Pro-Life?

It appears that almost a half-century abortion is going to be illegal again in many states.  Roe v Wade is finally going to be overturned.  The prayers of many Christians in this country it seems have finally been answered.  

As a Christian there is a large part of me that is happy at this development.  If, as many of us believe, abortion is something tantamount to murder, for it to come to an end (or at least be more strictly prohibited in many places) is something to give praise to God.  It appears that we are becoming a more 'pro-life' country after all.  

But are we?  In the weeks since the leak has come out that the Supreme Court is going to overturn Roe v Wade, I've thought a lot about abortion in a way that I've never thought about it before.  In truth, it's never been a big issue for me.  As a male who has been faithful to one woman and am grateful for the two children I have, I have not had to worry that my 'seed' has been scattered out in places where it should not be.  I don't lay awake wondering if I have other kids out there by other women.  In some ways for me abortion is more of a symptom of the problem of infidelity and casual sex.  

But I also know that for many it's not quite this simple.  While many abortions really are about convenience, there are others for whom it is a health issue for the mother, or a socio-economic desire to not stretch limited resources of a poor family, or about putting an end to the trauma of a rape or bad relationship.  I would doubt that very many abortions are as selfishly considered as pro-lifers would have us believe.  

And then there's the question of whether or not it's really murder.  I've come to think that in the last 3-4 months of a pregnancy, when the fetus is now viable outside the womb, that murder isn't too strong a word to describe the termination of a pregnancy, if there are no other complicating factors.  But in the first 4-5 months of a pregnancy, when the feteus is not viable, I'm not sure murder is at all a fair term.  Is abortion in the fourth month of a pregnancy, perhaps not long after a woman unexpectedly realizes that she's pregnant, anything fundamentally different than taking birth control pills?  My wife has used the little yellow pills (to great effect) since we've been married during the time when having a child was not desirable: in the first few months of marriage, in the time between pregnancies, and now as we are both squarely middle age and not at all desiring to have a child.  Others have not been so lucky...even as they use accepted birth control practices, it is still possible to 'slip one past the goalie' and get pregnant...not something all families, even the most loving ones, desire.  Should we punish them because some have this sentimental view that children are 'sacred', a gift from God?

Yet as I've thought about this issue the past few weeks, the one thing that I keep coming back to again and again with this issue is the idea of what it means to be 'pro-life'.  That's a term that those against abortion have taken as their self-identifying label.  But I've learned that it's a very particular type of 'pro-life'.  While these generalizations are not true for everybody, they are more true than not.

-Many would identify as pro-death penalty.  That is, a living human being deserves death for some crime that he/she has done.  

-Many are very much pro-second amendment in that they want no restrictions on guns or firearms.  Even though hundreds of people die in this country each day due to gun violence, they want no limitations on their guns because of their sense of 'freedom'.  

-Many showed themselves during the pandemic of the past two years that they don't really care about the lives of others.  Many 'pro-life' people were the ones most against mask regulations or social distancing or even vaccines that study after study showed saved lives.  Even as over a million people died in part from the pandemic in this country alone, these were the ones who used slogans like 'my body, my choice' when it came time to refusing simple measures that would have kept people from dying.  

-Many are very pro-military, not just in national defense but in American militarism.  The very purpose of the military was summed up by the late Rush Limbaugh, who said that the purpose of the military was 'to kill people and break things'.  

-Finally, many who have marched and demanded that abortion be ended care nothing for the quality of life of that child once he/she has been born.  This is shown by their opposition to public school funding, expanded health care, and other programs that will enhance a child's life.  The moment that child leaves the womb, for many pro-lifers, is the end of our responsiblity as a society to ensure that this child grows up healthy and prepared for what life throws at them.  

Are these all overgeneralizations?  Perhaps.  Some people are consistently pro-life to their credit.  But most people, especially those who proudly wear the label, aren't pro-life at all.  They're hypocrites.  And we need to call them out for what they are.  If we are going to absolutize the value of a human life, shouldn't we do this across the board, not just as it applies to women's health issues?  Because if we don't, 'pro-life' is in fact just a hidden way of controlling the lives of women and telling them what they can and can't do, even as 'freedom' becomes the absolute for so many in our culture today.  

My anger

We are now 17 months into the global pandemic.  The 'Delta' variant is causing COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations to spike.  People are getting sick almost everywhere.  Several of my co-workers have gotten ill.  The government is now encouraging those of us who got shots earlier in the year to get a booster 8 months after our first dosage because it appears that the effectiveness of the vaccines wanes over time.  This pandemic shows no sign of finishing.  

And I'm pissed.  So angry at the lies people have been willing to hear.  

About masks.  

About social distancing.  

About the vaccine.  

We could have been over this a long time ago, if not for a dimwit President who said this would magically disappear, and when it did not completely screwed up the response because he was afraid he would lose his election (which he did anyway) if he told the truth.  

We could have been over this earlier this year, if not for people who decided it was better to believe lies about vaccines.  Now generally 90+% of those who are getting seriously ill or who are dying are those who are not vaccinated.  And now because of their stubborn refusal to accept reality the virus has mutated and we might be dealing with this for years to come. 

We could have been over this during the summer, if not for craven Republican governors who decided to act as if no lessons had been learned last summer, that letting people think they are 'free' because they are irresponsible will win them elections.  The virus doesn't care about your ideology.  It doesn't care about your 'liberty'.  It doesn't care about how tired you are of being careful.   

As a Christian I know I need to be sympathetic to people who get sick.  And I am sympathetic to those who are vaccinated but yet have had a breakthrough positive test.  I have compassion on children who are not old enough to be vaccinated or whose parents will not let them be vaccinated and who get the disease. 

