It’s been brewing for some time but now appears somewhat official: there is a Christian duty to adopt. Christian evangelicals are being commanded to “be at the forefront of the adoption of orphans close to home and around the world.” Why? Because
and
What better way is there to bring the good news of Christ than to see his unwanted little brothers and sisters placed in families where they’ll be raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? (Adopted for Life, p. 75. See details below.)
and
and even
Adoption is war because Satan and unseen beings contest it. They oppose adoption . . .
If you want a brief overview on the recent phenom of Christians adopting as a Christian thing, go here.
In that article you will find reference to the recently published Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches by Russell Moore, dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Several years ago, Moore adopted two boys from Russia with his wife Maria.
This is the book that has upped the ante. Google it and you will find pages and pages of positive reviews from Christian commentators, families, and adoption agencies swept along by their recent discovery that adopted children are really real children and they really, really belong in Christian homes.
What you won’t find is any frank discussion of the ethical challenges posed by adoption. Corruption* doesn’t exist. Abandonment is abandonment—never a crushing last resort. Adopted children get new families, new names, and new identities but don’t, apparently, think about the original ones. Race and culture are ultimately non-issues because
As Christians, we can’t see things that way. Our love for neighbor means we must prioritize the need for families for the fatherless, regardless of how their skin colours or languages line up with one another. (p. 156)
Moore even goes so far as to say that those who question the practice of transracial adoption probably do so out of racism. Referring to the former governor of Alabama, George Wallace, and his racist policies, he writes:
Wallace and his segregationist cohorts didn’t usually argue their case on the basis of raw racial hatred, at least no openly. Instead they argued that separation was best for both black people and white people. After all, it’s human nature to want to be with “one’s own kind,” to honor one’s own traditions, one’s own culture.
Wallace’s progressive heirs are now using a very similar apologetic for preventing transracial adoption. They’re not nearly as crude as the old governor. But they’re vowing segregation forever, just like he did. They’re standing in the orphanage door. And they too are pretending that they’re just being ‘realistic’ about the possibility of racial reconciliation. (p. 155)
If you detect a tone of moral certainty in the writing, that would be the same certainty that lets Moore dismiss his sons’ original culture as a collection of Russian folk tales, songs, and holidays. More important in Moore’s mind is to keep the focus on what’s real and enduring for him:
It didn’t matter to us that the nurses in the orphanage across the seas still called these boys “Maxim” and “Sergei”; we had on their walls nameplates reading “Benjamin” and “Timothy.” It didn’t matter what their current birth certificates read; they would soon be Moores.
This newness of identity also informed the way we responded to questions, whether from social workers or friends, about whether we planned to “teach the children about their cultural heritage.” We assured everyone we would, and we have.
Now, what most people meant by this question is whether we would teach our boys Russian folk-tales and Russian songs, observing Russian holidays, and so forth. But as we see it, that’s not their heritage anymore [O: Yes, this guy believes adoption changes heritage], and we hardly want to signal to them that they are strangers and aliens, even welcome ones, in our home.
We teach them about their heritage, but their heritage as Mississippians. They learn about their great-grandfather, the faithful Baptist pastor, about their countrymen before them in the Confederate army and the civil rights movement. They wouldn’t know “Peter and the Wolf” if they heard it, but they do know Charley Pride and Hank Williams and “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder.” They are Moores now, with all that entails. (from Chapter 2, published separately as the article “What Some Rude Questions About Adoption Taught Me About the Gospel of Christ”)
For obvious reasons, I don’t recommend buying the book but you can read portions of it at a time online here (the publisher times you, so don’t expect to read for hours).
_________________________________________________________
*Another a-mom recently sent me the ABC Foreign Correspondent story on Christian World Adoption operating in Ethiopia. See it here. Video, transcript, response by CWA and rebuttal by Foreign Correspondent included.
Filed under: adoption, kids, life , Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches, adoption, culture, George Wallace, orphans, race, racism, Russell Moore, Russia, segregation, transracial adoption
Sorry, guys, I forgot to give the link:
http://www.crossway.org/product/9781581349115
Yikes. Thanks for pointing this out. I’m reading the linked chapter now and fuming.
