This post is a preview of the editorial I am turning in for class. It is a work in progress.
Am I the only one to see it? This gaping window of opportunity situated in the brush and eucalyptus of the Hollywood Hills. Unprecedented globalization is the chance for Hollywood’s royalty to take a stand against human on human violence. The catch is I’m not talking about the violence we hear about in Iraq, Darfur or Burma, but in their movies. This is not a new request or a call for censorship. Nor is it a hollow scolding but a real plea to each and every actor to take responsibility for and genuinely reflect on the messages they send out into the world through their work.
I admit, as a child I had a voracious appetite for cult horror flicks like Friday 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street. The bloodier they were the better. The more chopping of human parts the more thrilling it was for me. Then I grew up. I had spoken like a child, reasoned like a child but eventually put an end to my childish ways. As a young adult (and certainly now) each time I watched something ultra-violent I felt sickened and sad and knew that it was changing a part of me. It is time Hollywood grows up too.
What got me thinking about all this is the big talk about the environment coming out of Hollywood. Not to mention all the talk about genocide, AIDS, Katrina, the Iraq war and animal rights. There is no question that the world (the industrial world) watches Hollywood so buying the Toyota Prius, now as fashionable as a nymph-like Stella McCartney dress or Versace handbag, is a good start to helping spread the word about the importance of being green. However, there is one very large component an avid environmentalist like Leonardo DiCaprio is missing. He fails to see that the very work he produces in his movies, predominately with ultra-violent themes, (like the Departed, Romeo and Juliet) severely compromises his environmental efforts and sends contradictory messages to the public. By shooting another human in the head with potential (at best) pretend consequences of contrition, DiCaprio loses power and authority to share with us his passion for creation.
As the saying goes we are what we eat. Bare with me. We are also parts of passages of books we’ve read, lines of poetry rest somewhere deep within us, art we have seen in museums or handed to us created by our children become a part of who we are. The same goes for what we witness in our homes, on our streets and on the big screen, make believe or not. As a result of ubiquitous violence in film we become a little less critical of cruelty in our lives and world, imperceptibly so perhaps, but our tolerance of inhumanity increases. We become more accustomed to hate, to the rejection of forgiveness and develop a refined aquaintance with lust for power and retribution. We don’t need scientists to prove this, to chart it for us and quantify the results. There are some things we know to be true, whether or not we see them. That is called faith.
The way we treat one another is inextricably linked to how we view and treat the environment. The most elemental fact about our lives as humans is that we live in community within an astoundingly complex and interactive ecosystem. As one eco-theologist stated “humans receive from this system, impact on it, dwell inside of it, depend upon it; we are not in any sense of the word apart from the natural order, but bound to it for our very survival.” The same can be said for our human community. We are bound to each other for our survival thus we must view the handprint of the Divine in one another, as well as in creation, if we are to survive. If we are not loving one another our environment ultimately suffers as can be evidenced in our poorest communities like New Orleans where environmental degradation threatens human existence. Human justice issues are involved in every aspect of environmental destruction. There is no way to separate the way we live and think from the health of the environment.
We, as humans, cannot expect to elevate our compassion for the environment until we practice and are deliberate in our actions (on screen and off) in choice of occupation and life-style, to elevate our compassion for our fellow humans. It is a convoluted and erroneous notion that the more we display and showcase violence in film and television to “explain” or scrutinize it the more we’ll understand it and expose it, thereby lessening its occurance and weakening its grip on us. In reality, we only perpetuate the violence in our society and world, we move no further from it to get a better perspective. Instead we fall more in love with it and allow for it to take deeper root in our hearts. That is its power.
