Child Liberation Theology
@childliberation.bsky.social
Children's rights are human rights because we all rise together. Learn more at childliberationtheology.org.
In the Dobsonian-Trumpian worldview, a sexualized saying like “Daddy’s home” can serve simultaneously as the essence of the gospel promise, the essence of biblical parenting, and the essence of good government.
When the Prodigal Son Returns Home With a Gun
Unless you are willing to look at the root of violence in your own families or respect the human rights of other families’ children, I cannot take your concerns about violence seriously.
rlstollar.com
"Affirming children’s inherent rights and value... is a key part of empowering our contemporary communities to better love and protect children. Christians should affirm children in an unambiguous way."
Using vs. Liberating Children: How Child Theology Differs from Child Liberation Theology
While deeply indebted to the Child Theology Movement, child liberation theology breaks from it in a number of important ways.
rlstollar.com
can confirm. it caused me endless trauma, ptsd, nightmares, a fear of parenting my own kids. but i banished the exparents & broke the cycle. i don't care if they call me prodigal. i am free now. #Exvangelical #religiousabuse #childhoodtrauma #traumasurvivor
Child Liberation Theology@childliberation.bsky.social · 3mo ago"Parents who refuse to acknowledge the harm caused by Christian authoritarian parenting risk alienating their kids long-term."
"It’s important to create space for children not just to know that disobedience can be good and holy, but also to give them opportunities to practice."
Christianity should empower and liberate children
What would the church look like if we treated children as agents in their own lives, and allowed them to do their own theology?
uscatholic.org
"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."
An Introduction to Child Liberation Theology
This is the first article in a multi-part series I am writing in 2022 providing an overview of child liberation theology.
rlstollar.com
This timeline repeatedly demonstrates that people from around the world, throughout different time periods and with different cultural assumptions, can understand the importance of protecting children and their rights.
An American History of Child Advocacy
This idea of child advocacy is not new, it is not partisan, it is not ideological, and it is not crazy.
rlstollar.com
"Parents who refuse to acknowledge the harm caused by Christian authoritarian parenting risk alienating their kids long-term."
Adults raised in the ‘Christian parenting empire’ of the ’70s-’90s push back
(RNS) — Leveraging social media, these parents and professionals aim to show that this parenting approach can result in trauma, estrangement and views of God as abusive.
religionnews.com
"We must wrestle with the biblical texts, questioning and challenging them when they ignore the children they contain or justify violence against the children barely visible at their margins."
Noah’s Flood and The Bible’s Unseen Children
The Bible is not a children’s book. If a child must learn about genocide, it should be in an age-appropriate and protective manner.
rlstollar.com
"When it comes to the adult-child relationship, we are still passionately insistent as a society that adults have the 'parental rights' to do whatever they want to their children."
What can we learn from children about being liberated from Kendomland? – Baptist News Global
To learn more about how children bring liberation from the Kens of Kendomland, I interviewed child liberationist theologian R.L. Stollar about his new book, The Kingdom of Children: A Liberation Theol...
baptistnews.com
"We’re seeing a robust attempt to define children as the property of their parents. That’s what’s at the core of censorship campaigns, bans on gender affirming healthcare, and the ongoing refusal to treat corporal punishment for what it is: assault."
A Child’s Right to Feel: An Interview with Rev. Benjamin Perry
A culture that upholds and centers children’s emotions will be more just for all people.
rlstollar.com
It is a long-established myth in Christofascist circles that rightly structured families are a form of abuse prevention.
Families Are Not Umbrellas (And Other Myths About Abuse Prevention)
Gothard, MacArthur, and the many other rightwing advocates of patriarchal, nuclear families are dead wrong. Fathers, parents, and nuclear families are not magical umbrellas of protection.
rlstollar.com
"Child liberation theology is not about abstract ideas but rather the simple yet radical act of treating children humanly and justly—something Rogers took seriously."
Mr. Rogers and Child Liberation Theology
Child liberation theology is not about abstract ideas but rather the simple yet radical act of treating children humanly and justly—something Fred Rogers took seriously.
rlstollar.com
All I can think about right now is how many children and young people's lives were devastated by Bill Gothard and his teachings. I don't hope he dies without facing accountability, but I do hope his coma is haunted by a terrifying chorus of his victims.
