Dismal theology-related tweet of the day

I have mentioned more times than I can count that the Southern Baptists don’t actually believe in marriage, that what they believe in is animal husbandry, and I have often quoted Albert the Pious to make the point. But, usually, you have to reason to that conclusion from his remarks; I don’t know of any other occasion when he has explicitly said “… to be human is to be a parent ….”

Again: Southern Baptists believe in procreation, and strenuously condemn letting your wedding vows interfere with the slavish submission Our Invisible Friend expects. On their view, the point of marriage is to make babies and glorify The Creator Of The Whole Big Universe, period — not to build satisfying lives together.

Alas, the Oracle of Louisville is getting some pushback.

Numerous Twitter users blasted Mohler’s comments as insensitive to couples who are struggling conceive and disrespectful to single adults.

“The Bible has a word for the way many conservative evangelicals treat marriage and family as the pinnacle of human existence and spiritual fidelity: idolatry,” observed Jonathan Merritt, a writer on religion, culture and politics and son of a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention. “It is an anthropological and theological framework more consistent with ‘The Bachelor’ than the Bible.”

In 2003 Mohler said that married couples who decide to remain childless are guilty of “moral rebellion” against God.

Thousands of children will be conceived, all around the world, on this very day. Humanity is in no danger of perishing if a relative handful of people choose not to have children.