This is not an argument positing moral absolutes. It is simply common sense. Perhaps it is the other inconvenient truth. That if we do not start speaking out against human violence in movies, on television, in video games, and in our homes, we will continue heading down the wrong path. Certainly we are all scared to make the radical re-ordering of our world views but our intellectual support for environmental causes is insufficient. We cannot save the planet without considering human relations, the impact on the most vulnerable, the global dynamics of poverty and underdevelopment, and neo-colonial exploitation of peoples and the earth. To succeed, we all must adopt a new set of values and standards that might be considered countercultural today but will be the norm tomorrow. Perhaps the stars can lead the way.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Friday, October 12, 2007
The Christ Pogonia
The article begins "I knew right away what it was." Paul Knoop found it while walking on a wooded trail in Ohio. The "small whorled pogonia, a tiny five-leaved white and yellow flower, is typically difficult to spot because some years it doesn't even bloom or emerge from the soil." This article was placed below an article about We Believe Ohio, likely in an Ohio magazine covering local stories. I was struck by the image of a rare pogonia emerging mysteriously, spontaneously almost, exemplifying our "wonderfully diverse planet."
Perhaps We Believe Ohio is this rare pogonia, revealing itself in a time when most needed, most unexpected to signify the wonderous, sacred diversity and beauty of our world. We are always searching for miracles and there is one right underfoot. Just when we think complacency rules, there, sprouting from between the cracks of pavement or under a plain fern, grows new life, the rare orchid, the voice of Christ resurrected to speak out against darkness and death.
I'm crossing wooded trails, peering under bushes to find my whorled pogonia. When will We Believe be in every state? United we cannot be defeated. This incredible diversity "remains vibrant in our corner of the world." Let us nurture it. Let us create an easement around it so that it may never be disturbed.
Amen
Perhaps We Believe Ohio is this rare pogonia, revealing itself in a time when most needed, most unexpected to signify the wonderous, sacred diversity and beauty of our world. We are always searching for miracles and there is one right underfoot. Just when we think complacency rules, there, sprouting from between the cracks of pavement or under a plain fern, grows new life, the rare orchid, the voice of Christ resurrected to speak out against darkness and death.
I'm crossing wooded trails, peering under bushes to find my whorled pogonia. When will We Believe be in every state? United we cannot be defeated. This incredible diversity "remains vibrant in our corner of the world." Let us nurture it. Let us create an easement around it so that it may never be disturbed.
Amen
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Jesus is My Billboard
I was at a flea market this weekend and I got it in my head after reading an essay by Anne Lamott that I would look for a pendant of Jesus. Lamott wears a medal of the Virgin Mary around her neck as a reminder of hope and forgiveness and of God’s enduring patience and love. I found one, perfectly tarnished and simple with an image of Jesus exposing his crowned and glowing heart. I put it on a silver necklace I found beside it and paid the kind woman a mere $8.00 for my daily reminder to (as We Believe Ohio so passionately states in their call to action) “act and speak in public ways on behalf of the poor, the voiceless, and the unrepresented”.
As Jesus dangles from my neck, I hesitate to say like a billboard, I am called to speak out and fight the urge to remain silent due to the weight of sorrow and sin in the world. The older I get though I see that there is little else in the world to worry or care about other than those who suffer beside me. I also know that I can’t help to heal the world if I don’t love myself and my God. The Reverend Tim Ahrens, We Believe Ohio (organization of diverse religious voices committed to the intersection of faith and public policy) founder, recounts a story about his mentor The Reverend Dr. Washington Gladden, an influential and inspirational soul in the Social Gospel Movement, speaking to his successor about public theology and social justice: “Every time I spoke out on issues of social justice it took something out of me. It drained my energy. It was the hardest thing I ever did. I never felt fully adequate to the calling. But what was harder still was looking into the eyes of the poor, the powerless, the oppressed, and the voiceless and considering that if I did not speak on their behalf, who would? I could not live with my silence in the face of such injustice.”
His statement sums it up for me. If I don’t speak up and respond to God’s calling, like so many of my Biblical brothers and sisters did (who often times initially resisted the calls), then who will be the voice against evil? We know that God is with us in the struggle to feed, clothe, educate and liberate people from poverty and oppression. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. famously repeated the statement that “the universe is on the side of justice” and is “under the control of a loving purpose”. I choose to believe, like We Believe Ohio, in justice for all, in the sanctity of pluralism, political expression and in a reconciling God.