“This is the book that has upped the ante. Google it and you will find pages and pages of positive reviews from Christian commentators, families, and adoption agencies swept along by their recent discovery that adopted children are really real children and they really, really belong in Christian homes.”
This sounds an awful lot like what happened in the U.S., Canada and Australia (and probably elsewhere) where the children of Native peoples were forcibly removed to boarding schools to assimilate and Christianize them. Which explains why Moore can dismiss his sons’ Russian backgrounds so readily: if the original heritage doesn’t exist, there’s no reason to allude to it and they will have no choice but to accept their Christian upbringing.
I guess evangelizing adults isn’t working so well anymore so they’re hoping to add to the ranks by indoctrinating kids. Yuck. Double yuck.
Focus on the Family predicted last year that within 5 – 10 years Christian adoption will be the norm, not the exception.
Check out this story from a Christian family adopting:
http://jdavis2.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/the-cultural-advantage/
“we also have the advantage of understanding our host culture’s worldview and their very deep superstitious beliefs. thus, we were not surprised that sterling was given to us with a jade luck charm – a buddhist charm meant to bring good luck, fortune and protection. we, however, know that this charm is associated with spiritual forces meant to keep people in bondage. thus, we smiled and accepted it as we should, and then later went to the park, broke it, and threw it into the pond, and prayed for our sterling that all spiritual bondage over him would be broken. these spiritual forces are alive and real, and manifest themselves in more obvious ways (but with the same degree of power) than in the west, but we know that the power and grace of the God who created the heavens and the earth is infinitely greater than the forces of evil.”
Since when is Buddhism freaking evil?! People like this scare the, well, bejesus out of me. Sounds like they weren’t so much praying for spiritual bondage to be broken as their own spiritual bondage imposed! I really, really hope this child is able to claim whatever spirituality he chooses when he’s old enough to make that decision.
Andrea, that is simply . . . wretched.
I should mention another theme I saw running through this stuff. Complete the sentence time. Christians are adopted in Jesus, who saves them. As children are
________________________________________________ .
and who the f— would name their kid Sterling. there are even pictures of the wretched jade crushing incident for the child to enjoy later in life.
UPDATE:
jdavis2 has responded to the comments left on their blog which they describe as “a number of people for one reason or another that are unable to understand our reasoning for doing what we do to help ensure that our son will have a better and more fruitful life. if you are one of these people, please click here to read a related post so that you can be better informed instead of leaving a rude, close minded or hateful comment that displays your ignorance.”
The click-through post starts:
“hate, anger, rage, and malice…
these are the words that best describe some comments by a few people that hate orphans, adoption, and those that care about them. this post is for you”
Hey, go for it. To get there, use Andrea’s original link. Show them how much you hate orphans.
well I left this comment
Nobody who is leaving you comments here is doing it because they hate orphans, don’t be ridiculous. We are very concerned about orphans and we don’t think transnational adoption to clueless white people is the best way to help them.
they left a simmilar link on their gotcha post saying:
there have been a few people that have been referred to this post by anti-adoption groups, feminist groups or orphan-hate groups… if you need to be cruel to other people in order to resolve your semantics problems,
Mhmm because we all know feminists are evill , and I personaly get a lot of joy our of the “orphan hate groups” I belong to! They brighten my day.
I mean realy? seriously? who hates orphans? No one I can think of
Ah, yes, when you can’t refute someone else’s experiences, by all means trot out the tired old “anti-adoption” epithet. As for “hating orphans”, that’s just stupid.
Andrea said: “Something that really gets my goat about Christian zealots adopting is when they trust and thank god for the money to adopt.”
What gets mine is when they hold church fundraisers to raise the money to do it. As if anybody’s going to hold a fundraiser to help an adoptee uncover his or her roots, or (heaven forbid!) help a mother find the resources to raise her child.
