Friday, November 17, 2006

Christians Should Champion Love

“Yes, Lord, Yes” the announcement board out side a local church exclaimed; virtually screaming the hatred and bigotry, celebrating that they were able to shove homophobia down the throat of the entire state. I wondered if a similar sentiment was shared by the Pharisees as their innocent victim hung between heaven and earth being tortured to death by a corrupt imperialistic government and a complicitous religious community. The embodiment of the love and grace of God, tortured to death by a spineless and cowardly civil leader, who did not possess the courage to deny a cabal of religious fundamentalists who thought that their peculiar view of religion should rule the day. Just three days later, everything had changed; love had won out. Jesus was rescued form the grave; not a terribly unusual thing in the mythology of the day. But, what was different, is that unlike the myths where the slain hero rises to seek a terrible and bloody revenge on his enemies; Jesus rises and keeps right on loving. He sets His disciples to make right the corrupt system so that all might experience the love and mercy of God.

Some short articles in the “Nation and world round up” (http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/16031988.htm) section of the paper today illustrate how far we have strayed from that ideal (along with the “Yes. Lord, Yes” bullshit mentioned above).

They speak for themselves.

NEW FAMILY-PLANNING CHIEF TAPPED — WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has appointed a new chief of family-planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services who worked at a Christian pregnancy-counseling organization that regards the distribution of contraceptives as “demeaning to women.’’ Eric Keroack, medical director for A Woman’s Concern, a nonprofit based in Massachusetts, will advise HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt on matters such as reproductive health and adolescent pregnancy.
Yet –
INCREASED CONDOM USE PROVIDES HOPE IN FIGHT AGAINST AIDS — LONDON — Amid all the dire warnings about the AIDS pandemic, researchers announce some good news: Young African women say they are increasingly using condoms with their partners. The study analyzed data in 18 African countries, looking at changes in the sexual behavior of 132,800 young women. While abstinence rates changed little, the study found that condom use more than tripled, from 5.3 percent in 1993 to 18.8 percent in 2001.

Jesus said “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Where do you suppose that places this “Christian” administration? And, “the distribution of contraceptives” is “demeaning to women.’’? This has got to be either the most hypocritical thing I have ever read or the stupidest! Listen up; you want to seriously reduce the amount of abortions in this country, then you need safe effective birth control; and accurate and available information about human sexuality. Any religious zealot that is going to restrict either of these things is going to increase the number of abortions in this country. And making them illegal will do nothing to stem the rate of abortion. It will cause more deaths, no matter how you look at it. Let me restate that, statistically, the total number of abortions has not increased since Roe v. Wade (the number decreased, at an accelerating rate, between 1988 and 2001, when the above two things, birth control and education, were most available. And that decrease has slowed nationwide, and reversed in sixteen states, since 2002; when the fundamentalist policies of misinformation and restricted access to birth control began to be phased in), but the number of women that survived the procedure increased precipitously.
Hopefully, when the new Congress comes in, they will have the courage and the will to reign in these extremists. What do you think?

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