I bring the pendant out of my shirt every now and then to let the light of day reach it, to give it some air. If I do not have Jesus as my billboard what do I have? I am still hesitant to leave the medal out at the grocery store or when I pick my son up from school but I know I can’t be silent any longer. There is too much at stake. Silence is draining as well. I want to help build bridges, heal broken communities and show love and justice as best as I am able. As I hold the silver piece in my hand, I feel as if I am coming to know and love my God more. I pray this medallion of Jesus revealing and sharing his heart with me, with us all, reminds me to give mine to the world in return.
Amen.
http://www.webelieveohio.org/
As Jesus dangles from my neck, I hesitate to say like a billboard, I am called to speak out and fight the urge to remain silent due to the weight of sorrow and sin in the world. The older I get though I see that there is little else in the world to worry or care about other than those who suffer beside me. I also know that I can’t help to heal the world if I don’t love myself and my God. The Reverend Tim Ahrens, We Believe Ohio (organization of diverse religious voices committed to the intersection of faith and public policy) founder, recounts a story about his mentor The Reverend Dr. Washington Gladden, an influential and inspirational soul in the Social Gospel Movement, speaking to his successor about public theology and social justice: “Every time I spoke out on issues of social justice it took something out of me. It drained my energy. It was the hardest thing I ever did. I never felt fully adequate to the calling. But what was harder still was looking into the eyes of the poor, the powerless, the oppressed, and the voiceless and considering that if I did not speak on their behalf, who would? I could not live with my silence in the face of such injustice.”
His statement sums it up for me. If I don’t speak up and respond to God’s calling, like so many of my Biblical brothers and sisters did (who often times initially resisted the calls), then who will be the voice against evil? We know that God is with us in the struggle to feed, clothe, educate and liberate people from poverty and oppression. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. famously repeated the statement that “the universe is on the side of justice” and is “under the control of a loving purpose”. I choose to believe, like We Believe Ohio, in justice for all, in the sanctity of pluralism, political expression and in a reconciling God.
I bring the pendant out of my shirt every now and then to let the light of day reach it, to give it some air. If I do not have Jesus as my billboard what do I have? I am still hesitant to leave the medal out at the grocery store or when I pick my son up from school but I know I can’t be silent any longer. There is too much at stake. Silence is draining as well. I want to help build bridges, heal broken communities and show love and justice as best as I am able. As I hold the silver piece in my hand, I feel as if I am coming to know and love my God more. I pray this medallion of Jesus revealing and sharing his heart with me, with us all, reminds me to give mine to the world in return.
Amen.
http://www.webelieveohio.org/
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Just More of the Same
I know, call me square or not with the times but I have to say I find it strikingly odd and depressing that some churches are attempting to lure youth to their communities of faith through a titillating ultra-violent video game conveniently named Halo. I won’t go into the specifics of it but imagine lots of heady gore, spraying of bullets and boisterous cheers from its participants. Though most of the churches employing this new tactic likely have good intentions, as the parents and ministers of our children (including the larger community of children) we must ask if we are helping our youth or hurting them by giving them more of the same.
There is already too much violence and age inappropriate material in our homes and our culture. Halo is rated M for mature audiences but some churches are disregarding the label and are marketing it to the youth they seek. Perhaps those congregations would argue desperate measures for desperate times. Matt Richtell recently wrote an article for the New York Times titled Thou Shall Not Kill, Except in a Popular Video Game at Church and posed the question at what cost to the children (I assert spiritually, psychologically and socially) are churches willing to “relate” to them and get them through the door.
The sin is not so much that we as humans are drawn to violence, and selfishness and other acts exemplifying our recurrent temporary losses of grace from God, but it is that we too often fail to deny our desires, and redirect them, for the benefit of our relationship with God and our community. What these churches are teaching children is violence (even holocaust) is “Ok” in the right environment, particularly if there is some Biblical lesson pertaining to Good and Evil and the End Times hidden amidst the bloodbath.
