Each year, on the third Sunday in June, Americans observe Father’s Day—a holiday intended to honor the vital role of fathers in family life and society. But in today’s cultural climate, the idea of fatherhood is not merely neglected—it is actively undermined and maligned. What began as a day to recognize paternal love, strength, and guidance has become awkward and even controversial in a society increasingly shaped by radical ideologies that reject moral order, biological reality, and divine design.
But what if the growing hostility to fatherhood isn’t just a sociological trend—or even just political? What if it is theological at its core? This blog post argues that the modern assault on fatherhood is, at root, a rebellion against God Himself as Father. We will examine the historical meaning of Father’s Day, the ideological war on the family since the 1960s, the theological foundation for biblical fatherhood, and the devastating consequences of fatherlessness. Finally, we will show why recovering godly fatherhood is not just a social good—it is a spiritual imperative.
The History and Meaning of Father’s Day
Father’s Day in the United States was first celebrated in Spokane, Washington, in 1910, following the initiative of Sonora Smart Dodd, whose father had raised six children alone after his wife’s death. While Mother’s Day gained rapid popularity, Father’s Day met resistance, reflecting cultural discomfort with expressing affection and honor toward male authority figures.
It wasn’t until 1972, under President Richard Nixon, that Father’s Day was established as a national holiday. The day honors not only the biological role of fathers but the moral and spiritual significance of fatherhood itself—embodied in sacrificial love, provision, guidance, discipline, and strength.
The Progressive Assault on Fatherhood—and on God
Since the late 1960s, progressive ideologies—fueled by Marxist, feminist, and sexual revolutionary thought—have systematically attacked the nuclear family and the father’s role in it. But beneath the political and cultural veneer lies a spiritual root: hatred of God as Father.
As Voddie Baucham puts it, “The culture doesn’t just hate biblical fatherhood—it hates the God it represents.” In biblical theology, fatherhood is not a human invention but a divine revelation. God identifies Himself as Father (Ephesians 4:6), and He calls earthly fathers to mirror His nature. Thus, to undermine fatherhood is to attempt to erase the image of God from the created order.
This connection is not accidental. Neo-Marxist Wilhelm Reich, in The Mass Psychology of Fascism, portrayed the father figure as the root of societal repression. Herbert Marcuse believed that liberation from the “patriarchal family” was essential to revolutionary change. Feminist icon Simone de Beauvoir viewed motherhood and domestic life as instruments of female oppression, and by extension, viewed fathers as oppressive by default. The underlying theme in these ideologies is that male headship is tyrannical and must be dismantled—because it resembles divine headship.
Psalm 2 describes the nations raging against the Lord and His anointed, crying “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles!” The modern family revolt echoes this ancient cry of rebellion against God’s authority. As R.C. Sproul often said, “Sin is cosmic treason.” The rejection of God’s fatherhood plays out in the rejection of fathers in the home.
The State vs. the Father
This rebellion has concrete political consequences. The rise of the welfare state, no-fault divorce, and expansive government programs has not simply replaced the father—it has eradicated the need for one. The state increasingly presents itself as the provider, protector, and educator of children, with fathers removed from the equation.
Karl Marx understood this dynamic well. In The Communist Manifesto, he called for the abolition of the family, which he considered a bourgeois structure upholding inequality. Mao Zedong pursued this in practice during the Cultural Revolution, urging children to denounce parents and embrace party loyalty over family loyalty.
In our own day, progressives do not speak so plainly, but their policies and rhetoric betray the same goal: weaken the family to expand the state. The more broken homes there are, the more children will look to government agencies, teachers’ unions, and social services as their surrogate “father.”
But God ordained the family—not the state—as the foundational unit of society. And He designed the father to serve as the spiritual and structural backbone of that family. When this order is attacked, the results are catastrophic.
Theological Reflections on Fatherhood
Fatherhood exists because God is Father. It is not a cultural accident or evolutionary artifact. Genesis 1:27 tells us that man is made in God’s image. As a husband and father, a man bears the responsibility to reflect God’s authority, love, and holiness to his wife and children.
