On fear and the glimmer of hope:

It is 2:55AM as I begin to write this. My chest is constricted, it’s hard for me to breathe. Maybe I am experiencing the beginnings of a panic attack. I am not sure because I am usually pretty calm and such feelings are pretty new to me, but this week has been an unusual week.

My parents are finally calling it quits. They’ve been battling it out for 3 years and have finally given up in the most bitter of ways. My mom is homeless and losing hope. She almost died 2 weeks ago in the hospital, and now is experiencing the near death of her heart. My siblings are stressed to the max and hurting, and I spend the better parts of my days either wondering about them or talking on the phone with them. Today I pleaded with my mom to not lose hope. As her children we are standing behind her, and today when I listened to her cry, to hear her tell me “I’m not a bad person, Robin, I’m not,” and break down, to say it broke my heart doestn’t do it justice. My heart felt like it was being bludgeoned, and a hot anger was simmering inside me at the man who could make her feel this way. Tears streamed down my face, as they are now. I choked back sobs, as I am now. My mom is beautiful and doesn’t deserve such pain, but when the conversation was over, my mind rested on my own hardships.

I still haven’t been able to find a job and have yet to receive any benefit support from the Employment Security Comission. I was finally approved but I guess they figure I don’t really need the money. Who knows? But when I think of all the bills that are due and see what we have in the bank…when I look in the  paper and online and around town and see that no one is hiring…when my husband says that business is about to get slow where he works…I find it difficult to breathe. When I skip lunch to stretch the food and try to occupy myself with distractions (books, movies) so I don’t feel overwhelmed, I feel inadequate and scared. Who do I cry to?

About 30 minutes ago I was watching TV and accidentally hit the #3 on the remote. It took me to a channel where a song by Merle Haggard was playing called “A Place to Fall Apart.” I realized that was me…”looking for a place to fall apart.” The song was exactly the type of music my grandmother loved, and I was overcome with the memory of her. The first anniversary of her death will be in December, and all I could think about was if I could just talk to her, like I used to during my very turbulent childhood, she would know exactly what to say to me. I miss her, I miss my family, and I am so scared right now. So I did the only thing I knew to do.

I walked upstairs and laid my head on my desk, broke down and poured my heart out to God. I asked him to draw me closer to Him, and to give me the faith and the courage to not lose hope. I prayed for my hurting family, and for the strength to help them through this rough time. I prayed for my husband to not have fear, but faith, and for us to always lean on each other, even if things get harder than they are now. I started to breathe a little easier, and felt the familiar headeache that I always get when I cry as hard as that. I keep telling myself “Things will be okay, God will take care of me.” Please pray that I can believe this with all my heart.

An example of Christian ignorance and stupidity

http://carol1977.wordpress.com/

 

Yeah, if you want a good laugh go to that one. Especially click on the “Bribing Obama” post and read about how lying to your enemies is a Muslim principal. Is this lady awesome or what?

Wall Street Welfare Queens

I want to take a brief interlude from my regular type of post to do something different.These are some personal thoughts that I have been having over the past few days. I don’t know why, but I have this urge to write them out. Maybe its because when I write, my thoughts become more organized and more defined.

 

I’m sure no one who reads this blog lives in a hole, so I am assuming that you’ve are heard about this Wall Street meltdown we’ve been enduring all week. In fact, I believe we should be proud! We’ve bought an insurance company and a couple of banks so far. At least us, the little guy, can still afford to make billion dollar decisions as these banks crumble around us. Does this mean we’re rich? Hmmm…

 

First of all, I have always agreed that when business have the freedom to make their own choices, they flourish. I have usually agreed that business owners need to prosper in order for them to continue paying their employees. And I used to buy into this idea that whoever didn’t agree with this had to be a card carrying socialist.

 

I quit believing in some of these things a while back, but as of this week I disagree with most of these ideas vehemently. Here’s why.

 

 

Since Reagan was in office, businesses have enjoyed an extreme amount of deregulation. They have had the freedom to chose how to run their businesses and the tax cuts necessary for them to decide how to responsibly invest their money. We’ve assumed that they didn’t need rules and pesky regulations because if they were in charge of their own success…why would they want to screw it up?

