Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Kids as tools

Rob and I are nowhere near ready to have kids. We are both open to the idea that we never will be and also that someday we might. Part of our reluctance is that we have a very good idea of the realities of parenthood and aren't sure we're ready for the responsibility. The other part has to do with making sure we have kids for the right reasons, though what those might be, I'm not so clear on yet. We do know, however, that my desire to teach a kid to cook and Rob's desire to have his kid on his knee every Sunday while watching the race aren't good reasons - those idyllic moments are truly the minority of a kid's first 18 years.

But when I read articles like this one on Salon.com, about a punk fundamentalist church in Seattle which advocates not only a literal reading of the bible (i.e. very very traditional, strictly enforced gender roles) but also a belief that it is their duty to reproduce plentifully in order to spread their brand of Christianity, it makes me wonder if I am doing the world a disservice by not adding my own ideology in the form of my own offspring to the mix to combat such fanaticism.

But really, despite what the Mars Hill Church preaches, who are we doing the disservice to when we have kids so that they can act as tools?

No comments: