Weight shaming and sizeism have no place in the church. It’s time to embrace all body types and celebrate the diversity of bodies in every shape and size.

It’s that time of year again when churchwide and denominational offices encourage their clergy and congregational leaders to “get healthy.”  The start of a new year brings with it admonishments to lose weight, go to the gym, and “take better care of yourself.”  While the intentions behind these exhortations are often based on a genuine desire for clergy to be healthy, they actually perpetuate one of the few remaining socially-acceptable stereotypes and prejudices:  sizeism and weight shaming.

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