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{"id":767,"date":"2014-04-11T13:32:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-11T13:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/04\/are-single-people-the-lepers-of-todays-church.html"},"modified":"2014-04-11T13:32:00","modified_gmt":"2014-04-11T13:32:00","slug":"are-single-people-the-lepers-of-todays-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/04\/are-single-people-the-lepers-of-todays-church.html","title":{"rendered":"Are Single People the Lepers of Today\u2019s Church?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There are the Christians who tell you that life doesn\u2019t start until you\u2019re married<\/a>. Or that you can\u2019t really understand what love is because you\u2019re single and childless. Never mind that this goes directly against the Christian faith, which teaches that God is the source of all love and that everyone \u2014 regardless of marital status! \u2014 can know that love.<\/p>\n

Churches are so committed to the idea of a family-centered church that they\u2019re just not sure how to handle rising rates of singleness.<\/p>\n

There are the people who talk about singles in the church as a problem. There are the people who say you\u2019re \u201c too picky<\/a>\u201d if you have any standards at all. There are the people who hint that you couldn\u2019t get a spouse because you\u2019re not spiritual enough or because God is trying to punish you for something. And then there are my favorites: the people who helpfully point out that there\u2019ll be no one to look after you in your old age. (Thanks for reminding me once again of that topic that has so often kept me lying awake into the small hours!)<\/p>\n

Read the rest here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"