Babies are allowed in courtrooms only if they remain quiet. Anybody want to place some bets on how often a baby stays silent for the duration of a trial?  In any event, the moment any noise is heard, the child must be removed immediately. With all due respect to young mothers, the reason is very understandable: Even though many women have learned to drown out those fun, little whimpering sounds from her small bundle of joy and even though I admire the ability of anyone to learn such multitasking as a means of getting through the day, others find it difficult, if not impossible, to concentrate. And so, in the middle of a trial, where a defendant’s very life may hang in the balance, we simply cannot allow jurors to be distracted when they need to pay careful attention. I doubt that any one would disagree with the wisdom of our judicial system on this particular rule.

And so, with this in mind…Why do we allow mothers to bring their screaming babies into church services? As Christians, do we not believe that our own gatherings are every bit as important, if not more important, than a court room proceeding? Supposedly, the message of a Sunday morning service is related to spiritual health at the very least, and eternal life or death at the very most.

I know we want to welcome everybody to our churches and no mother should ever be made to feel unwelcome. But if a nursery or overflow room is offered and she declines the invitation, would it really be so unloving or unChristian to be a little firmer with her? No, that does not mean she has to be banned from the service if she would prefer not to be in the overflow room but encouraging her to at least  take the child outside when crying begins so that others can actually hear the pastor talk is not unreasonable. After all, what is the point of church if the congregation can’t pay attention?

This is Bob Siegel, making the obvious, obvious.

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