Oh silly us, will we ever learn? Maybe after this week.

As it turns out, the largest financial institutions, the very institutions that form the back bone of the United States’ financial peace, are going under. Is it because they didn’t have freedom? Were they over regulated?  Were the tax cuts just not enough? If only!

 

It’s because they didn’t have rules and regulations and their greed influenced their decision making. I imagine that the taste of limitless power can make one feel like they can do anything. So why not sell billions of dollars worth of bad mortgages? You can charge an outrageous interest rate, make tons of money, then when they can’t pay, foreclose the house and auction it off for a profit. Excellent idea! After these people who can’t afford homes (or their dream home) sign your mortgage that is guaranteed to screw them over, sell that mortgage to an even bigger bank and make your money right away. Everyone gets their commissions, everyone gets paid. And lets suffice it to say, in the end, everyone gets screwed. And no, not just the mortgage holders and the crooked mortgage brokers and their bosses and their supporters on Wall Street. Unfortunately, when I say everyone I mean me and you too.

 

So we know how a conservatively financial administration in the White House thinks about money. Leave it in the hands of the CEO’s and let their business practices be their own economic upturn or downfall. And we can trust this, right? After all, these are the same guys who for 8 years have promised fiscal responsibility, and they made good on that, right? RIGHT? I mean, cutting taxes with record spending while borrowing money from China to cover what you can’t pay for is brilliant! So call me shocked when I read about bail out after bail out of these institutions. Not that I am against it, per se. Its not the people who have retirement and insurance and money invested in these companies, its not their fault they picked a bank run by greedy snakes. These are working people who don’t deserve to have that taken away from them. But am I the only one that sees the cruel irony of this?

These are people who will send you emails decrying taxes, regulation and rules (oh my!). These are the people who mock what they call “welfare queens” who rely on the government to get them through, rather than their own bootstraps. They have been in charge of their lives, and pulling on their precious $1200 bootstraps, they have bent this country over and screwed us for all we’re worth. But now they are in trouble. Now they can’t stand on their own two feet. Now they are so sorry for what they’ve done. And what are they asking?

Oh taxpayers, buy us out! Save us from ourselves! We’re too retarded to be in charge of our own lives! Turn us over to the government, please. We need regulation and rules!

In other words, the super rich of yesterday are the new welfare queens of today. Where are the emails from these conservatives mocking them? I haven’ seen one yet, so I thought I’d do my part.

So if we’re already in debt and borrowing money from Communist thugs to sponsor our outrageous greed, where are we getting this money to buy our brand new banks and insurance companies? Oh, we’re probably borrowing more from China. Awesome.

 

But let me be the first to tell you, we should not have to deal with our taxes being increased. Oh no, we do NOT need to pay any of this money back. Those evil liberal commies that wanted to keep this from happening in the first place by pushing for their inconvenient rules and regulations also want to steal your money and give it to welfare queens. Which welfare queens? The ones who want to keep their millions or the ones who can’t feed their children? Because if its to feed children then no way, I don’t want my tax dollars supporting any of that.

No no no, I encourage you, my friends, to continue to support conservative economics. Obviously its working! And when it fails, we’ll just use liberal economics to fix the problems but pretend its still conservative economics.

 

McCain/Palin ’08. WOO!

 

 

p.s. This idea of giving rich people tax cuts so that they can hire more people is obviously working too. I mean, its not like factories are closing down in record numbers and unemployment is sky rocketing. Right? Oh wait!!! I get it! We borrow money from China to pay for our programs, right? You see, our taxes are cut so we have no money. So the government gives tax cuts to business owners so that they can hire Chinese people to work for less money than Americans would. Then the Chinese people pay taxes to their government so that the Chinese government can keep giving the United States loans to pay for our programs so that we don’t have to pay taxes. Brilliant!

This Was Never a Christian Nation

This is part 2 of my series I am calling “A Conservative’s Journey to Appreciating Liberalism.” You can read the prologue and introduction here, and part 1 (GOP Morals?) here. A brief note: When I realized that this wasn’t the “Christian nation” I’ve always been conditioned to believe, coupled with the realization that the Republican party isn’t the “godly” party I was conditioned to believe, I felt both liberated and confused all at once. The clarity with which I was able to gauge my political beliefs was and is priceless, however.