Gothard Explains Why God Allows Child Molestation: Part One
It is never the job of a child to protect themselves from abuse. This job belongs to the adults in their life.
homeschoolersanonymous.net
"Biblical hermeneutics can (and must) be loving and liberating of children."
Liberation theology is also for children
Child advocate R. L. Stollar seeks to help people read the Bible in ways that protect and honor...
christiancentury.org
"Sometimes disobedience is godly. Sometimes disobedience is holy."
Teaching Children to Disobey
Sometimes disobedience is godly. Sometimes disobedience is holy.
rlstollar.com
"[Child liberation theology is] not just about the way we raise children, but also advocating for issues that matter to children, whether those are issues like food insecurity, access to medical care and poverty."
Child liberation theology says God is a child, too
(RNS) — What does Scripture say about the rights of children in an anti-child world?
religionnews.com
The Kingdom of God belonging to children is no mere metaphor, according to Joseph A. Grassi’s 1991 book, “Children’s Liberation: A Biblical Perspective.”
Children as Jesus’s Successors in Joseph A. Grassi’s “Children’s Liberation”
The Kingdom of God belonging to children is no mere metaphor, according to Joseph A. Grassi’s 1991 book, “Children’s Liberation: A Biblical Perspective.”
rlstollar.com
"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
Love Does Not Abuse: The Parenting Philosophy of bell hooks
It is my hope that more progressive activists and thinkers will reflect on parenting and child care just as hooks has.
rlstollar.com
"Nearly half of the world’s children – or 1.1 billion – are now exposed to at least three overlapping climate hazards, threatening their health, education, and survival."
Nearly half of the world’s children exposed to at least three overlapping climate threats – UNICEF
Drought, extreme heat, and heatwaves are the most prevalent trio of hazards endangering millions of children globally, according to new climate report
unicef.org
"This is how young people feel about [social media bans] and how it will affect their human rights."
Young voices on social media bans and human rights
Young activists discuss how they feel about proposals to ban young people from social media and how it will affect their rights.
amnesty.org
@rlstollar.bsky.social wrote about CPS and the homeschool movement. bsky.app/profile/rlst...
R.L. Stollar@rlstollar.bsky.social · last yr.Influential homeschool leaders have spoken about child protection professionals with stark and frightening language, describing them as everything from "a real threat to Christian families" to "a plague of leeches" to "the Gestapo."
If you're using physical violence to "share the good news," your message isn't one of good news. A child who is under emotional and physical distress at the hands of her parents can't consent to joining a religion. That's some very f'd up shit and they're training other people to follow their lead.
No matter what a pastor tells you, you’re not ruining kids by not spanking them. There are 1000 ways to train and educate kids in healthy, non-violent ways. You can discipline people without resorting to brutality, violence, and threats of violence. Kids are people, don’t treat them worse than dogs.
Jenny and Bob Donnelly, pastors at The Collective, training parents to gaslight and spank their children. They had a "happy spoon" with a smiley face on it for spanking. They describe giving kids lots of spankings. Lots of red flags and disturbing aggressive/passive-aggressive practices.👀
Created by homeschool lobbyist and parent Rodger Williams, Homeschooling Backgrounder is one of the newest tools deployed by homeschooling leaders and parents to ignore or discredit alumni concerns. Here’s what to know about the astroturfing project.
The Homeschooling Astroturfers
Created by homeschool lobbyist and parent Rodger Williams, Homeschooling Backgrounder is one of the newest tools deployed by homeschooling leaders and parents to ignore or discredit alumni concerns…
rlstollar.com
Happy Children's Day!! The very first Children's Day was declared in 1922 in Japan-occupied South Korea by political activist and children’s story book author Bang Jeong-hwan. International Children's Day followed in 1925, declared by the League of Nations.
"Once a society normalizes domination over children and yielded their obedience, it has already built the emotional infrastructure for authoritarianism." ~ @drstaceypatton.bsky.social
You Can’t Raise Children to Obey and Expect Them to Defend Democracy
Good morning from the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico, NY.
open.substack.com
