The president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Albert Mohler, responded to the recent Wall Street Journal survey that showed younger generations are not as interested in having kids and religions by writing a blog post arguing that having children is what makes you human.
“What we have right now is the fact that Americans are basically, by the millions, giving up on the fact that to be human is to be a parent, eventually to take on that responsibility to get married and have children, to take on the responsibility of passing on civilization itself,” Mohler wrote. He also highlighted this particular excerpt in a tweet.
From today's edition of #TheBriefing https://t.co/keVv7YwirT pic.twitter.com/zIcoc60ZQs
— Albert Mohler (@albertmohler) August 27, 2019
Much of the extended blog post essentially argues that people should have children because God wants them to, which doesn’t work well for generations that are as disinterested in what any god thinks as they are in having kids. He also argues that the current economy is no excuse not to pop out babies since people still had kids during the Great Depression, forgetting that what they didn’t have was the birth control pill and other modern forms of contraception.
He then engages in a bit of fearmongering about declining birth rates, which, for the record, has only dropped below the death rate for white people. And the people who are worried about this tend to be white supremacists.
Back to the idea that you’re not human until you procreate, Twitter users have been giving Mohler a Bible lesson, reminding him of certain Biblical figures such as, say, Jesus Christ.
So Jesus wasn’t human? pic.twitter.com/S2ISwTQqDY
— Josiah Hawthorne (@JosiahHawthorne) August 28, 2019
I love much of what you say, but I think a 33-year-old single, childless man from Nazareth might take exception to this.
— Matt Bell (@matt7738) August 28, 2019
1) Paul extolled remaining single as optimal for serving God
2) Some people are incapable of having children & you’ve just injured them more deeply
3) Your position is neither biblical nor sensical. Its only apparent purpose seems to be to support an abiblical cultural agenda.— C. ‘19 (@Steampunkchem) August 28, 2019
Blessed be the ratio pic.twitter.com/0PM9nZa0lu
— Mrs.☕️ (@LadyBexa) August 28, 2019
Others are wondering how human they get to be if they’re incapable of having children.
I am 49, unmarried and if I do get married in years to come, my future wife will likely be too old to have children. Would we be obliged to adopt in order to be human?
— Robert Payne (@paynenotes1) August 27, 2019
I see how it would deeply offend those who chose singleness, or those who cannot bear children. They should not be made to feel subhuman, irreligious, or marginalized.
— PianoGuy (@dsgmusic88) August 29, 2019
Apparently you’ve never met anyone struggling with infertility. Or someone who has been abused and can’t trust anyone enough to get married. I would say I can’t believe the tone deafness of this statement, but it probably falls right in line with the patriarchy of the SBC.
— Kim Bone Brewer (@feistypastor) August 28, 2019
Also, the racism and homophobia.
Come right out and say it so people understand: the reason US is becoming more diverse – brown and other faith – is because white Christian Americans aren’t having enough babies. Didn’t know your racism was so overt.
— CAKnNC (@CAKnNC) August 28, 2019
This is legitimately terrible theology, and not at all pastoral. It’s also borederine racist and definitely homophobic.
— Rev. Ben Burton #hotrevsummer (@revbburton) August 28, 2019
I read the whole thing just to be sure. You’re preaching the same breeding and nationalism doctrine the Nazis did. I know you’re not ignorant of history so this must be willful sin on your part. I’ll pray for your repentance and for those you mislead.
— Sarah Adams (@SarahJoyAdams) August 28, 2019
Someone needs Jesus, and it’s not Millennials.