What is surprising is that a number of evangelical churches are using this recruiting tool as well. In some small, very small, way I had hoped that they would be the ones to uphold the standard for the rest of the Protestant churches to attain. Clearly they are just like the rest of us. We are failing our youth. We are unimaginative in our efforts to draw them into our churches, to give them God in a way that they find has significance in their lives. As a result, we have resorted to giving them some more of the same: more soul crippling images that nestle into their hearts and shape them. Isn’t it the role of the elders, parents, teachers, and ministers to show by example, to stop the chain of violence? We all must practice love by training our minds and hearts. This training is moment by moment, day by day, in every act we commit to, every thought we nurture.
We have to practice loving our neighbor and enemy (yes, even the ones we so desperately want to send into oblivion)and take deliberate steps to move towards God. Violent video games have no place in a church where love and peace are preached and taught and believed to be sacred and essential to life, to following Christ. Virtual human slaughter is sanctioned by some of these churches but sex and alcohol are intensely discouraged. Where is the logic in this?
There has to be someone who says “No more!” What happened to the city upon the hill? All eyes are watching us, particularly the eyes of our children. Let us be the non-conformists that Jesus, Thoreau, Gandhi and King were and countless others. Let our hands shape our children’s hearts by acknowledging our human brokenness and joy and not feed them more darkness that pulls them farther from their God.
Amen.
There is already too much violence and age inappropriate material in our homes and our culture. Halo is rated M for mature audiences but some churches are disregarding the label and are marketing it to the youth they seek. Perhaps those congregations would argue desperate measures for desperate times. Matt Richtell recently wrote an article for the New York Times titled Thou Shall Not Kill, Except in a Popular Video Game at Church and posed the question at what cost to the children (I assert spiritually, psychologically and socially) are churches willing to “relate” to them and get them through the door.
The sin is not so much that we as humans are drawn to violence, and selfishness and other acts exemplifying our recurrent temporary losses of grace from God, but it is that we too often fail to deny our desires, and redirect them, for the benefit of our relationship with God and our community. What these churches are teaching children is violence (even holocaust) is “Ok” in the right environment, particularly if there is some Biblical lesson pertaining to Good and Evil and the End Times hidden amidst the bloodbath.
What is surprising is that a number of evangelical churches are using this recruiting tool as well. In some small, very small, way I had hoped that they would be the ones to uphold the standard for the rest of the Protestant churches to attain. Clearly they are just like the rest of us. We are failing our youth. We are unimaginative in our efforts to draw them into our churches, to give them God in a way that they find has significance in their lives. As a result, we have resorted to giving them some more of the same: more soul crippling images that nestle into their hearts and shape them. Isn’t it the role of the elders, parents, teachers, and ministers to show by example, to stop the chain of violence? We all must practice love by training our minds and hearts. This training is moment by moment, day by day, in every act we commit to, every thought we nurture.
We have to practice loving our neighbor and enemy (yes, even the ones we so desperately want to send into oblivion)and take deliberate steps to move towards God. Violent video games have no place in a church where love and peace are preached and taught and believed to be sacred and essential to life, to following Christ. Virtual human slaughter is sanctioned by some of these churches but sex and alcohol are intensely discouraged. Where is the logic in this?
There has to be someone who says “No more!” What happened to the city upon the hill? All eyes are watching us, particularly the eyes of our children. Let us be the non-conformists that Jesus, Thoreau, Gandhi and King were and countless others. Let our hands shape our children’s hearts by acknowledging our human brokenness and joy and not feed them more darkness that pulls them farther from their God.
Amen.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Evangelical Organizations Must Denounce Blackwater
I was up all night thinking about Blackwater's connection to the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family. As Christians we should be sending out emails, connecting by blog, writing press releases reading:
FOCUS ON THE FAMILY, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL HAVE BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS
Erik Prince, CEO of Blackwater USA, has donated millions of dollars to the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family. These organizations purport to be Christian based with core principles of reverence for life, freedom and democracy, despite evidence of adherence to Christ's most basic teachings about caring for the poor, loving one's neighbor and making peace in the world.
