Childish Governance: The Subjugation of Childhood to Empire Building

Appealing to a “concern for children” in order to address other social concerns is not a new turn within the Christian theological traditions. 

The 1960s and 1970s brought significant social change, with movements advocating for civil rights, women's liberation, LGBTQ+ rights, and greater sexual freedom. These shifts led to a conservative backlash among certain Christian groups, who feared that traditional moral values were under threat. The rise of the religious right in the late 1970s and 1980s, with figures like Jerry Falwell and organizations like the Moral Majority, sought to combat what they saw as moral decay in American society. Yet the story of the Christian instrumentalization of children is much older than this.

This is due, in no small part, to the fact that children in the many of the Christian traditions have been instrumental in the conferral of spiritual and structural authority. The character of the ecclesiastical family is, for Chrysostom in the 5th century, predicated upon the relationship of parents to their children to the extent that he questions, “If a man with unruly children is unworthy to be bishop [Titus 1:6], how can he be worthy of the kingdom of heaven?” He points to the story of Eli whose “sons cursed God, and he did not correct them” and God’s subsequent wrath against Eli and his whole house whose iniquity “shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering for ever.” Anabaptist parents in North America later espoused the same anxieties regarding their wayward children threatening their salvation, because of their understanding of the exact same text. Though considerably less menacing, Aquinas and Luther also both understood the children of Christian parents as a natural extension of the adult Christian community - Aquinas attributing to parents both their children’s successes and failures and Luther insisting that all adults take up a parental role for children asking, “Indeed, for what purpose do we older folks exist, other than to care for, instruct, and bring up the young? 

Because of the roles children play(ed) in adult Christian access to ecclesiastical power and salvation, they took on a central role in Christian moral discourse as the boundaries between the Church and broader society diverged in the early modern period. Where once the church was society - the nucleus of social discipline, economy, education, nurture, and welfare - with the advent of the printing press and the Protestant Reformation, the locus of power shifted from the church to the individual home. As a result, “Children became a public battleground in disputes over ecclesiastical power, parental rights and obligations, and ‘ethnic’ resentments between Genevans and French.” For John Calvin and many of his contemporaries, the task of rearing children to place the common good above their individual desires was of paramount importance and required a coordinated effort of church, family, and government. To help parents navigate this new social dynamic and responsibly steward the children in their care, church leaders developed a series of household manuals. This regimented the education and “vocation” of children, outlining a program to make children good citizens, not only of the kingdom of God, but of their earthly polities as well. These household manuals became the basis of Western public education.

Christian traditions have historically expressed varied views on children, especially regarding their roles in society, their relationship to God, and the responsibilities of adults toward them. The concept of children, however, often functions as a symbol of stability in Christian communities, particularly in times of societal unrest. Children, as figures, can embody both the innocence and potential of future generations, but also the means through which adult Christians affirm their standing with God. Across Christian history, the way in which children are understood has reflected broader social, political, and theological concerns. This relationship is often rooted in the belief that children are a reflection of adult moral and spiritual integrity. Thus, the treatment of children becomes a proxy for the Christian's alignment with divine order.

This symbolic power of children within Christian discourse is especially visible in the West, where Christian traditions have profoundly shaped systems like education, law, and healthcare. Christianity's biopolitical influence over these systems means that children often become entangled in the preservation of Christian norms and values. The control over children’s upbringing—whether in schools, families, or churches—becomes a mechanism through which Christian empire can perpetuate its cultural dominance. As such, children's welfare is not always addressed in a way that challenges political power; instead, their needs are often shaped by the larger goals of empire-building, which uses children to preserve Christian values and societal control.

This relationship is notably evident in the politics of right-wing Christian groups in the U.S., where appeals to the welfare of children are often instrumentalized to further conservative political agendas. For example, issues such as education, abortion, and family values are framed through the lens of protecting children, thereby exempting those making claims from needing to offer further evidence or reasons, but these conversations are rarely about the children themselves. Instead, they reflect the interests of the adult Christian establishment, reinforcing traditional gender roles, anti-abortion stances, and a conservative vision of family life. Children, in these contexts, are viewed less as individuals with rights or needs and more as symbols of the continuity of the Christian moral order.

On the other hand, when American Christians on the political left invoke the welfare of children, the moral weight of their concerns often lacks the same resonance. In many instances, appeals for children’s welfare by progressives are seen as insufficiently grounded in the deeply entrenched Christian values that dominate mainstream political discourse. The Christian-centric framing of children’s roles means that their welfare is often overshadowed by broader cultural and political priorities, particularly when progressive causes do not align with traditional Christian teachings. The conservative appropriation of children’s welfare in the service of empire thus renders the concept of children politically neutralized when wielded in a non-theocratic context.