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Orphans Deserve Better

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My friend Jedd Medefind and the Christian Alliance for Orphans are launching today a campaign called “Orphans Deserve Better,” to counter the message of the forthcoming Warner Brothers film “Orphan.” I’d like you to consider joining us.

The film “Orphan” is a horror movie about an infertile couple who find themselves with a deranged adoptee. You can imagine the storyline.

The “Orphans Deserve Better” campaign is not a boycott. It’s not a “culture war” screed against Hollywood. It’s an attempt to offer a counter-narrative to some of the worst stereotypes out there about orphans and adoption.

I remember when Maria and I were considering adoption (but before we’d told anyone else) and a friend was telling us about a couple of “wild” teenagers in a family he knew. “They’re adopted,” he said. “And you know how that goes.”

Well, I spend all week every week talking to families who’ve adopted and who are adopting and who’ve been adopted, and that’s just not “how it goes.”  The stereotypes about “adopted children” simply aren’t true. This movie reproduces these stereotypes, in the saddest possible way.

Take the time to share with folks your counter-story about the glory of adoption (including your own in Christ).

Adoption isn’t a horror story. Orphans Deserve Better.

Only when we see how lost we are, we can find our way again. Only when we bury what’s dead can we experience life again. Only when we lose our religion can we be amazed by grace again.

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About Russell Moore

Russell Moore is Editor in Chief of Christianity Today and is the author of the forthcoming book Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America (Penguin Random House).

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