Today there is a culture war that is raging, and it is having very tragic consequences in the Christian church. There is a majority of people in churches that have aligned themselves politically with what is labeled as the “Christian Right,” and has also sparked a movement that is being called the “Religious Left.” The Christian Right have their enemies labeled: Hollywood elites, baby-killing liberals, the homosexual community (with their gay agenda that they are “cramming down people’s throats”) and the socialist evil Democrats who rally them all. So also does the Religious Left have enemies: Racist bigots, woman haters, fascist conservatives, and the evil religious right wing “Nazis” that are “tearing this country apart”,  etc. It not only has divided this nation, but it has divided the church, and it has detracted from the focus of what the true church is really supposed to be doing: following the Great Commission.

 

I can’t even begin to describe how difficult it is to put into words my convictions on how my religious convictions hold in comparison with my political beliefs. To first do this, I will have to explain what I think about the fusion of politics and religion. The Bible makes it very clear that, as Christians, this world is not our home. We are to feel as if we are sojourners here, not citizens. As a church, we cannot value our nationality over the nationality of others, since there are Christians all over this world who are our brothers and sisters Christ. Therefore, we cannot spend so much time attempting to ensure that this nation that we live in is regarded as a “Christian nation.” In the history of the world, there has been no such thing, unless you count the Holy Roman Empire.

 

If you are a Christian that is reading this, I want you to think really hard about any time in history in which religious conviction was deemed a mandatory law and the church flourished under such authority. Never. The Holy Roman Empire and its emperors and popes forcefully spread a cultural version of Christianity and burned/killed anyone who stood against them and in their way. However, any time that the church has been persecuted and politically inactive, it has flourished. Especially consider the early church in the book of Acts. Thousands were being baptized to the faith at one time and people were joining in record numbers, yet the Roman Empire was continuously murdering Christian leaders up until the conversion of Constantine.

 

You may think “Okay that was Rome, Europe, the Dark Ages. That doesn’t count. This country was founded by people of strong Judeo Christian beliefs and such convictions are written in every fabric of foundation in the United States.” While it may be true that the founding fathers of this country were a religious type, by today’s conservative definition of what it means to be a Christian, I submit that most were not the mythical religious heroes that today’s conservatives have purported. Most were secularists by philosophy and deist in the religious sense. They came from the Age of Enlightenment and trusted that science triumphed over the answer to most religious questions. Most denied not only the deity of Christ, but also that he ever did any miracles. In fact, Thomas Jefferson wrote his own Bible (nicknamed the Jefferson Bible, I am not lying, google it). In it he removed the virgin birth, all miracles and the resurrection of Jesus. If science couldn’t explain it, it was removed. Sure, they used a lot of religious language to justify the expansion of this country and most of their corrupt political deeds, but such language, I firmly believe, was politically motivated and not a true reflection of their religious beliefs.

 

Furthermore, this country was founded on humanistic beliefs. Americans, from colonial times, through the frontier, all the way to today’s modern age, have always had a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” point of view. The idea has always been that you strive your best, you work hard, you rely on yourself to get through. It’s the American dream to come from nothing and through self reliance to gain more than you could’ve wanted. If you consider it, such a  belief is a very anti-biblical way of viewing things. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he instructed them to request their “daily bread.” It wasn’t “Give us enough bread to always last.” He wanted us to every day rely on God and God alone for our needs, and to always remember that He is the supplier of all things. He also instructed us to help one another at the cost of our own materialistic notions. We are to always feed and clothe the hungry, care for the widows and orphans, and have compassion for our enemies. If you read the book of Acts, you will read that the early Christians sold all of their possessions and gave to one another so that all would be equal and none lacking (sounds like communism, doesn’t it?)  Self reliance is the American way, but it is not God’s way.

 

In other words, this has never been a Christian nation. Ever. It has always been a secular-humanistic nation filled with culturally religious people. We have God on our money and in our oaths, but it has never meant anything. So you may ask, “What is the point of all of this?”

