Liberating Childhoods addresses the often-overlooked role of children and their rights within religious and political spheres, where they are excluded from decision-making and denied agency. It focuses on the importance of recognizing children's human rights and advocates for their holistic liberation through an examination of religious, philosophical, and political practices. By reflecting on children's grassroots experiences, the panel aims to resist their ongoing oppression and emphasizes the necessity of contextually informed religious practices that support the flourishing of children both in the U.S. and globally.
Children have become central figures in contemporary political and religious rhetoric because they symbolize innocence, purity, and the future of society, making them powerful tools for moral and cultural arguments. By positioning children as vulnerable and in need of protection, leaders can galvanize support for their agendas, framing their policies as urgent moral imperatives. This is evident in the current intertwining of Christian theological rhetoric and public policy around issues like gender-affirming care, education, and public health, where invoking the welfare of children allows proponents to sidestep nuanced discussion in favor of emotional appeals. My research demonstrates that as children within Christian traditions function primarily as instruments for the confirmation, solidification, and expansion of Christian power, they have been rendered an unreliable ground for accomplishing aims which do not serve the interests of those in and seeking power. They may only find liberation when adult Christians cease seeking earthly power.
Persons under the age of eighteen are arguably the most disenfranchised and disadvantaged social group globally. As religious scholar John Wall notes, “Children across the world are more likely than adults to be poor, malnourished, deprived of security, prevented from exercising freedoms, silenced, done violence, abused, exploited, and discriminated against.” (John Wall, Children’s Rights: Today’s Global Challenge (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2017), 7. Given this reality, how can religious scholars influence the academy and religious communities to prioritize children’s well-being and rights? In this paper, I argue that the first step is to re-envision a childist account of what constitutes justice for children that is methodologically grounded in children’s actual perspectives, capacities, and experiences. My constructive proposal for such an account draws on the interdisciplinary field of childhood studies, scholarly critique of adultism and the adult-child binary, and religious ethicist Margaret Farley’s account of justice.
Children’s freedom to participate in key aspects of civic and religious life is significantly limited. Children are citizens of countries, but denied the right to vote. Children are made in the image of God and part of the body of Christ, but they are often denied access to the body of Christ at the communion rail. In this paper, I will compare arguments in favour of ageless voting—the right to vote from birth—with those of paedocommunion—communion from (infant) baptism. For both, the main justification for exclusion is on the basis of rational capacity, and the concern that children cannot make decisions for themselves. In response, I argue that the presence and agency of children at the communion rail and in the voting booth expand, challenge, and renew our understandings of these places, and call us to new responsibilities and engagement across generations.
This paper explores the liberative potential of music in the lives of African American youth through the lens of Black liberation theology. Historically, African American communities have utilized music to resist systemic racism and assert their humanity, from spirituals during slavery to contemporary gospel and hip-hop expressions. Theologically, the paper expands upon James Cone’s assertion of God's solidarity with the oppressed, arguing explicitly for the inclusion and centering of African American children's voices within theological discourse. Practically, the study demonstrates how music serves as a tool for spiritual expression, critical consciousness, and resilience-building among youth, highlighting specific examples such as youth gospel choirs and community-based music programs. Ultimately, the paper advocates for a theological praxis that empowers African American children, recognizing music’s profound potential to foster liberation, healing, and social transformation in the face of systemic injustice.