I still can’t get the image out of my head of that boy staring down at the destroyed remains of the only link to his heritage. That is beyond cruel, and to hear it referred to as done for his own good is just disgusting.
thankyou so much for writing this, I have an unfinished post in my drafts about exactly this issue. As an adoptee and a christian I find this really disturbing and it really hurts. It is so dismissive of who we are, of our cultures, of the fact that children are not interchangeable.
I too, am a Christian, an adoptee, and an adoptive parent. I read the book, because it was loaned to me by a friend and I was DISTURBED for days! I could hardly think about anything else! I do believe what the Bible says – that I have a spiritual adoption into God’s family. I do not see how this can be equated to physically adopting a child. But I couldn’t think how to verbalize it: I agree with what you said, “it is so dismissive of who we are…” Honestly, while this isn’t a very Christian attitude, my motivation to adopt was partially founded in, “at least I’ll be a better adoptive mother than most of the clueless people adopting today.”
OMG. I’m a Christian. It MAKES ME SICK to have people use Christianity as an excuse to be stupid, injust, discriminatory, dismissive, etc.
People who throw God under the bus are STUPID.
The irony of it is how he can replace Russian heritage with that of Mississippi? That speaks of a very limited view of Christianity as in missing the point entirely.
Osolomama, thank you for this post and everyone who supplied such great comments. I have a followup at http://73adoptee.blogspot.com if anyone’s interested. Andrea, that story you posted really frosted my shorts!
Something that really gets my goat about Christian zealots adopting is when they trust and thank god for the money to adopt. Nevermind that god didn’t give the child’s first mother enough support, financial or otherwise, to raise them themselves. I understand from this that they must be more worthy of god’s gifts.
There’s a big difference between a spiritual adoption into the family of Christ, because that does not happen without our consent. Apparently these folks have forgotten that one of the most important gifts we have from our creator is FREE will!
Thanks for shining a light on this. It is scary and we need to carefully consider how to counter this trend.
“We teach them about their heritage, but their heritage as Mississippians. They learn about their great-grandfather, the faithful Baptist pastor, about their countrymen before them in the Confederate army and the civil rights movement.”
How splendid. Sure, I think it’s awesome to teach children about their adoptive family history, after all this is their family too. HOWEVER, why is it sooooo terrible to teach children about their blood history? Why is that so vile or so dismissive of the adoptive family? Please!!!!
In addition to other inconsistencies in the fundamentalist line of thinking, it ignores the reality of Moses’ adoption from a Hebrew family into an Egyptian one. If Egyptian law had required an adoption process like ours, concealing Moses’ identity from him for a lifetime, he would never have known his Hebrew origins and our Judeo-Christian history would not have followed. If God really intended adoptees to be totally assimilated into their adoptive families, sacrificing their own heritage, He certainly would not have permitted Moses to return to “his people” and lead them out of bondage. Why is it that religious zealots can pick and choose the parts of the Bible that suit their agendas but ignore others? Grrrrrr!
As a Buddhist, I’m depressed but not particularly surprised.
I left a comment there that I doubt will see the light of day, so I’ll reproduce it here.
“This was a very malicious and evil action towards your child. I believe you are the rude, hateful and close-minded one.
I’m a Buddhist. I respect Christianity but I don’t respect your brand of it, which seems like it’s full of punishment, fear and paranoia. According to my belief system, which is not as cruel, you won’t suffer in hell for what you did. But by doing it, you have activated negative consequences that you will eventually have to make up for in the future. I hope you will come to your senses and begin to make up for it sooner rather than later.”
He is a baby right? Maybe at least he won’t remember the smashing/water scene. Then again there are the pictures and the pride of the parents for doing it.
Isn’t pride a sin?!
He looked approx 5yo to me in the photos, but I’ll admit I couldn’t abide sticking around on the blog long enough to find out. Older than a toddler, though. Even if he doesn’t, the wonders of the Internet means he’ll be able to read his adoptive parents’ deliberate indoctrination for himself when he’s old enough. Which actually strikes me as a good thing, considering many people go through abuse and are told it’s “all in their heads”.