 

When the church wraps itself up in politics and takes on a crusade to make this a Christian nation, it creates terrible problems for the true church and the Kingdom of God mentality we are supposed to have. We start to believe that we need prayer in schools and God on our money and in our oaths and our courthouses to exemplify our “godliness and sanctity.”  The reality is, the true Christians simply need to imitate Christ in their own lives and trust that God will use our example to work in the hearts of those around us. It is true, we also use words to witness to people, but we must resist the temptation to try to use government and law to make people adhere to what we believe is righteous and holy. When the church declares a “culture war” it becomes a problem, because people do not see this in our lives:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instead, they see this:

 

 

 

 

And not many unsaved people want to sign up for that.

 

You may say “Well that is not an accurate depiction of real Christians, and its the media’s fault for portraying us that way.” Not true, it is definitely our fault that we are portrayed that way. That is what happens when we quit reflecting Christ and start fighting a “culture war.” When we wrap ourselves up in the muddiness that is politics, it leaves the church appearing filthy, corrupt, and power hungry. When we align ourselves with a political party, we end up having to endorse even the ungodly things this party stands for in exchange for them promising to promote our agendas. Am I the only evangelical that sees a problem with this? We need to stop worrying about making this a “Christian nation once again” and buying into this myth that our picketing and petitioning is something that God requires of us. What He requires is our obedience to Him, our LOVE for others, and the rest is not important. Period.

 

On a side note, as a person who is still in the world, even though not of it, I am not saying you shouldn’t vote. I am saying that if you think there is a Christian way to vote then you need to rethink history and the Bible. You may have an idea on how government should be run in order to keep law and order in this country, but you should never assume that one party is deserving of your loyalty based on empty promises to promote your personal religious agenda. I am also insinuating that this gives politicians the ability to exploit your trust in them in order to gain enough votes to stay in office, knowing that they cannot deliver the type of religious law you are looking for.

McCain Should be Ashamed of Himself

Just when I thought McCain couldn’t go any lower, he again proves me wrong. However, this time, I can’t just shake my head at it. This is such a terrible thing for him to say on so many levels. Let me tell you why.

My brother and I were sexually abused when we were children. I was in 1st grade and he was in *gasp* Kindergarten. My mom hadn’t taught us about “good touch” and “bad touch.” She DID teach us about not talking to strangers and we had a ”safe word” for school pick ups and all that stuff. However, she didn’t think her little step-brother would be the predator to molest her children either. News flash to a lot of people out there, A LOT of parents don’t teach their kids about it.

I can honestly say that even though I was molested as a child, I turned out pretty well, and I don’t think I’ve suffered any long term emotional damage over it. However, I was only molested once. My brother? Raped and abused for 6 years. 6 years! He didn’t tell anyone because my uncle threatened him and told him that nobody would believe him anyway. Imagine if his Kindergarten teacher had told him differently. I can guarantee you that his life would be very different right now. As it turns out though, his life is ruined, and at 23 years old he is only just now able to cope with it and try to fix it.

So let me get this straight. Obama puts out an ad about education reform. (It’s a no brainer that education needs to be reformed.) Maybe McCain has an idea different from Obama’s on how to do that. Does McCain put out an ad that proposes what he thinks is a better way? No, facts are boring and elitist. McCain puts out a shameful mockery of a campaign ad that not only proves he has nothing good to offer this country, but that he doesn’t care about how many people he hurts along his muddy treck to the whitehouse.

For the record, the legislation was not for comprehensive sex education for Kindergarteners. It was for age appropriate sex education, which for Kindergarteners that would be teaching about how to identify a sexual predator. (It would also be optional, meaning if you didn’t want your kid to take the class, you didn’t have to.) There would not be any 5 year old kids chanting “penis, penis, penis, vagina, vagina, vagina.” McCain should be ashamed of himself.

I just can’t believe how shameful and low this ad is…I really can’t. Maybe I am still in shock. But I think this blog sums it up nicely.

GOP Morals?

This is part 1 of my series I am calling “A Conservative’s Journey to Appreciating Liberalism.” The Prologue introducing the series can be read here.