But these people who refuse to get vaccinated, who refuse to mask up, who refuse to stay home...I have nothing anymore.  My patience with these people is finished.  I stay away from them.  I have a hard time praying for them.  And I am so very, very angry at them all.  They choose to believe lies.  And all of us are going to suffer as a result of their stupidity.  

Forgive me, Lord, for my anger.  

I am writing this because perhaps in expressing this I can get it out of my mind.  The narrative that has been building in my head over the past few weeks won't leave on its own.  Only God can take it away, and perhaps this will allow him to do so.  

Forgive me, Lord, for my arrogance.  

Over the holiday breaks my sister and I were talking how neither of us feel like we have a political home.  Neither of us consider ourselves liberals, nor think that we really belong with the Democrats.  But the GOP has go so far into lunacy, and mainstream 'conservatism' is now so intellectually and morally bankrupt, that we can't ever think about going back to what we were raised to be.  I'm guessing that there's a lot of people in our position as well, because the conversation and media coverage of politics has so been geared towards the extremes for years that many of us who are in the middle feel as if we don't have a voice anymore.  

Somewhere in our conversation, however, one of raised the question, why isn't there any push for a centrist party?  Why isn't somebody filling this vacuum?  I've been thinking about that conversation for awhile.  What would a centrist party look like?  

First of all, I think we'd have to lay down some ground rules for this party.  One of those rules is that we are not a party for those looking to amplify their Trumpist extremism.  After the horrible events of this week when the domestic terrorism of Trumpism finally became clear, we don't want these people.  And so maybe we institute a simple rule: nobody may run under this banner who has run for political office under another party's banner in the past five years.  This has been a problem with a lot of fringe parties like the Libertarians...they simply bring in a name brand leader that is above their station in another's party.  This would help develop new leaders...maybe more slowly than some would like, but it's not enough to simply gain power.  It's about doing and being what is right.  

The second thing is to realize that we should take pride in moderation.  What gets the headlines is extreme positions, but political reality is that effective government comes from the center.  It recognizes the grievances of both sides, but it knows that most people simply want good government.  We support and honor our police, but we also realize that there are some police that are bad and should be retrained to other jobs and we realize that there are some systemic issues of police enforcement that need to be eliminated.  We recognize that nobody wants to pay taxes, but we proclaim that as a society we must properly fund schools, infrastructure, national security, and other programs that benefit all people, not just a few.  We are proud to have a generous and effective health care system, but we realize that continually enabling those who refuse any form of healty lifestyle.  We recognize the need for 2nd amendment protections, but we also demand that those who choose to have weapons store them responsibly and undergo regular safety training.  On these, and many other issues, we recognize that the daulistic and extremist positions are not what we need. Rather, we seek what is best for most Americans so that we are able to have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  

I really believe that there has to be a place for a new party after the failures of the extremes.  I wish we could all be independent and make up our minds on each and every issue, but this is not realistic.  People join together as part of human nature.  I don't think I'm the right person to carry this out...I'm not charismatic enough, and too controlling in myself.  But surely there has to be a better way than what we are doing now.  

Old Preacher's Story, Revised

 A mother knocks on her son's door, then slowly enters.  "It's time to get up!  You've got to get to work."  

"I'm so tired!  I was up half the night watching cable news and talking to all my friends on the Twitter."  

"That doesn't matter.  You have to get up, the morning is half over."

"Well, if I have to get up, can I at least go play golf today?"  

"No!  You have to get to work.  Lots of people are counting on you."

"But mom!  I hate those people.  And half of them hate me.  They talk about how bad I am at my job and how I'm a really terrible person."

"Get out there and prove them wrong then.  Do what's right.  Think about other people besides yourself for once."

"What about what I want?  That's the only thing that really matters!"

"Donald, you are the Presdient of the United States.  Get up, and don't make me come in here again."  

And...scene!

The Election

Some thoughts that really, really need to get out of my head so I can be productive today. 

-As of this writing, at 7:17am the morning after the election, it's still too close to call.  In an election where the worst president of my lifetime is running for re-election, it should have been a slam-dunk for the Democrats.  They ran an elder statesman of the party, a decent man who for a Democrat was rather moderate.  They didn't make a bunch of huge missteps, which is susprising because Joe Biden may be about two years from a dementia diagnosis.  But nope, likely they are going to blow it.  In an election in which they had a strong opportunity and a huge war chest of money to overtake the Senate, they blew it there, too.  Stuff like this is only one of the reasons why I can never be a Democrat.  The Republicans may have become morally repugnant, but at least they know what they are doing in order to get power.  The Democrats?  The only difference between them and the play-acting of the Libertarians is that they have been around awhile and once did some Things.  Maybe it's time to put them out of their misery.  The Whigs used to be a major thing in this country, and within a decade they were replaced by the Republicans.  It's time to establish a viable new centrist party.  

-Once again a Democrat is going to win the popular vote (though not by nearly as much as projected) but probably will lose the electoral college.  It's once again going to come down to a few votes in a few states.  This system stinks.  

-As heartbreaking as this week has been, it's time for Christians to stand up and truly live as citizens of the Kingdom of God.  This is an opportunity for us.  The major parties surely won't follow godliness, and so the church needs to stand for righteousness and justice and mercy and grace.  I'm becoming enough of a cynic of mainstream 'American Christianity' to think that this is not going to happen, but we need to try.  The next four years, if Trump ends up winning, are going to make 2020 look like paradise in comparison.  Who is to stand up and do what's right?  

EDIT 11/9/20 2:26pm.  So Joe Biden ended up winning the election, thankfully.  But it should never have been this close. The Democrats still have massive problems, and even though Trump will eventually be gone (willingly or not), they have a long way to go to ever earn my trust.