{"id":7104,"date":"2024-05-21T17:48:10","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T17:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/?p=7104"},"modified":"2024-05-21T17:48:10","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T17:48:10","slug":"kansas-city-chiefs-kicker-harrison-butker-commencement-speech-sparks-controversy-after-encouraging-women-to-focus-on-motherhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/2024\/05\/kansas-city-chiefs-kicker-harrison-butker-commencement-speech-sparks-controversy-after-encouraging-women-to-focus-on-motherhood.html","title":{"rendered":"Kansas City Chiefs Kicker Harrison Butker Commencement Speech Sparks Controversy After Encouraging Women to Focus on Motherhood"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Benedictine College \/ Youtube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The internet has blown up with debates about women and motherhood after Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker delivered a commencement speech at the Catholic Benedictine College. Butker, who is also Catholic, admonished the graduating class to embrace traditional Catholic values such as being pro-life. He criticized COVID policy, abortion, IVF and surrogacy, and Pride month. Yet he sparked the most controversy when he addressed the women in the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many of you are sitting here now, about to cross this stage, and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world,\u201d he said<\/a>. He then referenced his wife, Isabelle, and credited her role as homemaker for enabling his successes. The two met in high school, have been married since 2018, and have two children. \u201cI\u2019m on this stage today and able to be the man that I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation. I\u2019m beyond blessed with the many talents God has given me, but it cannot be overstated that all of my success is made possible because a girl I met in band class back in middle school would convert to the faith, become my wife and embrace one of the most important titles of all: homemaker,\u201d said the clearly emotional Butker. Critics accused Butker of misogyny, with a petition started online to have the 3-time Super Bowl champ fired<\/a>. The Kansas City Star<\/em><\/a> recommended firing Butker and replacing him with a female kicker. \u201cFor poetic justice after Harrison Butker\u2019s Neanderthal outburst \u2014 and because the pipeline of talent is real \u2014 the Kansas City Chiefs\u2019 next kicker should be a woman,\u201d read the piece. The NFL also distanced itself from Butker\u2019s views with a statement<\/a>, saying, \u201cHarrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity. His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

While conservative outlets like The Blaze<\/em>, The Daily Wire<\/em>, and Fox News<\/em> came to Butker\u2019s defense, even some traditionally liberal pundits defended him. The View\u2019s <\/em>Whoopi Goldberg said that Butker has a right to his own views. \u201cI like when people say what they need to say. He\u2019s at a Catholic college, he\u2019s a staunch Catholic. These are his beliefs and he\u2019s welcome to them. I don\u2019t have to believe them, I don\u2019t have to accept them, the ladies that were sitting in that audience don\u2019t have to accept them,\u201d she said<\/a>. Bill Maher stated he was \u201cconfused\u201d by the controversy. While noting that his opinions vary vastly from Butker\u2019s, he said he didn\u2019t believe Butker said anything controversial. \u201cI don\u2019t get the thing he said, talking to women, \u2018Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world.\u2019 OK, that seems fairly modern. \u2018But I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.\u2019 I don\u2019t see what the big crime is, I really don\u2019t,\u201d he said, quoting Butker\u2019s speech. Tavia Hunt, wife of Kansas City Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt, also defended Butker. \u201cI\u2019ve always encouraged my daughters to be highly educated and chase their dreams. I want them to know that they can do whatever they want (that honors God). But I also want them to know that I believe finding a spouse who loves and honors you as or before himself and raising a family together is one of the greatest blessings this world has to offer,\u201d she wrote on Instagram<\/a>. \u201cAffirming motherhood and praising your wife, as well as highlighting the sacrifice and dedication it takes to be a mother, is not bigoted. It is empowering to acknowledge that a woman\u2019s hard work in raising children is not in vain. Countless highly educated women devote their lives to nurturing and guiding their children. Someone disagreeing with you doesn\u2019t make them hateful; it simply means they have a different opinion. Let\u2019s celebrate families, motherhood and fatherhood.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The internet has blown up with debates about women and motherhood after Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker delivered a commencement speech at the Catholic Benedictine College. Butker, who is also Catholic, admonished the graduating class to embrace traditional Catholic values such as being pro-life. He criticized COVID policy, abortion, IVF and surrogacy, and Pride…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":7107,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nKansas City Chiefs Kicker Harrison Butker Commencement Speech Sparks Controversy After Encouraging Women to Focus on Motherhood<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"He sparked the most controversy when he addressed the women in the room.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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