Right away I want to point out that I am not ignoring the corruption of the Democratic party. I know our entire government is beyond corrupt, and that is exactly why I am registered unaffiliated. The reason I am writing about Republicans is that lots (and I mean a majority) of evangelicals seem to believe that a vote for a Republican is a vote for values. It is a terrible misconception that is exploited by Republicans, present presidential candidate included. It took me a while to realize this, but here are the 3 questions I asked myself that lead me to change my party affiliation.

 

Does the party really stand for family values?

No. Plain and simple, no. There are hundreds of examples of the lying, stealing, exploiting, illegal, and sexual activity within the Republican party that has happened in just recent years. However, I am just writing a simple blog, not a dissertation. So here are the three that shocked me out of my adoration for the GOP:

Mark Foley R-FL: Who can forget Mark Foley? He championed causes and legislation for the protection of minors from predators and sex-offenders. Turns out he was the predator all along! Imagine a grown man sending sexually explicit texts and emails to his 16 year old male interns. I will go ahead and mention that most high level Republicans knew about this but didn’t stop him for fear of starting a scandal. See how much good it did covering it up?

Don Sherwood R-PA: Ah, yes. He’s a family man from Pennsylvania. It’s too bad he lost his seat in legislature after admitting a 5 year affair with a woman who pressed abuse charges against him. He apparently tried to strangle her a couple times, and one time she locked herself in their hotel bathroom to call 911. (He told police that he was giving her a back rub. Sounds relaxing!) It was really cool of President Bush to campaign for his reelection that year and refer to him as a “godly man.”

Larry Craig R-ID: Indicted on charges of soliciting sex from an undercover officer posing as a male prostitute in the men’s bathroom of an airport.

A party that stands for values? Sounds like it to me!

 

Does President Bush really appreciate Christians?:

I’m going to have to answer a no on that one as well. As David Kuo has rightly said, Christians in America at one time (and some even now) considered Bush at type of “pastor in chief.” If you don’t know, Kuo was the deputy director of the Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives, for which Bush promised billions of dollars for religious and secular charities, and never delivered. When evangelical leaders would come to the President and ask him about the money, the President would blatantly lie to them, pray with them and give them a religious pep talk, then leave Kuo behind to clean up the mess and answer the real questions (untruthfully). Bush and his administration mocked Christianity and evangelicals until they needed the votes. Then Bush would put on his “man of faith” mask. Don’t believe me? Read it for yourself. Kuo wrote a book about it called “Tempting Faith.” If you don’t like to read whole books, here is a snippet of it in Time Magazine: Why a Christian in the White House Felt Betrayed.

 

In other words, Bush and most GOP politicians do not appreciate Christianity (until they need our votes) and do not deserve our blind and unquestioning loyalty/support, which is exactly what they have received for the past 8 years.

 

Which candidate in 2008 really represents family values?

This is probably just personal opinion, but am I the only evangelical who noticed Obama is a great father and husband? I don’t know about McCain’s fatherhood, he doesn’t talk about his kids much, but a man who comes back from war to a crippled former beauty queen wife, and cheats on her with a rich and still-beautiful former beauty queen, is shallow and opportunistic to the third degree. (I think it’s a little ironic that his VP pick is also a former beauty queen…) Think that’s interesting? Read more here about the wife McCain so callously left behind.

Feathers may get ruffled for this one, but Obama at least has taken his kids to church their whole lives. Yes, I am very aware of Rev. Wright’s crazy sermons that got so many white people upset (okay not just white people, I am being facetious). Do you belong to a church whose pastor some times says some unbecoming things? I know I do. Here’s a snippet regarding bi-racial children: “The only zebras God intended to make are in Africa. These kids don’t know if their ancestor is George Washington or George Washington Carver.” (On a side note, the reason people stay in churches even when they don’t agree with everything their preachers say is that they believe in the church’s ministry and works. My church and Obama’s church is a light to the community, and that is what matters. Preachers come and go, but the church and its people will always be there.) My whole point is, the Obamas believe in something good. McCain has called Christians “agents of intolerance” and has snubbed every major evangelical leader….until he needed the votes to win the GOP nomination. Obama has experience working with churches to help communities. He knows, and has openly said, that churches are vital to America and they must have the freedom to practice in order to transform lives (and unlike McCain, this was BEFORE it was politically expedient for him to say so). He has vowed to expand Bush’s faith based initiative. Religious freedom is MORE important than religious law. As long as we are free to practice our religion, we can work in our communities to follow the great commission. When our convictions become law we risk christianity becoming a culture and not a passion.

