Mark Driscoll, the brash pastor who once led the now-defunct Mars Hill Church in Seattle, is drawing intense scrutiny from some in the pro-life community after he seemingly suggested Christian stay-at-home fathers are bound for hell.
In late May, the 54-year-old preacher wrote on X, “A Christian man who doesn’t work is worse than a non-Christian. This includes you, stay-at-home dads.” That was a watered-down reprisal of a post he shared on Mother’s Day, in which he suggested “voluntary” stay-at-home fathers are hell-bound.
At the crux of Driscoll’s argument is 1 Timothy 5:8, a go-to passage for the pastor in which the Apostle Paul wrote, “But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers” (NLT).
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According to the Christian apologetics resource BibleRef, Paul, addressing fellow believers, used intense language that would be culturally resonant to them. He explained it is shameful for anyone, even non-Christians, to neglect family members, especially those in need. As such, he emphasized it’s even more shameful for those who claim to believe in Jesus to not extend such care toward their families.
In Driscoll’s estimation, a father caring for his children by remaining at home makes him “worse than a non-Christian” and, according to a 2008 video of him and his wife Grace, means he has given into an “absolutely perverted, corrupted, stupid culture.”
That perspective did not sit well with Kristan Hawkins, a Christian pro-life activist and president of Students for Life of America. She took to her own social media channels to voice her vehement disapproval of Driscoll’s view.
Hawkins, 40, argued Driscoll owes men like her husband an apology.
“My husband was a schoolteacher for 10 [years], and we decided that, with two of our children having cystic fibrosis, he would stay at home to care for [and] teach our children while I continue to lead Students for Life to fight to end Planned Parenthood [and] the violence of abortion,” she wrote on X. “He is 100% a Christian and the best example of a male role model I know.”
She went on to write, “I’m 100% done with the ‘manly’ advice some pastors and other conservative commentators want to give men and women about what the role of men ‘really should be.’ Most of these men have cheated on their wives or have found to be in some other public sin. It’s sickening.”
Data published in 2021 by the Pew Research Center found there are roughly 2.1 million stay-at-home fathers in the U.S., accounting for about 20% of the stay-at-home parent population. The percentage of fathers staying home for any reason has nearly doubled since 1989.
About 23% of stay-at-home dads reported in 2021 they stayed home to care for their houses and families while 13% said it was because they could not find employment. Another 34% said they worked inside the home due to illness or disability, with 13% and 8%, respectively, saying they were retired or students.
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