Secrets about Father’s Day

Summary: Holidays reveal the inner life of a society. Especially Father’s Day, at the center of key changes being made to America. This analysis of that mutated holiday is an edited compilation of Dalrock’s brilliant articles (links at the end).

The unmentionable aspect of Father’s Day.

Compiled from posts by Dalrock at his website.

Father’s Day is a difficult day for modern Christians. It is set aside to honor fathers, something Christians are explicitly commanded to do. Most Americans would be quite surprised to learn that Father’s Day is generally viewed differently by conservative Christians than by secular Americans.

Most secular Americans accept Father’s Day for what it is. But modern Christians have contempt for fathers 365 days a year. Christian leaders often express this on Father’s Day with sermons tearing down men in front of their families. Those who need more contempt for fathers can supplement those by showing Christian movies like Courageous and Moms’ Night Out. Both were huge hits with Christian audiences. Their anti-father themes didn’t stand out to Christians because Christian culture is even more anti father than secular culture. {See Dalrock’s skewering of Courageous and Mom’s Night Out.}

Sunshine Thiry was skeptical of my statement that tearing down fathers is a modern Christian Father’s Day tradition. Her pastor confirmed the tradition, explaining to the congregation why he was deviating from it. Thiry quoted her pastor’s explanation in her post Do pastors tear down men on Father’s Day?

“It’s our goal on this Father’s Day weekend to lift you up and encourage you. Father’s Day is one of the worst days that dads can ever choose to go to church because often it’s the only time churches feel like they’re going to have the ears of dads. So what they do is beat them up royally for all they’re not doing right.

“Ever been to one of those Father’s Day service? In the early days of my ministry here, we planned for you guys. We sang ‘Cats in the Cradle and the Silver Spoon.’  We’d talk about how you have so royally blown it, the world has gone to hell in a handbasket, and then we’d try and help you recover. We wondered why dads didn’t like Father’s Day at our church.”

Honoring fathers doesn’t translate into modern Christian culture because honoring fathers is an alien idea to them. For example, Thiry’s pastor doesn’t say that he will honor fathers. He says he will encourage them.

Keep in mind that this isn’t about one sermon, or just sermons on Father’s Day, or even about pastors. This is about modern Christians feeling profound discomfort with the idea of honoring fathers. This isn’t a biblical tradition, because the Bible is clear on the importance of honoring fathers. This is about modern Christian culture. Even when modern Christians set out to honor fathers, what they end up doing is tearing fathers down in front of their wives and children.

Even worse, this is so deeply ingrained that no one notices. It doesn’t seem out of place because that is what they always do: blame men for the sins of women and issue men an endless series of challenges to man up. This is cowardly and easy, but feels heroic.

Most people give their father a Hallmark™ card on Father’s Day. Conservative Christians celebrate Father’s Day by telling their dad to promise to be a better dad.

For example, see the website of Honor Your Father Today. Their goal was noble, but the concept of honoring fathers was just too disgusting for modern Christians to accept. So instead of honoring fathers, they taught that we should not call God the Father, refocused the day to only apply to fathers honoring their own fathers, offered a list of cringe-worthy social media ideas, and generally focused on telling men to man up. They give helpful advice for Fathers’ Day.

“In a society where fatherlessness (or at least dads who aren’t stepping up to the plate) runs rampant, one thought must race through the minds of so many men and women out there: ‘How do you honor someone who isn’t honorable?’”

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My conclusions

The liberation of women has changed the fundamental dynamics of our society. The changes continue to ripple out. The delegitimization of fathers is one result, and it in turns creates more waves of change.

This is one of the big stories of our time. Bigger than most of the stories that dominate the headlines. The Left is creating a new America, doing so without plan or testing. Let’s hope it works better than their previous project – communism in Russia, China, and other unfortunately nations used as lab rats.

Dalrock’s posts about Fathers’ Day

These are brief and all well worth reading.

1. How to be a good Christian dad: Hair shirts and chest thumping!
2. Modern Christian culture’s deep antipathy for fathers.
3. A radical Father’s Day proposal: honor Fathers on Father’s Day.
4. Don’t refer to God as the Father, call him a “Best Friend”.
5. Ideas on how to honor your father on social media for Father’s Day.
6. Man up and honor your father – by telling him to be a better dad.
7. Films that denigrate husbands and fathers – So common no one notices.
8. The bottom line: to many conservative christians, Fathers are jokes.
9. Father’s Day sermons are the symptom, not the disease.
10. Kickass single moms deserve Father’s Day gifts.

Also see my post: For Father’s Day: revolutionary words that will forever change the American family.

A Father’s Day gift from Disney

For Father’s Day, a film about a great wife, mother, and superheroine – and her doofus househusband. The critics say it is bold and innovative. We have seen this many many times before. I hope to review this tomorrow.