Blackwater is currently under investigation for lawless activities and brutal killings in Iraq. Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council should publicly denounce the activities of Blackwater and no longer accept donations from this mercenary and immoral company that resembles a growing, well funded private army. If these Christian organizations do not publicly condemn Blackwater for its illegal and anti-Christian activities then they can no longer be considered the representatives of rational Christian Evangelical Americans but must be viewed as radical, extremists who accept donations from unscrupulous persons and businesses to the detriment of our troop safety and to the United States fostering peace in the Middle East and around the world.
FOCUS ON THE FAMILY, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL HAVE BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS
Erik Prince, CEO of Blackwater USA, has donated millions of dollars to the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family. These organizations purport to be Christian based with core principles of reverence for life, freedom and democracy, despite evidence of adherence to Christ's most basic teachings about caring for the poor, loving one's neighbor and making peace in the world.
Blackwater is currently under investigation for lawless activities and brutal killings in Iraq. Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council should publicly denounce the activities of Blackwater and no longer accept donations from this mercenary and immoral company that resembles a growing, well funded private army. If these Christian organizations do not publicly condemn Blackwater for its illegal and anti-Christian activities then they can no longer be considered the representatives of rational Christian Evangelical Americans but must be viewed as radical, extremists who accept donations from unscrupulous persons and businesses to the detriment of our troop safety and to the United States fostering peace in the Middle East and around the world.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
The Christ Killing Machine
God exists and is sovereign over all creation. He created human beings in His image. Human life is, therefore, sacred and the right to life is the most fundamental of political rights.
From Family Research Council Core Principles
I am too stunned almost to write. I am more saddened than anything I think. Just when I think I cannot possibly be surprised again by the evil in the world I always hear of another story to top the last. I hope this is not evidence of corrupting cynicism staking majority ground in my heart. Maybe Jesus wants us to keep being surprised so that we don't become complacent.
Maureen Dowd wrote an op-ed today in the New York Times about Blackwater USA, the mercenary organization who has successfully evaded the transparency they claim and has profited in the billions during the Iraq war. If there is any person who still does not see this war as an opium den for war profiteers then they are blinded by ignorance, their own inability or unwillingness to see the truth.
How is the Family Research Council (FRC), the well known, well funded, powerful Evangelical political entity linked to the killing machine Blackwater? Is it possible? Billionare, Erik Prince (CEO of Blackwater) is, remarkably (I don't think a fiction writer of horror novels could be so creative to come up with this!) , the son of one of the founders of FRC. Am I the only Christian who is grief stricken by this connection? I just keep hoping that the words the FRC, and Prince and the likes preach are the ones in their hearts, but I am most certain now that they are lost. Those who claim to know and love Christ through war and militrary supremacy are on the side of darkness. Christ brings light and love into the word, with evidence, not just with words! It is amazing how words, just those spoken and printed are taken as gospel, as truth when there is no action to support them as such.
Erik Prince will likely walk away from this war with more money to build his Nazi-like empire. Where are we heading? Will history books be talking about how at this very moment something should have been done to stop him? Amazingly, he walked right into this treasure trove because of his ties to the current Administration.
The FRC should have Prince's face plastered on their site as one of the greatest threats to the sanctity of life today. Why would they consider him a threat to their core principles though when he contributes so heavily to them? What else are we to think other than their proselytizing is composed purely of lies? When will our government (and the American people) begin to call it like it is and label Blackwater a killing machine, a privitized army, sanctioned by one of the country's most influential political movements crusading under the banner of Christ?
Wake Up.
God help us.
Amen.
From Family Research Council Core Principles
I am too stunned almost to write. I am more saddened than anything I think. Just when I think I cannot possibly be surprised again by the evil in the world I always hear of another story to top the last. I hope this is not evidence of corrupting cynicism staking majority ground in my heart. Maybe Jesus wants us to keep being surprised so that we don't become complacent.
Maureen Dowd wrote an op-ed today in the New York Times about Blackwater USA, the mercenary organization who has successfully evaded the transparency they claim and has profited in the billions during the Iraq war. If there is any person who still does not see this war as an opium den for war profiteers then they are blinded by ignorance, their own inability or unwillingness to see the truth.
