A Liberation Theology, for Children

On advocating for children, fighting the so-called “parental rights” movement, and teaching children when disobedience matters; an interview with R.L. Stollar

Sarah Stankorb
7 min readFeb 17, 2023
PHOTO: Kay Smith

How does a person get from James Dobson’s Strong-Willed Child to child liberation theology? Well, spend enough time hearing from people whose families gobbled up various — and often damaging — guidance on child rearing, and maybe it’s natural to start hoping some of those kids learn to disobey the grown-ups who hurt them and find a little liberation. Maybe there’s some beauty to be found in a model of the divine that puts kids first, instead of silencing them at the back or under a thumb.

This week, I asked R.L. Stollar to join us. Many readers probably already know R.L. as an advocate for reforms to ensure all homeschooled students can thrive. He’s also a child liberation theologian, always ready to fight the good fight, and if you read through to the end, he has a big list of book recommendations to replace some of the problematic ones we’ve been covering recently.

Our guest this week, R.L. Stollar.

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Sarah Stankorb

Sarah Stankorb, author of Disobedient Women, has published with The Washington Post, Marie Claire, and many others. @sarahstankorb www.sarahstankorb.com