The 1689 London Baptist Confession describes the household as the foundational “seminary” of both church and state. John Gill wrote that fathers are to be the “prophets, priests, and kings” of their homes. Charles Spurgeon called upon fathers to “train up a child in the way he should go—but be sure you go that way yourself.”
When a father is absent, distant, or abusive, children often struggle to relate to God. This is not surprising—God designed fatherhood to be the primary analogy by which children learn about their Creator. That’s why Satan targets it so fiercely.
This also explains why the enemy targets boys and girls in fatherless homes with confusion about their identity. A father’s love, discipline, and affirmation form the foundation for gender identity and emotional stability. Without that, children are more likely to search for meaning in distorted forms—especially through same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria, both of which involve deep identity wounds.
Philosophical Lens: The Collapse of Meaning Without the Father
From the philosopher’s standpoint, fatherhood is essential to the transmission of values, identity, and continuity. Philosopher Roger Scruton wrote that the disintegration of the traditional family produces “a society in which nothing is sacred, nothing is permanent, and nothing provides moral direction.”
Fathers give children identity. They anchor children in a sense of belonging—not only to a family, but to a tradition, a name, a moral code. When that anchor is removed, the ship of identity drifts into every ideological current. Without the compass of fatherhood, modern youth often fall prey to ideologies that promise belonging, affirmation, or liberation—but deliver bondage, confusion, and spiritual death.
The Cost of Fatherlessness
The collapse of fatherhood has resulted in catastrophic consequences:
- Poverty: Children in fatherless homes are nearly four times more likely to live in poverty (U.S. Census Bureau).
- Crime: 85% of youths in prison grew up in a fatherless home (Texas Department of Corrections).
- Education: Children without fathers are twice as likely to drop out of school.
- Sexual Risk: Daughters without fathers are more likely to engage in early sexual activity and teenage pregnancy.
- Identity Confusion: Children—especially boys—who grow up with absent or emotionally disengaged fathers are at higher risk for developing same-sex attraction and gender dysphoria due to disrupted gender identity formation and a lack of parental affirmation.
- Mental Health: Fatherless children are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.
The state cannot replace what a father provides. No bureaucratic program can replicate the strength, love, and guidance of a father who fears God and leads his family under His authority.
Rebuilding: The Church’s Role in Restoring Fatherhood
The task of the Church is not only to expose the lies of the enemy, but to rebuild the truth. This includes:
- Discipling Men: Churches must train and equip men to serve as godly husbands and fathers.
- Countering Cultural Lies: We must name and reject the false ideologies that portray fatherhood as toxic, optional, or oppressive.
- Supporting Biblical Policy: Christians must advocate for laws that promote marriage, discourage fatherless homes, and remove incentives for family breakdown.
- Standing in the Gap: The Church must love and support single mothers, while raising up spiritual fathers to model biblical manhood for fatherless youth.
Ultimately, recovering fatherhood is not about nostalgia—it is about spiritual warfare. When we restore godly fatherhood, we bear witness to God the Father. When we reject it, we reflect the rebellion of a world that hates His rule.
Conclusion
Father’s Day is more than a Hallmark holiday. It is a battle line in a cultural war between truth and lies, between submission to God and rebellion against Him. The growing hatred of fatherhood in our society is not just sociological or psychological—it is theological. It is rebellion against the Fatherhood of God.
As Reformed pastor Douglas Wilson has noted, “You cannot fight fatherlessness until you submit to the Father.” That is the truth our culture desperately needs. The path forward is not through politics alone, or better education systems, or improved social services. It is through repentance, discipleship, and the reformation of the family under God’s design.
A society that reviles fatherhood is a society that has lost its compass. But the church, by the power of the Holy Spirit, can point the way back—to the Father who never fails.
S.D.G.,
Robert Sparkman
rob@basedchristianity.org
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