Abortion, Free Will, Legislating Morality, Etc.
Have I ever talked about this on here? Probably. It may sound bad, but to some degree, I just don't care enough about this issue to get all worked up about it. To both the right and the left--Roe v. Wade will not be overturned. It has been found to be constitutional, and the majority of people are in favor of leaving it as a woman's prerogative. I've always been pretty solidly Democratic in my political affiliation, though I've wrestled with describing myself as either "pro-life" or "pro-choice." I can remember in high school getting in arguments with people on this issue and that other hot button social issue. One friend had a button with the image of a hanger and a line through it. I said, "No more wire hangers." He wasn't amused. I remember at Bible college talking to a winger in an elevator about the death penalty. I told him I was against it because I was pro-life. He wasn't having it. Here's the best one, though. When I taught at a Catholic school, I got into a political discussion with an older nun there. I liked her and her manner with the children, not exactly in line with the horror stories people tell about nuns but they certainly respected her. She told me that she believed women had the right to choose. I agreed with her. This was at variance with the principal, who fancied himself an upright conservative.
As a Christian, if I believe God is all powerful, then I believe he would be capable of bringing all to salvation if he willed. It stands, biblically, though, that he leaves it essentially as our decision. (I always liked C.S. Lewis' Great Divorce as an allegory for how this works.) I'll never be a good Calvinist because it doesn't adequately account for free will. It seems that free will is important to God, willful choice is important to God and impelling us without our participation is not His way. It wouldn't be very effective to try and impose a Christian nation. It would make less sense to impose a Christian morality on believers and nonbelievers alike. As it is, of course, Christians themselves don't have their acts together. I could tell some stories, and about good people.
It just plain doesn't work. During the prohibition, alcohol sales thrived. Before abortion was legal, the procedure was performed under unsafe conditions. There might be a lot more divorce now, but there may be less spousal abuse than in earlier eras. And the war on drugs... I'll even say what is not expedient for a pet issue of mine, that while handguns are restricted in Chicago, there sure are a lot of deaths resulting from them.
Education works. We know that, as far as war goes, when we instead focus on building schools and other measures to better the societies with whom we have conflict, we gain the good will of the people and they are less susceptible to radical elements. We also know that merely telling people not to do it (abstinence programs) doesn't in itself work. My cynical side says that politicians don't really want to change laws on this issue one way or the other. Bush of course had eight years, with control over the House and Senate for four of those, and changed nothing. It's a wedge issue. It mobilizes people on both sides. And unfortunately for some of those people, what a candidate says on this issue tells them everything they want to know about that candidate.
Our new President says it is between a woman, her doctor and God. John McCain won more applause when he quickly stated that life begins at conception. Laws as a way of regulating behavior generally don't work, though. That's what the Old Testament is about for Christians, isn't it? If we could just live by those laws, we would have salvation. The New Testament actually says the law became a stumbling block. I was a pretty good kid. Anything really regrettable I did was done during the period when I attended said Bible college and was under its fairly strict guidelines. And as soon as I left there, I was back to being a do-gooder. Who out there stays in the speed limit?
So the anniversary of Roe v. Wade is Thursday. Jane Roe is not even that crazy about Roe v. Wade anymore. There will be protesters somewhere. The last time I drove by some protesters outside a Planned Parenthood clinic with graphic posters displayed, I yelled at them that they should be ashamed of themselves. They're a little late, really. If they were earlier, they might have mentored the young women they were trying to scare. Maybe if they were a little earlier, they could have worked up an adoption arrangement. As we finally start a new presidency today, we can be sure that in four years, the candidates will be asked where they stand on the abortion issue. A significant part of me hopes they will change the subject.
As a Christian, if I believe God is all powerful, then I believe he would be capable of bringing all to salvation if he willed. It stands, biblically, though, that he leaves it essentially as our decision. (I always liked C.S. Lewis' Great Divorce as an allegory for how this works.) I'll never be a good Calvinist because it doesn't adequately account for free will. It seems that free will is important to God, willful choice is important to God and impelling us without our participation is not His way. It wouldn't be very effective to try and impose a Christian nation. It would make less sense to impose a Christian morality on believers and nonbelievers alike. As it is, of course, Christians themselves don't have their acts together. I could tell some stories, and about good people.
It just plain doesn't work. During the prohibition, alcohol sales thrived. Before abortion was legal, the procedure was performed under unsafe conditions. There might be a lot more divorce now, but there may be less spousal abuse than in earlier eras. And the war on drugs... I'll even say what is not expedient for a pet issue of mine, that while handguns are restricted in Chicago, there sure are a lot of deaths resulting from them.
Education works. We know that, as far as war goes, when we instead focus on building schools and other measures to better the societies with whom we have conflict, we gain the good will of the people and they are less susceptible to radical elements. We also know that merely telling people not to do it (abstinence programs) doesn't in itself work. My cynical side says that politicians don't really want to change laws on this issue one way or the other. Bush of course had eight years, with control over the House and Senate for four of those, and changed nothing. It's a wedge issue. It mobilizes people on both sides. And unfortunately for some of those people, what a candidate says on this issue tells them everything they want to know about that candidate.
Our new President says it is between a woman, her doctor and God. John McCain won more applause when he quickly stated that life begins at conception. Laws as a way of regulating behavior generally don't work, though. That's what the Old Testament is about for Christians, isn't it? If we could just live by those laws, we would have salvation. The New Testament actually says the law became a stumbling block. I was a pretty good kid. Anything really regrettable I did was done during the period when I attended said Bible college and was under its fairly strict guidelines. And as soon as I left there, I was back to being a do-gooder. Who out there stays in the speed limit?
So the anniversary of Roe v. Wade is Thursday. Jane Roe is not even that crazy about Roe v. Wade anymore. There will be protesters somewhere. The last time I drove by some protesters outside a Planned Parenthood clinic with graphic posters displayed, I yelled at them that they should be ashamed of themselves. They're a little late, really. If they were earlier, they might have mentored the young women they were trying to scare. Maybe if they were a little earlier, they could have worked up an adoption arrangement. As we finally start a new presidency today, we can be sure that in four years, the candidates will be asked where they stand on the abortion issue. A significant part of me hopes they will change the subject.
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