 

So I know what the next argument is. “GOP candidates (more recently McCain, it took him a while to come around though) vote against abortion and gay marriage. Even though they don’t practice it in their own lives, its their votes that we are interested in.” Okay, I’ll give you that, for now. But I am going to address all of these in more blog posts, so again, stay tuned! Until then I leave you with these lovely videos put together by someone who goes by the name “TheAngryRepublican.” This should be a great reminder as to why Republicans are NOT God’s party. These videos are “100 examples of Republican corruption, lies, and ignorance.”

 

A Conservative’s Journey to Appreciating Liberalism, Prologue: When My Image of the GOP Shattered.

I used to be registered Republican. The first time I was able to register to vote, I proudly checked off “Republican” on the registration card. I knew that I was in the party that actually stood for something. Bush had rightfully (in my mind) defeated Gore almost 1 year before, and it was 2 months after 9-11. I knew that the Republicans stood for morals, justice, freedom and the American dream. They were the party that evangelicals like myself could believe in, and President Bush had sort of become our pastor in chief. I watched Fox News all the time and hung on Bill O’Reilly’s every word, considering myself a soldier on the right side of an American culture war. Anyone who didn’t love President Bush was a hippie, a commie and a liberal all rolled into one, and I had no respect for such a person.

 

You know, it’s a good think I didn’t know me then, because I think I’d have to slap me.

 

So when did all of this change? How did I go from blood-red Republican to sky blue Independent? I can tell you that it didn’t happen all at once, and it really only happened somewhat recently. In fact, four years ago at this time I was printing off swift-boat articles and convincing my co-workers that John Kerry was a coward and unfit for command. But I thank God that shortly after this I began to think really hard about what it truly means to be a Christian and a citizen of this country.

 

I quit watching Fox News and quit reading propaganda and I started thinking for myself. Over the past three years, slowly but surely, my pride in the GOP shattered, and I can say that I am almost done with picking up the pieces.

 

You may ask, “What was it that caused you to turn your back on the Republican party?” Well be sure to follow up, because over the next week or so I will tell you exactly why in a series of posts entitled: A Conservatives Journey to Appreciating Liberalism. I will tell you how I can be a conservative by our cultural definition, yet a liberal in a classical definition, and I will explain why I am voting for Barack Obama. Stay tuned!

 

 

 

christians boycott McDonalds over gay rights issues

Yep, its true. Sunday I was graced with a scathing article in our church’s bulletin repremanding McDonald’s for supporting gay rights causes and calling for a nationwide boycott of the chain. In addition to that, there is a petition in our church for our members to sign to give to the local McDonalds (right down the street from our church).

Let it be known that I am not signing this petition. Here is why:

I do not think it is right to put innocent people out of a job simply because you don’t agree with a company’s policy. The unemployment rate in our community is pretty high due to factories closing down and being sent to China or Mexico. Granted, a lot of teenagers work at McDonalds, but there are some adults there who need to support their families. Also, don’t think that a teenager doesn’t need a job. When I was 16 I worked busing tables at a restaurant, and most of my earnings went to help support our struggling family.

Sunday my husband and I traveled with his parents to go visit his grandmother in Tennessee. On the way there we heard a story on NPR about how badly Walmart treats its employees, and my husband had a true moment of zen (granted, he was just trying to annoy his parents, but it was really a great thing that he said). He said that we should actually be boycotting Walmart instead of McDonalds. At least McDonalds cares about their employees.

He is so right, and it is very frustrating that as Christians we cherry pick which issues we will fight for, and usually its the most inflammatory ones we can think of. We will fight for the justice of the unborn, but not for the justice of the mistreated. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. And honestly, I think its why so many people do not appreciate or have an interest in Christianity. So my real thoughts are this:

Should we really be so involved in politics as Christians? Don’t get me wrong, I love to discuss politics, but I try to do it as a citizen of the US and not a Christian. As a Christian my allegiance is to God, not a flag or a country. I don’t agree with homosexuality or abortion…..so I won’t be gay or get an abortion. Should I really make it my #1 priority to turn my personal convictions into mandatory law? Isn’t that kinda like a theocracy?

