My husband just got back from meeting with our church leadership, having written a letter in response to them telling me I am not allowed to nurse uncovered anywhere but the uncomfortable and inadequate nursing room that is only available for 1hr, not even all of service, let alone any time afterwards.
He presented a very well reasoned arguement that breastfeeding uncovered was not a sin and that none of the reasons they suggested for making any rules about it were at all biblical and also inconsistent with not having rules about modest standards of dress. As we do not meet in a church building, but a publicly funded club, he also pointed out that their actions were illegal.
They are completely non responsive and will not even discuss the matter. It's basically an independent church, so there is no person higher up to go to. To add insult to injury, the church in general is not even aware of the rule, not even the nursing mothers, which makes it look like deliberately making it an unwritten rule to avoid any legal repercussions, which is rather worrying.
I'm not really sure what to do next, because the law is framed in terms of the woman, even though I feel that in reality, I'm sticking up for the rights of babies (I'm more concerned about any impacts this has on the duration of breastfeeding for other mothers than myself), it still appears to be about my rights, which the pastor has made it pretty clear he doesn't think anyone should express.
I'm thinking about writing to the whole congregation as that appears to be the next step biblically, but the temptation to contact the club and point out that they are renting out their building to an organisation that is acting illegally is very high, as is directly reporting them to the law.
He presented a very well reasoned arguement that breastfeeding uncovered was not a sin and that none of the reasons they suggested for making any rules about it were at all biblical and also inconsistent with not having rules about modest standards of dress. As we do not meet in a church building, but a publicly funded club, he also pointed out that their actions were illegal.
They are completely non responsive and will not even discuss the matter. It's basically an independent church, so there is no person higher up to go to. To add insult to injury, the church in general is not even aware of the rule, not even the nursing mothers, which makes it look like deliberately making it an unwritten rule to avoid any legal repercussions, which is rather worrying.
I'm not really sure what to do next, because the law is framed in terms of the woman, even though I feel that in reality, I'm sticking up for the rights of babies (I'm more concerned about any impacts this has on the duration of breastfeeding for other mothers than myself), it still appears to be about my rights, which the pastor has made it pretty clear he doesn't think anyone should express.
I'm thinking about writing to the whole congregation as that appears to be the next step biblically, but the temptation to contact the club and point out that they are renting out their building to an organisation that is acting illegally is very high, as is directly reporting them to the law.
I know there was a lot of background to this (I wasn't quite able to keep up with your other thread) but I would just go on doing whatever you need to do to feed your baby. What are they going to do, stop everything & kick you out of the church? I would also consider writing a note to the entire church or even better, find a few other moms there who would support this cause & then approach it as a group (either have the group address the congregation via letter or informally spreading the word, OR start up a "BF'ing support group" within your church. I would be hesitant to contact whoever they are leasing the building from -- 1, I doubt the owner would care, as long as (s)he's getting the monthly rent, and 2, if they were kicked out of the building, that leaves your whole church with nowhere to congregate, which I don't think is really fair (2 wrongs don't make a right type of thing).
