For today’s entry in the Friday Five interview series, we catch up with Marian Liautaud.
Marian Liautaud is editor for Today’s Christian Woman and Church Law and Tax. She regularly contributes to both as well. She is the author of War on Women. You can follow her on Twitter @marianliautaud.
Today we chat with Marian about Today’s Christian Woman, sex-selective abortions, and marathons.
At the beginning of this year, CT chose to relaunch Today’s Christian Woman. This was a pretty successful magazine before it was cancelled in 2009. What was behind this decision?
Today’s Christian Woman is a name readers have long trusted. However, Christianity Today sensed a shift in reader needs, so they retired the TCW brand and relaunched a new media initiative called Kyria (pron. Kee-ree-uh). People had trouble saying the name, much less knowing what it meant (“chosen lady” as referred to in 2 John). Kyria focused on spiritual formation. Though the brand didn’t gain traction with readers, it helped transition CT’s women’s publishing from print-first to digital, plus print. And it helped identify that there was a groundswell among readers to bring back TCW. So the new TCW was launched in 2012, and it has evolved and morphed throughout the past year. We boldly proclaimed a new day for Today’s Christian Woman when we launched our new digital weeklies in which we focus on a single theme each week and offer five different takes on that theme. We feature a great mix of multi-generational, multi-ethnic voices to represent different ages, stages, and life experiences of our broad cross-section of readers. Content is pushed out to subscribers via TodaysChristianWoman.com, iPad, mobile, and soon Kindle. Wherever women are, that’s where we’ll be too, bringing them the best Christian content that addresses the unique interest and challenges for today’s Christian woman. We’re also continually adding to our contributor rolls with authors who bring a strong network of followers and are helping grow our community of readers. For instance, this year we added Dr. Juli Slattery (founder of Authentic Intimacy) as our regular contributor on sexuality, intimacy, and marriage, and Sherry Surratt, new CEO of MOPS, who speaks fluently on the topic of mentoring and women in ministry.
What advice do you have for emerging female Christian writers?
Christian writers can be so polite and nice to the point where they fail to confront the reality of messy, real life. We’re challenging our writers to confront the grit of real life from a godly perspective and in a way that provides practical help for women who are enduring all kinds of challenges. Women Christian writers need to be willing to speak honestly about the questions and struggles they have if we’re going to build each other up and encourage one another.
You’ve written extensively about the practice of sex-selective abortions, calling a ban on them a “no-brainer.” Why do you think more feminists are speaking up about this practice?
I called a ban on sex-selective abortions a “no brainer” because at the time I wrote this, there was legislation being floated on Capitol Hill that included language about prohibiting sex-selective abortions. Some argued that this was added to create a lightening rod with the issue. Gendercide (the intentional killing of unborn girls) doesn’t happen commonly in our country, but the U.S. is standing by silently while it happens elsewhere in epidemic proportions. Hardly anyone—feminist or otherwise—is speaking up on this issue. Most alarming—the church is virtually silent on this issue. I wrote War on Women in hopes of lighting a fire in the church to rise up and confront the horrific genocide that’s happening around the world. Sadly, it’s been radio silence. Very disheartening. Feminists are especially silent on the matter, which is ironic considering their pro-female posture. Sex selective abortion is the most anti-female practice the world has ever known, and yet I know of no feminist who is talking about it. Primarily, this is because to talk about sex-selective abortion is to risk giving up ground hard-won since Roe v. Wade. You can’t talk about gendercide without conceding that at some level and at least in some circumstances abortion must be banned.
Besides lobbying their legislators, what action steps can Christians take to fight this practice?
In an interview I did for the book with Rick Warren from Saddleback, he said, “The only organization big enough to stop this issue is the church.” That’s because Christians understand that every human being is formed in the image of God. We are motivated by this intrinsic belief in the value and sanctity of human life to protect and do right by people. Churches could rally support for organizations like All Girls Allowed and Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, who are fearlessly and tirelessly waging battle on the ground in China and other nations to stop the practice of female infanticide. They also work hard at raising the issue on the international level. Gendercide is perpetuated largely by legislation like China’s one-child policy and India’s dowry system. Sex-selective abortion is a human rights issue, not a pro-life/pro-choice issue. As churches continue to promote gender equality both here and abroad, they instill the idea of all life being valuable. War on Women includes other great ways Christians are—and can—fight the war against gendercide.
You run marathons for World Vision to raise money for clean water in developing countries. Most people would say, “Why not just write a check?” But you’ve found personal benefit in attaching running to charity. Can you explain?
God uses all kinds of issues and circumstances to capture our hearts and soften them for the things that matter most to him. He grabbed hold of my heart over the issue of clean water. I just couldn’t shake the thought that mothers in many parts around the world spend the bulk of their days in search of water, and even then they’re bringing back unsafe water, which perpetuates all kinds of problems for their families. I knew I couldn’t afford to pay for a water project myself, but I figured I could leverage my good health and get others to donate to World Vision’s projects. So that’s what got me started running. After three marathons raising money on behalf of clean water projects, I finally got to see for myself where the money goes. There are so many reasons why I love to run for water instead of just writing a check. Granted, marathons aren’t for everyone. But I guarantee if people tried it even once, they’d be amazed at how far they can learn to run and how much good it does for themselves and the people they’re raising funds for.
Daniel Darling is vice-president of communications for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. He is the author of several books, including his latest, Activist Faith.