Christians should be focused on exactly what Jesus said to do: feed and clothe the homeless, take care of the “least of these,” and more importantly “make disciples.” Where in the book of Acts do you read of the early church getting politically active? I think its time to stop all of this nonsense.

back to the beginnings: freedom of speech

In keeping with going back into time and introducing myself, here is part 2 of my musings and philosophies. I am a staunch supporter of freedom of speech, no matter what.

 

 

I’ve been wanting to organize my thoughts about freedom of speech, hate speech, and censorship for a long time. Comedian Kathy Griffin’s acceptance speech at the Emmys gave me the perfect inspiration. Here is a quote:

“A lot of people came up here to thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. This award is my God now!”

I first want to get one thought out of the way:  It seems of late it has become almost intellectually fashionable to make fun of God, Christianity, or both. As a Christian that doesn’t upset me, but it does perplex me. I have a hard time reconciling that making fun of Christianity isn’t regarded as hate speech by some people. Let’s turn it around and say Mel Gibson accepted an award and went on an anti-semitic tirade (believable, no?). Or would it be okay for Kanye West to go on an anti-white tirade? It seems that some forms of hate speech, in light of these two comparisons, are more acceptable than others. Is this right? What about Neo Nazi’s or the KKK? Should they be allowed to say what they say? Publish the material that they publish? Christians who picket San Francisco courts with signs that say “GOD HATES FAGS!”….should they be allowed to? Black Panthers, the NAACP…should they be allowed to say the stuff they say about non-blacks?
My point is this: We have the freedom to say some pretty demeaning things about others with little fear of ramifications. Are such hateful words constitutionally protected? Should they be allowed?

Yes and yes. Unfortunately in favor of political correctness, censorship has become all the rage. Kathy Griffin’s speech is being censored by all major networks because many Christian groups believe her words to be hate speech. And it isn’t just television networks. College campuses all over our country have rules prohibiting “hate speech,” defining it as:

“Discriminatory harassment includes conduct (oral, written, graphic or physical) directed against any person or, group of persons because of their race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, or veteran’s status and that has the purpose or reasonably foreseeable effect of creating an offensive, demeaning, intimidating, or hostile environment for that person or group of persons.”

Now I am not saying that I agree with hateful words. I will be the first to befriend you regardless of your age, gender, orientation, race, etc. However, I am concerned about these types of censorship movements. I will use domestic spying as an example.
People say that if you’ve got nothing to hide, then you shouldn’t worry about a domestic spying program. There may be logic in that, but it isn’t the point. If we give the government the authority to probe our lives, it is the first step to them tracking and controlling our every move (remember Big Brother from 1984?) Just as we must protect our right to privacy, we must protect our right to freedom of speech. Many countries all over the world have adopted anti hate speech laws and acts, including Canada, Brazil and England. In fact, in England, hate speech is punishable by up to 18 months in prison! With the current trends in censorship, the U.S. may not be too far behind.

It is noble to want to protect people and ban hate speech. Racist banter, gay bashing, threats, etc. have never done anything to improve the progression of society.  But who will be responsible for drawing the line? Can hate speech become any words that offend someone? If so, then how much censorship are we willing to allow to protect the feelings of everybody?
Let’s face it, in a nation as diverse as ours, no one will ever be truly happy. Not unless we learn to hear “hate speech” and brush it off as ignorant but constitutionally protected. Just as with Kathy Griffin. What she said could be considered “hate speech.” Think about who she was directing a speech like that to, and who she was trying to offend. I am a Christian, but I am not going to get mad at what she said. It is her right to say it, and  I appreciate the constitution and refuse to be petty. I just wish everyone else would fall in line.

