Yes, you read that correctly. A mother of color. Caucasian mothers are to be excluded.

Budde emphasizes only mothers of color and writes, “I cannot deny the fact that our society values white children more than children of color.” Budde mentions no place where she gets this "fact" but maybe her New Age mentor David Whyte told her. I guess Budde feels as a bishop, she has a right to pull any facts out of nether space she wants and not release their source.

Logically let’s raise the essential question here. If our goal is the kingdom of heaven where all are included, do we help reach that goal by creating new divisions? The answer is obvious. Of course not.

Budde’s confusion here is startling. First, the whole point of the civil rights movement was to end discrimination based on skin color. Budde seems to introduce a new divisiveness with complete complacency and even glee.

Secondly, we surely have witnessed the media circus exploiting the names of these three mothers and children for unseen purposes. In this column Budde places herself in this sad arena. Her introduction of new divisions helps nobody.

Thirdly, this very week on April 13, 2015, two days before Budde posted her column, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon of the United Nations released a report documenting sexual violence against untold thousands of children that includes rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy and forced abortion against children by 45 groups that includes the Islamic State group, Boko Haram, al-Shabab, Ansar Dine and al-Quaida.

If Budde is so interested in only brown and black children, she should actually address this very real horror going on in our world today.

Another issue Budde could have addressed is the 100,000 children in the United States forced to work in the sexual trade industry. A gutsy federal law suit against the Internet website Backpage.com began in the Massachusetts court system after three minor girls say they were forced to have sexual relations with thousands of men. According to this lawsuit, Backpage.com advertised these girls for sale on their website.

I guess Budde cannot mention this lawsuit (which all churches should be discussing and supporting) because the lawsuit does not mention the race of these girls. Maybe their mothers were not persons of color and hence we should not be concerned.

As Budde divides mothers apart, race against race, she creates new room for the exploitation of children and teenagers.

Other groups of mothers have come together to work for peace. For example, in Ireland in the 1970s two mothers, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan, helped form the Peace People that tried to end violence. For their work they received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.

Or as we approach Mother’s Day, we also reverence MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, a group that has done so much good.

After the UN Report this week, we need a united mother’s group to help end this defining horror of our generation, the use of sexual violence for the destruction of children. Mothers from all races need to speak out against the exploitation of all children of any race. The Christian faith needs to support that effort.

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