Campaigns Wikia has a mailing list, and we broke into an abortion discussion today. Temporary, I hope. Here's my position today:
Doesn't the Bible teach that life begins at the first breath? Isn't
part of the mythology that Mary had to decide whether or not to end
her pregnancy? Or at least whether Joseph would stay with Mary until
the child was born?
If it is against the Western tradition to "kill babies" or (my
addition) allow them to be killed, why don't our laws require that all
children receive free health care paid for by the community from the
moment of conception to the moment of natural death? Why aren't we do
everything in our power to prevent abortions by teaching our teenagers
about birth control along side the "just say no" concept that is
failing us so badly?
I'll tell you why. Because the Catholic Church teaches that we will
pay for our sins in some future eternity, and that any suffering that
we have to endure in this life is insignificant. The same mentality
teaches radical Muslims that their reward in a future life will be
beyond their imagination if they create suffering for their enemies in
this life.
It's a lie. It's a tool used to encourage the domination of the many
under the hand of the few. It's a justification used to force people
to tolerate the intolerable, to allow the inexcusable and to
accomplish the unthinkable.
We have one world. This one. We have one life to have an influence
over. This one. The Bible tells us to be "fruitful and multiply".
It does not tell us to be fruitful and multiply to the point that our
population numbers make life unbearable and unsustainable. G-d set
the rules of the game, and has granted us with free will to play the
game. If we destroy the game board, G-d is not going to save us. He
will wait a few million years and try again with a new species. He
has all the time in the Universe. We don't.
I will agree to a 100% ban on abortions when we have completely
eliminated unwanted pregnancy from the earth. If we could work
together, we could do both. Big "IF", isn't it.
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2 comments:
Hello Chad.
I'm not sure how your views equate. Having a tradition that prevents babies from being killed doesn't automatically mean that another tradition should exist, that of free health care.
And if the community pays for it, it isn't 'free'. 'Free' health care is a fallacy; there are TONS of interest groups on both sides of the aisle that would work to prevent it.
I don't think the "Just say no" policy is the reason that we've had a lot of out of wedlock births. I don't blame the problem on 'just say no' or teaching about contraceptives. There are too many outside influences that help make young people be irresponsible at the wrong moment.
Your comments about the Catholic Church are a bit disturbing. I hope if you really get involved in politics you think before you mention things like that. There are many relatively moderate people out there who are 1)somewhat religious or 2)leery of some of the hard left pro-choice positions - gov't funding for elective abortions for example.
My point is that the Democrat party has had severe probles for a while with 'value voters'. Not all of them are right wing types. But if their faith is attacked, they will take offense.
I'm not writing this because of my comments on Campaigns Wiki, I'm writing this because the Democrats have blown a lot of good will with a lot of people through the years.
Just like the Republicans are doing now.
By the way, I'm very happy to read that you've overcome cancer.
Hi Jonathan,
My point on the health care issue is that I believe that we should have health care made available by the community for everyone, and the funding for it should come out of a common risk pool. I don't think Socialized medicine would work, but I think wasting 30% of the money that goes into health care on paperwork and intermediaries in the Insurance Industry is a tremendous waste of money. I believe in a single payer system. I'm willing to pay taxes to make sure that everyone can go to the doctor or to the hospital whenever they need to.
The problem with unwanted pregnancies is certainly bigger than the 'just say no' philosophy. Simplified solutions don't work from any side of any issue.
I am very religious, in my own way. I simply don't believe in an afterlife, for punishment or reward. We recieve back the positive or negative energy we send out within this lifetime. I honestly feel that allowing ourselves to tolerate evil from someone else by justifying to ourselves that they will pay later is one of the reasons why we have slipped so far away from Jesus' message, not the other way around. We are responsible for the world that we have been given, and it is our task to make it a better place to live. It's that simple.
I don't mean to offend anyone with that view. But I'm not silent about it. I believe we can speak from a moral perspective without bringing an afterlife into the discussion. It is moral now, in this world at this time, to let certain things happen. That is the question I ask, and it usually gets people thinking. That's not attacking faith, that's encouraging people to consider their faith and constantly revisit their own spiritual center. Our self worth must include what we have done to prevent harm by others on others, not just what we have done or not done to others ourselves.
I think my biggest mistake was not saying "I believe", and "This is how I view things". Just coming out and saying "It's a lie" was harsh, and not worthy of the list.
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