Let’s stop calling the decision not to have children “selfish.”

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

On Being Childfree
Kendra Weddle discusses recent books and articles for and against the choice not to have children. Responding to one writer who says the childfree life is not in tune with God’s desires,  Kendra writes: “Contrary to Watters’ insistence that listening to American culture with its misguided attentiveness to our ability to control reproduction is out of tune with God’s desires, I want to suggest there are good reasons for having children AND there are good reasons not to have children. I also want to invite Watters and others who might think similarly to celebrate why they have chosen to create a family while refusing to denigrate someone else’s choice. God, simply, is not that small.”  Kendra wrote this piece for the Ain’t I a Woman blog that she writes with Melanie Springer Mock.  Both Kendra and Melanie are active members of EEWC-Christian Feminism Today.

Letha Dawson Scanzoni is an independent scholar, writer, and editor, and is the author or coauthor of nine books. In 1978, she and Virginia Ramey Mollenkott wrote Is the Homosexual My Neighbor?, one of the earliest books urging evangelical Christians to rethink their views on homosexuality (updated edition, 1994, HarperOne). More recently, Letha coauthored (with social psychologist David G. Myers) What God Has Joined Together: The Christian Case for Gay Marriage (HarperOne, 2005 and 2006). Another of Letha’s most well-known books is All We’re Meant to Be: Biblical Feminism for Today, coauthored with Nancy A. Hardesty (Word Books, 1974; revised edition, Abingdon, 1986; updated and expanded edition, Eerdmans, 1992). Letha served as editor of Christian Feminism Today in both its former print edition (EEWC Update) and its website for 19 years until her retirement in December 2013.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.