How is the Family Research Council (FRC), the well known, well funded, powerful Evangelical political entity linked to the killing machine Blackwater? Is it possible? Billionare, Erik Prince (CEO of Blackwater) is, remarkably (I don't think a fiction writer of horror novels could be so creative to come up with this!) , the son of one of the founders of FRC. Am I the only Christian who is grief stricken by this connection? I just keep hoping that the words the FRC, and Prince and the likes preach are the ones in their hearts, but I am most certain now that they are lost. Those who claim to know and love Christ through war and militrary supremacy are on the side of darkness. Christ brings light and love into the word, with evidence, not just with words! It is amazing how words, just those spoken and printed are taken as gospel, as truth when there is no action to support them as such.
Erik Prince will likely walk away from this war with more money to build his Nazi-like empire. Where are we heading? Will history books be talking about how at this very moment something should have been done to stop him? Amazingly, he walked right into this treasure trove because of his ties to the current Administration.
The FRC should have Prince's face plastered on their site as one of the greatest threats to the sanctity of life today. Why would they consider him a threat to their core principles though when he contributes so heavily to them? What else are we to think other than their proselytizing is composed purely of lies? When will our government (and the American people) begin to call it like it is and label Blackwater a killing machine, a privitized army, sanctioned by one of the country's most influential political movements crusading under the banner of Christ?
Wake Up.
God help us.
Amen.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
On Her Moral Grounds
Congratulations Aurora Planned Parenthood!! http://ppaurora.blogspot.com/
Today is your official first day open. I was thrilled and relieved to hear that you finally received your occupancy permit from the City of Aurora. Most significantly, you have given all women the right to spiritual, intellectual and moral discernment.
After reading an essay by Chloe Breyer entitled Women, Childbearing, and Justice, I understand that the issue of abortion is not simply relegated to the debate about life and death, the definition of personhood, and whether the health of the fetus or mother take priority, but it is also about the way in which many Christians (and non-Christians) still view women and their ability, or lack thereof, to make a right moral decision. Perhaps the pro-life advocate would argue that when the life of a fetus is concerned there is no right or wrong option, just the position to carry to full term. Ironically, this position is one based on false notions of a perfect morality. As Breyer points out, there is criteria upon which the pregnant woman can weigh her decision (for it is her decision and not the decision of the state or the community) whether or not to obtain an abortion. Criteria that includes analysis of historical and religious perceptions of women as deviants from the norm, (seductress while at the same time nurturer, “domestic creature”), just cause (abortion as just due to quality of life for self and others in family), and last resort (is abortion the most logical solution in her particular case?) applications.
Controlling a woman’s reproductive function is in effect controlling their lives. If a woman has little or no access to birth control then she is often at the mercy of males who, if not welcome by the woman, easily make demands on their own terms due to their physical and psychological domination. A woman must have the right of choice when in many other areas of her life she may not. Unwanted pregnancies can tether a woman and her family to despair.
I have read that the AIDS epidemic in Africa is proliferating in part because large percentages of women don’t feel they have the right or the ability (due to fear of repercussions) to insist a male “suitor” use a condom. If a woman is raped or has voluntary intercourse with an infected man who refuses to use protection then the woman is exposed, her children are exposed, her family, her community is threatened. The ripple affect of her status as male comforter, provider of services, creates a complex web of suffering.
I recall a conversation I had with a woman at a food shelter a number of years ago. She was volunteering there so her son could attend a local camp for free. She was a petite woman with a small voice and gentle demeanor. One day she told me the story about the time when her ex-husband had followed her to another state and upon entering her home he raped her. I imagine that this scenario is not that uncommon, appearing in various forms, contexts. If a pregnancy were to result, it is the prerogative of this qualified moral agent to make the decision or not to give birth. I now there is disagreement about what constitutes a person and when a soul enters a body but the sin here is to let this woman lose herself, her right to be safe and free from her own personal death. This example is of course in the case of rape. The right to reflection and the choice of whether or not to remain pregnant is inherent in every woman, in every circumstance.