To that future adoptee possibly reading this years from now on some archived web site: we are so, so sorry.
replying to myself… osolomama just posted on my blog that the child looking down is a friend and the adoptee is 13mos. Either way it’s just sick this happened. Even if the child doesn’t remember he is obviously being raised in an environment where his birth culture is not only not tolerated but is actively considered “evil”. I can only imagine there will be future similar incidents that the child will indeed remember, for the rest of his life.
This FREAKS ME OUT. Thanks for articulating what has been giving me the serious creeps about all the adoption hooplah in certain branches of the Christian community.
Interesting.
If you click on the picture (which leads to a video), his adoptive are speaking in Mandarin. Wonder if they’re trying to do a “bilingual environment” to prove they’re of the “Eastern” mind…
Mei Ling, what does the shape of the charm signify? Do you happen to know? I know different shapes mean different things.
I just know jade signifies long-lasting life and good health. Or something like that. I can’t tell what the actual charm is.
“But as we see it, that’s not their heritage anymore . . . We teach them about their heritage, but their heritage as Mississippians. They learn about their great-grandfather, the faithful Baptist pastor, about their countrymen before them in the Confederate army and the civil rights movement.”
That’s totally bonkers.
And beyond scary.
It reminds me that a few weeks ago I read “Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement” by Kathryn Joyce, and while there was some in it about adoption towards the end of the book, there wasn’t much. Then I found this interview:
http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/03/25/interview-with-kathryn-joyce-author-of-quiverfull/
in which she says “. . . there is a good deal of adoption among Quiverfull families as well as in the broader conservative Christian community. Adoption usually supplements a biological family though, rather than replace the necessity of a woman leaving her fertility in God’s hands, so they may have six biological children and then adopt four more.”
Here’s a link to Quiverfull adoption site http://preciousinhissite.blogspot.com/2008/02/quiverfull-through-adoption.html
Kippa, the thought of adoption and evangelization as part of this mindset–
“Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement is about Christians who want literally to take over and remake the world by outbreeding everyone else, warping the minds of school-children, justifying bigotry with transparent illogic, and systematically denying civil rights. . .”
–is a downright scary thought!
Excerpt from a review of the book at
http://feministreview.blogspot.com/2009/06/quiverfull-inside-christian-patriarchy.html
Americans are worried about Australians ‘black-face’ routines when something as dark & sinister as this is going on in their own backyard. Bible-thumpers have a lot to answer for & I’m certain there will be no salvation for anyone that chooses and defends this sort of ignorance.
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by 73adoptee: From Osolomama: Adoption: When Satan Doesn’t Want You To http://tinyurl.com/yhan7ty...
Thanks for all the comments, everyone. Later in the month I will post a brief history of the evangelical movement and adoption. Don’t worry, it doesn’t go back that many years. In the meantime, if you wish to monitor developments, you could follow a blog called Just ONE: Orphans need each of us. It lays out the basic approach; Moore is often featured on and contributes as well. Here’s the link to their about section:
http://justonechild.wordpress.com/about/
For more on this subject read:
http://www.countercurrents.org/riben041107.htm
Gee, thanks. Blood pressure up about 50 points and getting a migraine.
This makes me so tired, I just want to cry. Particularly since there’s so much bad theology underneath the connection between Christianity and adoption.
Not to mention that the message the proponents of this always seem to miss is that the orphans may not be – never mind that they completely ignore the needs of their mothers and father and families.
I’ve had an email exchange with the author, Russell Moore, during the past 24 hours. Here it is:
ME: As a believer for 35 years, a counselor to adult adoptees and “birth” mothers for 13 years, the mother of four and grandmother of one, the Holy Spirit within me is deeply grieved with your teaching on adoption.
In 1968, at age sixteen, I was forced to relinquish my firstborn son. I knew at the time, even in my unregenerate state, that what I was doing was morally wrong. And I knew in my heart my son would never forgive me. In 1994, when he called me out-of-the-blue, one of the first things he said to me was, “I would never give up a child of mine.” I have a good relationship with his ex-wife and my grandson but not with him.
