Which Christian outlet would publish a feminist response to Harrison Butker’s recent speech at Benedictine College? Was it Christianity Today? Was it The Gospel Coalition? Nope. It was Christian Post, that while more conservative than the other two tends to publish nonsensical articles written by amateur commentators, and in this case, Rachel Velo is that commentator and her op-ed, “To Harrison Butker: Shouldn’t men be told their highest calling is being a father?”
This speech broke the internet when it was written, which coincidentally was at the same time that online feminists were expressing their preference for bears over men, and dating apps like Bumble are cratering. So clearly, the words of Harrison Butker struck a chord in the culture. Rather than offer a Christian critique, if one could be made, the article is a glorified whataboutism.
Most of what he said badly needed to be heard by those he spoke to. Young people are increasingly unhappy and mentally unwell while coming of age in a nihilistic zeitgeist. They have a lack of purpose, confusion about their identity, anxiety, and stress about the future all the while being constantly bombarded with messages of doom and gloom.
What she fails to mention is that Gen Z has been set up to fail. Their country and future have largely been stolen from them. Real Estate is unaffordable. The US National Debt is spiraling out of control. Throughout their lives, they have either been taught that they are victims or, if they are white, taught to hate themselves despite living in Western nations that were built by whites. Add to the concoction the emphasis on “mental health” which further breeds narcissism, and the inability of relationships to form and one cannot blame them for lacking hope in the things of this world.
Harrison‘s reminder that our greatest purpose is to find love, create families, and serve God can fill the nihilistic void for so many young people who desperately need it. While every time a conservative or religious person speaks their truth, liberals have a conniption, his message fell flat for many women.
When he called for women (not men) to see their highest purpose as being wives and mothers, many women stopped listening, and here’s why. His message, much like the ‘transwomen are women’ slogan, is one of empty words.
The only women incensed by Butker’s words were feminists. Because of liberalism, humanity has become anti-natal, primarily because women are in rebellion against their most natural role. Women are taught from childhood to pursue careers over family. Childrearing is denigrated to where birthrates have plummeted below replacement. Abortion and birth control are ubiquitous, providing moral hazard to sexual sin. The most important thing a woman can do for any society is bear its next generation, as in perpetuate the human race, which is sort of a big deal. Almost as if without children society ceases to exist. So yes, being a mother is more important than some overpriced college degree.
For most of recorded history, women have been viewed as inferior to men – unintelligent, emotional, and irrational whose only capabilities are childbearing and house cleaning. Aristotle even referred to women as a depository for sperm. So Harrison, despite this history and the fact that many women around the world still live in horribly repressive conditions, suggesting that motherhood and women are suddenly valued ring hollow.
The value and importance of motherhood (and fatherhood) is a message that is thankfully gaining more steam in many church pews and conservative circles. The value of women, wives, and motherhood doesn’t need to be stated to women, it is men who need this message.
Velo uses Presentism to presuppose that the past was oppressive for women based on her modern, liberal values. Every society of any significance that has ever been built was created by patriarchy. Men are the natural leaders of humanity, as is evident in Creation through Adam. Are women more emotional and irrational? By (fallen) nature, yes. But they are more nurturing than men. And technically, Scripture calls women the “weaker vessel” (1 Peter 3:6-8) in part because they are naturally prone to fear and deception. It is from this weakness that Peter instructs husbands to honor their wives.
As for men who supposedly need Butker’s message, many have been checking out of the “dating market” because of both the state of modern women and the perpetual rejection from online apps. Combined with unfavorable divorce laws, there are growing sentiments against marriage amongst men that are predominately a reaction to the current circumstance, something the Church is failing to address; instead, pastors preach the “gift of singleness” as it is the rule versus the exception. Unless families and churches wish to take up matchmaking, the Red-Pills solution of Men Going Their Own Waw (MGTOW) is unfortunately their best option in the current climate. This typically advocates self-improvement measures in the realm of fitness and finance while being against the use of pornography—all things that correspond with trad-Christian talking points. The downside to MGTOW is that it breeds selfishness and an abstention from society that is rooted in nihilism. But this is the reaction, not the cause.
Young girls are increasingly told they are only valuable while they’re young, that promiscuous sex is acceptable, and that “sex work” (or prostitution) is now considered a legitimate profession…
Not only are women being told they are only valued for sex, but 23% of American children live in a single-parent home and over 20 million children do not have a father present. The United States has the highest rate of fatherlessness in the world! We know that being in a fatherless home leads to a number of negative outcomes like a higher rate of poverty, criminal behavior, and drug usage.
The Red Pill or Trad types valuing women when they are young contrasts with the digital prostitution which women turn to when they are young. The value of women, while they are young, is objectively true from a fertility standpoint or for marital prospects. Prostitution and promiscuity devalue women, and since women have a “biological clock,” the consequences for squandering these years to these sins could lead to a life of misery when beauty starts to decline.
As for the fatherless homes, while it does take two to tango, women are the ones recklessly sleeping with men outside of wedlock and having babies with them. While the sin is shared, they are the ones taking the greater risk. It also should be noted that the demographics that reject family values and embrace feminism tend to have more single mothers and fatherless homes, something the article fails to address while broad-brushing men as the problem. Moreover, roughly 40% of single mothers are divorced, which likely means they chose to become single mothers by initiating divorce for whatever reason.
Calling out women for the decline in marriage and family creation given the current state of societal degeneracy is like calling out the cake for making you fat. Women understand the importance of motherhood; it’s instinctual within us. We are told men feel the same instinct about fatherhood but the statistics and cultural attitudes surrounding women and families suggest otherwise.
Young women largely reject motherhood, contrary to her entire article. She attempts to employ the prevalence of single women to suggest that men culturally do not care about fatherhood, which ignores the aforementioned societal factors, which include women giving away the cake without a ring or divorcing men and becoming single mothers.
She proceeds to use the example of Ashley Madison to suggest that men devalue marriage, which is largely a non sequitur since men are most of the users of any dating app, even one tailored towards marital infidelity.
If we wish to stem social decay, and moral depravity, and encourage young men and women to build families and communities we have to change the culture of exalting sex and debauchery and begin to value virtue in marriage and family for both sexes. Simply stating motherhood matters is as empty as saying ‘transwomen are women.’ If society doesn’t show how motherhood matters, no matter how many times we say it, it won’t make it true. We must collectively as a society make it true.
As long as the prostitute (or Only Fans model) is celebrated over the mother we cannot truthfully say motherhood is the highest calling because no woman is going to believe that or want that. And as long as men have promiscuous sex impregnating women and leaving, we cannot say similar about fatherhood either. Empty words don’t cut it we need to push for societal change — not slogans. We need to ensure we model virtuous behavior.
The inability to critique women without an equal or greater critique leveled against men is basically the crux of her complaint. How exactly does society show that motherhood matters when all the forces of Media, Hollywood, politics, corporate America, etc. exemplify the boss babe? Every institution is controlled by people with an agenda against procreation. That is the world as it currently exists.
Natalist policies like those Viktor Orban has instituted would bode well for changing the culture. Prohibitions against abortion and birth control would reduce promiscuity. Dusty Deevers has proposed removing No-Fault divorce. And women would be the biggest opponents of all these policy proposals. That is why Harrison Butker needed to say what he said.
One Response
Yeah, in my experience of Christian online dating, unless one is going to be a pastor, it is absolutely useless. Because I meet women that would have been interested in me, if I was going to seek to be a pastor.