Filmmaker Eric Swithin on How to Best Curb the Fatherless Epidemic in America
While our nation rages on and on about a host of topics including wokeness, gender ideology, and critical race theory, we may be blinding ourselves to the most pressing issue in America … fatherlessness.
Consider these staggering statistics:
- 18 million kids here in the United States live without a biological, step, or adoptive father present in the home.
- 85 percent of youth in prison come from a fatherless home.
- 1 in every 3 pregnancies in a fatherless home end in abortion.
- 63% of youth suicide victims come from a fatherless home.
Could it be the root of all of our problems can be found in the sobering fact that so many of our children are not being exposed to a male role model early enough in life?
While everyone attempts to solve our societal ills by treating symptoms, the Church (with a Capital C) is being called to fight the issue at its roots.
“Where did orphanages come from?” questions Eric Swithin, founder of The Alliance for Ending the Fatherless Epidemic. “Where did hospitals come from? The Church started all this stuff. And so when people say the churches don't do much of anything, no, we do most of the foster care, and most of the adoption. And if we would just go back to doing what we used to do, which is leading the pack and leading the country, I think we would see this problem lessen greatly.”
In his new documentary, The Fatherless Epidemic Swithin points out that the 21st Century version of a widow is the single mom and the orphan is a fatherless kid. The key to erasing the fatherless epidemic? Mentorship. And that’s where the Church comes in.
“The church can start first and foremost by teaching a theology that sees father as Abba and addressing the father wounds in their own congregation so that they can have a healthy understanding of the trinity and who God really is,” Swithin explains. “And when they do that, they can also develop an awareness for the single mom and the fatherless kid in their own pews and their own church.”
Swithin joins us on the Crossmap Podcast to talk about why fatherlessness has become the most pressing issue in America. Listen as he shares how churches and ministries can come alongside fatherless children to provide the nurturing and care they need to become happy, emotionally healthy adults.
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