In infant adoption, both birthmother and adoptee are separated for life, denied any contact whatsoever with each other forever. Our courts permanently divide them with no hope of reconciliation.
Self-knowledge for the adoptee is limited because his/her records are sealed. Many adult adoptees do not know their family history nor have access to their medical records.
Adoption causes deep, untold emotional pain and suffering for both adoptee and birthmother, often scarring them for life.
Adoption in America is a relatively new man-made social experiment and legal contract based on secrets and lies that is hardhearted and cruel. Can anyone who has ears to hear, after even a cursory read of the Bible, say adoption is of God? Indeed, you will search the scriptures in vain to find any support for the adoption system as it functions today. In fact, if you study the Word with an open heart, you will find just the opposite. I encourage you to do that – again – with fasting and prayer.
Permanently separating biological families is not God’s design. Jesus hates the lifelong separation of families, just as He hates divorce. He is in the reconciliation and restoration business, not the adoption business that is of this world.
My prayer is to see the church as a whole come out of denial as to the true nature of adoption and then support radical reform by living New Testament principles, particularly Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Taking in *true* orphans in a guardianship role is scriptural – changing their birth certificates, pretending that they are truly your children (the father of lies is Satan), withholding knowledge of their ethnic heritage and denying them relationships with their biological relatives most certainly is not.
This nation is ripe for God’s judgment because of adoption – for not opening closed records, including original birth certificates, to adult adoptees upon their request (hallelujah for the few states that now allow this) and continuing to shame and coerce young girls and women into relinquishing their babies against their will. God will forgive but there must be national repentance, including the recanting of your false gospel of adoption, which promotes lifelong family division and destruction under the guise of rescuing genuine orphans.
Do you know how many Christian adoptees are shocked and saddened by your work?
While God gives me breath, I will fight the good fight of faith for the truth of the real gospel, which includes the truth that I am my son’s real mother. If the terminology offends you, I cannot apologize. Get on your face before the Lord and don’t get up until you really know His heart on adoption.
MOORE: Dear Amy, I don’t think I’ve ever received an email more tragic, and more Christless, than this one. No doubt you have been deeply hurt. I will pray for you.
ME: And I don’t think I’ve read a doctrine more Christless than the one you’re promulgating. That’s the real tragedy here.
Are you aware of what adoption counselors experience in their work?
Adoption counselors help pick up the shattered pieces in the lives of adoptees of all ages and backgrounds. We handle tens of thousands of cases. We know adoptees rank first among teen suicides. We see the emotional damage on a daily basis. We hear thoughts and feelings an adoptee would never share with his adoptive parents. We bind the brokenhearted and heal the bruised. As a result, we work tirelessly to change adoption laws – and people’s minds and hearts – as to the true nature of adoption and the laws it’s based on, which are relatively new.
That alone – the newness of adoption law – should alert any Berean as to the falsehood of your new teaching. First, God’s truth is based on truth. He hates falsehood. No doctrine of God is based on deception. Second, God’s truth is eternal and based on His Word; it’s never been based on ever-changing man-made laws. Jesus said His words would never pass away, and yet adoption law as we know it today is passing away as I type, ending a cruel, dark period in human history. How can you even compare current adoption practice with our adoption into Christ Jesus? You can’t. There is no comparison. You’ve got something beautiful, holy, pure and just on the one hand and something ugly, unholy, impure and unjust on the other. The severing of biological ties for life is nowhere in scripture.
About orphans. James says we are to visit orphans, not permanently remove them from their families with no hope of reconciliation. Taking in a genuine orphan is true religion; amending his birth certificate and cutting him off from his biological roots is false religion. In fact, God loves biological roots! Look at the life of Moses. Someone said, “If Egyptian law had required an adoption process like ours – concealing Moses’ identity from him for a lifetime – he would never have known his Hebrew origins and our Judeo-Christian history would not have followed. If God really intended adoptees to be totally assimilated into their adoptive families – sacrificing their own heritage – He certainly would not have permitted Moses to return to his people and lead them out of bondage.” And I hope you don’t think ‘begat’ is a dirty word. Some people skip through the first verses of Matthew but I like them. Yes, Jesus loves DNA.
