Doomscrolling, Openness to Life, Church Feminization + More

Our quarterly AMA letter

A few weeks ago, I put out a call for ask-me-anything questions to build this week’s newsletter. I got many thoughtful, creative questions, and I really wish I could answer every single one, but I do these AMA issues quarterly, so there will be plenty of future opportunities to get a question in!

AMA disclaimers: Some of the questions were repeats/long and personal, so I’m paraphrasing a few of them. As I grow in my faith + personhood + feminism + motherhood + alllll that jazz, I’m really starting to see just how much I value open dialogue. I think the fact that we have such a hard time having conversations with one another is one of the critical breaking points of our society, especially in America— “land of the free”, etc. So here’s what I want to say: you and I can disagree and you are welcome here. You and I can hurt each other’s feelings and you are welcome here. You and I can have very different beliefs and you are welcome here. The only things I don’t tolerate are you telling someone else they aren’t welcome here, or you deciding to radically blaspheme the Holy Spirit or something. K? Let’s pray for each other and assume best intentions as we wrestle with tricky topics. Conflict is what happens when thinking people gather.

What is your approach to living out and teaching modesty? Do you have any resources that would help with this? For context, I teach high school women theology and have difficulty answering their questions about modesty and formulating my own thoughts on it without drifting into toxic purity culture. I agree modesty is important, but how can we think of it and share it with others in a way that is positive about ourselves rather than negative?