on you to survive, is abuse.

"One vital tool to fight abuse is actually—surprise!—the will. Since most abusers are not strangers but rather trusted community figures, it takes a very strong will to have the courage to speak up and say, 'This beloved community member hurt me.'"

"I long to believe [God] loves me, but if his love is the twisted definition my parents gave me, I don’t want it."

"Ending patriarchal domination, by men or women, is the only way to make the family a place where children can be safe, where they can be free, where they can know love.” ~bell hooks

The solutions to abuse in public schools and homeschooling are the same. All schools need checks and balances on the adults that work for them because all schools serve children or young adults—and children and young adults are vulnerable to abuse.

"The average child sexual predator’s profile is: married, male, white, heterosexual, religious, surrounded by friends and family, and a parent."

Solidarity. "The protest began in response to the treatment of Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old from Minnesota who was abducted, along with his father, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents last week."

We must treat homeschooled children equitably, which means applying child protection best practices and educational standards to all children, regardless of educational setting. This is not a double standard; it’s literally begging for the same standards.

It causes people to view normal child behavior as evil and it also causes people to underestimate abusive adults. No wonder evangelicals so often misunderstand the innocence of children and the evil of adults!

Evangelicals love comparing children to dictators and tyrants and vice-versa. But collapsing the categories of powerless children and powerful abusers creates significant problems.

"This isn't us." Yes, it is, century after century. Child abuse has deep roots in American history (and so does the struggle against it): rlstollar.com/2025/12/26/a....

Yep.

You cannot counter the teachings of the religious authoritarian parenting empire without asserting that (1) children are people who have human rights, (2) disobeying authority, hierarchy, and power can be necessary and holy, and (3) points (1) and (2) are inherently linked.

If fascists can convince themselves that their own children are better off dead than transgender, then there’s no limit to the violence they can enact on other people’s children. And we’re watching the horror of that play out in the streets of Minnesota right now.

There is a through line between the conservative parents’ rights movement to ICE attacking children in the streets. The white supremacist argument that “we should be able to treat OUR children however we want” very quickly turns into “we should be able to treat YOUR children however we want.”

Watching these videos of ICE attacking children, I can’t help but think about how many of these men first practiced their violence in their own homes. Domestic violence teaches our oppressors to dehumanize the most vulnerable among us.

Every. Single. One.

💯

A U.S. citizen infant with disabilities was deported by ICE. An emergency shelter in Mexico is seeking medical support for the child. Link here: m.facebook.com/story.php?st....

"Nationally recognized child advocate @drstaceypatton.bsky.social locates the roots of this violence not solely in the United States, but in Europe’s long history of anti-child brutality." Pre-order here: www.beacon.org/Strung-Up-P2....

✊

Antichrist.