What is the pregnancy prevention agenda for the majority of pro-life advocates? (In a culture as diverse as ours, politically, religiously, ethnically, I really don’t think the sole prevention agenda of abstinence is at all realistic. Perhaps a component but not adequate in itself.) Where are their health centers and hot lines that provide education, support, and the ability to develop greater moral discernment that treats the woman equal to man based on the doctrine of imagio dei, that all humans are made in the image of God? In the words of Planned Parenthood of Chicago President, Steve Trombley, “we know that the preventative services offered by Planned Parenthood do more to prevent the need for abortion than our opponents will do in a lifetime of protesting.”
Thank you for your efforts PP and supporters to provide all women with the right to be active moral agents in their own lives.
Amen.
Today is your official first day open. I was thrilled and relieved to hear that you finally received your occupancy permit from the City of Aurora. Most significantly, you have given all women the right to spiritual, intellectual and moral discernment.
After reading an essay by Chloe Breyer entitled Women, Childbearing, and Justice, I understand that the issue of abortion is not simply relegated to the debate about life and death, the definition of personhood, and whether the health of the fetus or mother take priority, but it is also about the way in which many Christians (and non-Christians) still view women and their ability, or lack thereof, to make a right moral decision. Perhaps the pro-life advocate would argue that when the life of a fetus is concerned there is no right or wrong option, just the position to carry to full term. Ironically, this position is one based on false notions of a perfect morality. As Breyer points out, there is criteria upon which the pregnant woman can weigh her decision (for it is her decision and not the decision of the state or the community) whether or not to obtain an abortion. Criteria that includes analysis of historical and religious perceptions of women as deviants from the norm, (seductress while at the same time nurturer, “domestic creature”), just cause (abortion as just due to quality of life for self and others in family), and last resort (is abortion the most logical solution in her particular case?) applications.
Controlling a woman’s reproductive function is in effect controlling their lives. If a woman has little or no access to birth control then she is often at the mercy of males who, if not welcome by the woman, easily make demands on their own terms due to their physical and psychological domination. A woman must have the right of choice when in many other areas of her life she may not. Unwanted pregnancies can tether a woman and her family to despair.
I have read that the AIDS epidemic in Africa is proliferating in part because large percentages of women don’t feel they have the right or the ability (due to fear of repercussions) to insist a male “suitor” use a condom. If a woman is raped or has voluntary intercourse with an infected man who refuses to use protection then the woman is exposed, her children are exposed, her family, her community is threatened. The ripple affect of her status as male comforter, provider of services, creates a complex web of suffering.
I recall a conversation I had with a woman at a food shelter a number of years ago. She was volunteering there so her son could attend a local camp for free. She was a petite woman with a small voice and gentle demeanor. One day she told me the story about the time when her ex-husband had followed her to another state and upon entering her home he raped her. I imagine that this scenario is not that uncommon, appearing in various forms, contexts. If a pregnancy were to result, it is the prerogative of this qualified moral agent to make the decision or not to give birth. I now there is disagreement about what constitutes a person and when a soul enters a body but the sin here is to let this woman lose herself, her right to be safe and free from her own personal death. This example is of course in the case of rape. The right to reflection and the choice of whether or not to remain pregnant is inherent in every woman, in every circumstance.
What is the pregnancy prevention agenda for the majority of pro-life advocates? (In a culture as diverse as ours, politically, religiously, ethnically, I really don’t think the sole prevention agenda of abstinence is at all realistic. Perhaps a component but not adequate in itself.) Where are their health centers and hot lines that provide education, support, and the ability to develop greater moral discernment that treats the woman equal to man based on the doctrine of imagio dei, that all humans are made in the image of God? In the words of Planned Parenthood of Chicago President, Steve Trombley, “we know that the preventative services offered by Planned Parenthood do more to prevent the need for abortion than our opponents will do in a lifetime of protesting.”
Thank you for your efforts PP and supporters to provide all women with the right to be active moral agents in their own lives.
Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)