 

On a side note, if you think that because I am white that I’ve had it easy and don’t understand, think again. Being lower class I’ve been called “trash” by other whites…not to mention being called many a racist name growing up because I was the minority in my neighborhood and school. I’ve watched my brothers have to fight someone every day because some people didn’t like that they were white and decided to beat them up. I’ve had to fight a few times myself. I’ve been called ignorant because I am a Christian. Incapable because I am a woman. I have been the victim of prejudice, racism, and hate speech. But you know what? I got over it.

back to the beginning: musings and philosophies

I started really getting into blogging almost exactly a year ago. So before a whole slew of evangelicals get mad and accuse me of being a “liberal” (this is what this whole entire blog is about anyway) here is your first look into what I think.

I am pro-life. 100%. And one thing that irritates me about some pro-lifers is a wishy washy “abortion is okay during this and that circumstance.” Such a thing makes no sense. The whole idea of being pro-life is believing that an unborn child still has a right to life even inside the womb. To make exceptions is to say that some children have rights and not others.

But really thats neither here nor there. I am pro-life but I don’t get all “in your face” about it. It’s a personal belief that I am glad to discuss when asked, but my life doesn’t revolve around it. One reason is I have never been in the position where one may consider an abortion even while believing it is wrong. For example: to save my life. Or if I were raped. I would like to say that I would stick to what I believe, but I am no fool. I do understand that I’ll never know unless its happened to me. The only thing is, most abortions are used as a form of casual birth control (as some of my friends have done) and not for any of the really serious reasons most pro-choice people rattle off when defending it.

Anyway, here is my first truly serious blog. It’s part 1 or a 4 part series I titled “Musings and Philosophies – Abortion and Honesty and Civil Liberties, oh my!”

Let me just get this out of the way: I am unabashedly pro-life. I am not militant or angry. I am very logical and I am pro-life for very scientific reasons (I know many card carrying ACLU members who are pro-life for the same reasons). And even though I am “pro-life” I can still see the other side of things. However, there are a couple of things about the pro-choice side I do not understand, and one in particular is what this blog is about… A staple in the pro-choice movement is the idea that the right to choose is a part of women’s civil liberties and necessary in the fight for equality. I have one major question about that though, but first let me set it up with some ideas. Many women are lied to by doctors and nurses in abortion clinics. No, I didn’t read this heinous idea on a pro-life web site. I read it straight from the mouths of these doctors and nurses, and most of them still do what they do. (For an example, read “We Do Abortions Here” by Sallie Tisdale) These nurses and doctors admit that instead of saying words like “baby” or even “fetus” they use words like “tissue” and “contents” to dehumanize the life inside of their patients. They’ve also written about how they have lied about the development of the baby, insisting that it won’t look human at all, just like a blob of nothing. They then prepare to calm the women down when arms, legs, heads and full fledged babies are aborted from their wombs. Even in counseling, they admit to playing down options like adoption or taking care of the child on their own, making abortion sound like a far better choice (being the cynic that I can be, I question whether money is the fuel behind such deception). As a woman, and not as a pro-life person, this really upsets me. Is it really a choice when the decision is based on false information and lies? Is this not abusive both mentally and physically towards women? If you want to call it a choice, then make it just that. We should demand HONESTY from abortionists and alternative pregnancy counseling centers (yes, I am aware of the flip side, that Christian abortion counselors guilt trip women into backing out of abortions, which I consider mental abuse as well). Pictures of the fetus should be shown, and how developed the nervous system is should be discussed. Whether or not the baby will feel pain is a great thing to consider when thinking about abortion. Details about how the abortion will be performed should be told up front. All facts should be presented to the woman without bias or motives. After that, her decision really is an informed choice, is it not? But I would venture forth to say that many women aren’t really choosing this day and age. Many are either guilt tripped out of it or tricked into it, and both of these practices are morally reprehensible.  So here is my major question: Haven’t we come far enough with civil liberties and human rights to see the logic in honest facts being presented to women so that they can make informed decisions when it comes to abortion? You see, this blog has little to do with choice or life…but a lot to do with honesty and integrity. Think about it this way…if it were major surgery on the heart or the brain…would you want all the facts, and presented free of bias and falsehoods? When is there ever a time in which you don’t mind being lied to when making a very important decision? And one final thought. If Scott Peterson can get in trouble for killing a fetus…then why don’t millions of others? Why is it murder for him but a choice for her?