Breast Feeding in Public

By Carl O. Cooper

The new culture of breast feeding in public worship assemblies

            The culture of our land seems to change almost as fast as a runaway freight train.

            Can anyone tell me why these changes are always against and opposite of what our Bible tells us is proper acceptable behaviour? Specifically, I would like to address the changing culture of female nakedness in our world today. Now for a person who believes in God and believes that the Bible is the word of God, proper and acceptable behaviour is explained to us in God’s Word. But new statistics are showing that among the millennium age group in the USA, only 27% are saying that they are confident that God exists. Is it any wonder that the females of that age group are consistently flaunting their nakedness any way they can?  I don’t really think I need to explain this because it is open and notorious for anyone to see, even in church environments. Some of the pants women wear are about as revealing as just having a coat of paint or make up covering the skin. The tops are becoming exceptionally revealing and clothes are designed to attract the sexual attention of men. The styles and culture make nakedness acceptable and approved almost everywhere. And with this behaviour comes other behaviour that is kindled and fueled and fanned into flame because immoral behaviour is becoming publically acceptable.

            For many years and for the most of my lifetime, Christian women did not allow their babies to breast feed in public places. Christian women believed the Bible when it told them about modest behaviour. Even though in the past breast feeding was the natural way babies were fed, women were modest and refused to openly display their nakedness for others to see. Even in the home, the mothers did not openly display their nakedness in front of their other children. Of course there were exceptions. There have always been women who had no regard for moral behaviour, but I am excluding them. These types of women are why our culture started changing in the first place. But as a general rule, American women did not publically and openly breast feed their babies. But that is beginning to change.

            Why did our culture exist with the past modesty as it was?

            In most of the religious history of the world where the religion has some connection with God and the story of creation, women did not expose their breasts in public, even to feed their babies. The Moslems do not and neither do the Jews. Christian religion has long had mothers cover themselves and feed their babies in private. But that has not been so with pagan and uncivilized religions or with cultures who are influenced with either no religion or a false religion. Many primitive cultures even practice scantily clad and fully naked people exposing themselves in public with no understanding or shame. But this pagan style of culture does not justify this practice or make it right.

            The Bible defines “nakedness” in many places but the most common and well known is in Genesis, chapter 3. You will remember the events described. Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of “The knowledge of good and evil” and their eyes were opened to discern what was good and what was evil and one of the first things they learned was that they were naked. It was obvious to them that public nakedness was evil and sinful. So they sewed fig leaves together to make themselves “aprons”. As God views their clothing He does not accept their style of “aprons” and makes them more appropriate clothes out of animal skins. The Bible refers to this new covering as a “coat”. God’s clothing was designed to cover the breast and the thighs and properly covers their “nakedness”.

                The reason I am pointing out this comment is what I have witnessed in churches in the recent past. It is becoming common place to see modern young women breast feed their babies in the public auditorium during church. They still have some reservations about it for now because they “lightly” cover themselves with a cloth. This is a “beginning’ of a new culture if it is not addressed. It will very likely lead to a new culture if it continues.

            But who among us has the strength and courage to make a public comment to a congregation that would address this “new culture” and point out the problems of public nakedness? Is it you? I sense your fear and I too have a fear of how a sermon like that would be received. Any statement made against modern culture is perceived as “politically incorrect” and immediately draws criticism from some of the people who have accepted the behaviour as normal. It also draws criticism from some who thinks your comments offend a family member or a loved one. Many times these feeling override the importance of sound words found in the Bible.

            I have written this article for anyone to use. This is a somewhat gentle way of spreading this information in the hopes that it will be accepted without offence to anyone.

Carl O. Cooper