Insulting Fathers Day

Now let me preface this by saying... it is in no way a reflection on my own Fathers Day.... nor how my family treated me. I was honoured quite a bit today and am appreciative of it. And while I am at it...

Happy Fathers Day pop.

That said...

I am thoroughly sick of the way dads are attacked on Fathers Day.... especially at Church. Not surprisingly... the female dominated Church is fairly hostile to fathers. At no time is this more obvious than on fathers day.

Lets start by looking at Mothers Day. Now... Sermons on both days have formulas that are almost always followed... but in each case... are slightly different. On mothers day... women will be celebrated and praised to the point of near worship. Mary will be mentioned over and over again. Then... in the sermon... the minister will take some particular positive attribute of mothers... and use it as a lesson... and hold it up as something for everyone to aspire to.

Then Fathers Day comes along. its a whole different story. It often starts with a mens breakfast... where an old man will stand up and read a list of fatherly attributes... and its assumed of course that you don't meet them... then you are chastised for not meeting them... and challenged to meet them in the future.

Then the service rolls around... and everyone will lament the failures in society and blame them on who? Right. Dads. And then the formulaic sermon... of course there will be no mention of Joseph... no... instead the minister takes a negative attribute of males... this morning at my church it was pride... and complains about how it affects the family of fathers... and uses it as a negative example to show people something to avoid. At my church the preacher threw in the added bonus of complaining that his dad didn't tell him he loved him... and prayed to God that he would never end up like that. What a great way to honor your father... to lead a congregation in prayer that you should never suffer from his faults.

I've been to Baptist churches... Catholic churches... Church of Christ churches... and holy roller churches... and all of them follow these same formulas on fathers day and mothers day... but that's ok.. I'm certain there are exceptions. I just wish I could be at one some time.

But if you're a minister... and you're reading this... here's some advice for Father's Day next year. Just say, "Thanks Dad."... and shut the hell up.