You know what else Jesus loves? Reunions! He weeps when an adoptee finally sets eyes on his mother and father for the first time. It’s just like the prodigal son. Immeasurable, unspeakable joy. I’m sure the angels rejoice as well. Reuniting adoptees have shared their happiness and wholeness with me, and I’ve counted it a precious privilege, similar to a wedding or homebirth (years ago I was a midwife).
The bottom line is you are deceiving the church by telling them there is a new great commission: “Go into all the world and take children from their mothers and fathers and culture and nation, falsify their birth documents and change their identities, wipe out their family history and ethnic heritage, pretend they are yours, and make sure to keep them separated from their families for life.” You are presenting this twisted message under the label ‘missional adoption.’ Some have fallen for it but others, like me, won’t be easily deceived. The church has sunk to a new low because this of this teaching and it grieves us.
Forgive me if I’m wrong, but it doesn’t seem to me you’ve done your homework in this area – the history of adoption or the findings of current research. You can start by reading Betty Jean Lifton, PhD., an adoptee and psychologist. Some of her books have won awards. She’s done extensive research and counseling with all members of the triad: http://www.bjlifton.com/counseling.htm. Have you read any of the research out of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute? I’ll attach a PDF file.
Mothers and fathers and their children who’ve been separated and crushed by outdated, hardhearted adoption laws don’t need your prayers, they need your eyes opened.
MOORE: I can only pray that the hate and rage in your heart will one day meet Christ. Please do not harass me further with your emails.
[...] Some relevant links: Indoctrination through Adoption Adoption: When Satan doesn’t want you to var addthis_pub = ''; var addthis_language = 'en';var addthis_options = 'email, favorites, digg, [...]
Amy, your writing to Moore was very powerful and respectful. What a shame that he so easily seeks to dismiss your words; symptomatic of a permanently closed mind.
A thought about the Russian adoptees and their new heritage as Mississippians – this is easier to attempt since the boys are WHITE (I’m assuming, but can’t say I’ve heard of many Russians of African descent).
Now what if Moore had adopted two African American children from Detroit? Would he be as certain of their of their Mississipi heritage and their relationship to Conferderate ancestors?
Maybe, you are right. The two boys are white.
Wow, this is all really making me sick and ashamed to be a Christian of any sort (Catholic). Amy what you wrote was lovely, how dare Moore say you are “Christless”?? Does he have a direct line to God? Oh yeah, I forgot, those Fundy loons think they do!
How horrible to destroy something from a child’s Buddhist heritage as “evil”. The real evil is fundamentalism of every kind. I feel these people should never be allowed to adopt internationally, and in this country should only be allowed to adopt children who already come from this kind of background. It is not fair to subject kids to such a horrid fringe religion.
Whatever happened to free will, and Jesus and God love us all??
I’d like to see every adoption reform blogger post Amy’s email exchange with Russell Moore.
The speed with which he turned on Amy shows how very little he “knows Christ.” Pompous self-promoter.
Nice one, Amy :- )
You showed Moore up for what he is – a delusional intolerant zealot – and what’s more you did it respectfully too. Bravo.
Hafta say, Amy, that on every reading of your e-mail to Moore, there is more to appreciate. Far too much thinking and reflection for anyone to discount so hastily.
So, I assume, as an adoptee, I’m one of those unseen beings that are mentioned?
Got to say, this whole thing just makes me want to puke. And I’m not a big puker.
[...] One of our readers attempted an e-mail exchange with Moore here. [...]
Hey everybody, thanks for your comments.
I’m a big puker too, Holly.
Where do we go from here? Keep speaking and writing and facing others without fear.
[...] recently, I came across some blogs today that continued turning the wheels in my [...]
[...] Directed Me” If you’ve read this and this here, you may be assuming what I will write about. But when I clicked on the story announced by the [...]