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Thursday, June 27, 2013

We're at war with women

I must have missed it. Somewhere in the last half century, America - more specifically conservative America -  has declared war on women. I know this particular blog will likely not win me many friends but I can't help but say something.

I have friends on both sides of the fabled aisle, referring to how democrats and republicans sit on opposite sides of the house and senate. The cool thing about friends though, is that you can express an opinion to them and while they may not agree with you, most of the time they don't rush to burn you at the stake. After today I might have to resign myself to a few less Christmas cards or Facebook friends.

Speaking of which, I happened across a conservative friend's post on Facebook this morning. The source was a website that democrats would assume is run by bald, fat, white men in bib overalls, drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon while driving around in their pick-up trucks shooting small animals with their over-sized collection of banned assault rifles.


Okay, so I couldn't actually find a picture of any bald, fat, white men in bib overalls, drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon while driving around in their pick-up trucks shooting small animals but I'm guessing some liberals would just assume that these two guys have pick-up trucks and beer and guns in a common location somewhere...

I try to stay away from the wild-eyed Pat Buchanan-loving websites so I went in search of corroborative evidence - since the aforementioned conservative post claimed that our current House Minority Leader had responded in a public interview - and it was her comments that started me down this rabbit hole to begin with.

DISCLAIMER: No rabbits were harmed in the writing of this blog. There were no pick-up trucks, cheap beer or banned weapons used during the production of this free speech.

Where was I? So I found an article on what I assume is a more left-leaning website www.thinkprogress.org. The article was entitled House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Warns The War On Women Isn’t Over, and sure enough, it included many of the same quotes that the darned conservative article had highlighted; only without all the crazy pictures of Nancy Pelosi. Maybe it's just me, but if you're denigrating someone for being a name-calling, ignorant knucklehead, doing it by being a name-calling, ignorant knucklehead kind of takes the shine off, if you know what I mean.


I'm sure Madam Pelosi is a fine, upstanding American, but here's where it gets ugly. This article (see above) is the second time in as many weeks where I've heard (or read) Madam Pelosi state in no uncertain terms that her Catholic faith has no bearing on her position regarding abortion. To cherry pick from the Think Progress interview - and I quote:
  1. "House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) blasted the GOP’s continued assault on reproductive rights in an exclusive interview with ThinkProgress on Saturday."
  2. "So this is the fight. It’s a fight on family planning, contraception, as well as terminating a pregnancy and without having adequate protections for women in case of rape or incest, life of the mother. It’s so hypocritical."
  3. "My faith is about, Christ is my savior, the church is his church, and has nothing to do with Priests for Life…I wouldn't even dignify whatever it is they said. It was a highly emotional statement that they made. If it were more intellectual I might have paid attention to it. He was acting hysterically."
To respond as simply as I can:
  1. Using the term reproductive rights in a discussion about a person's right to choose to kill a human baby is - among other things - an oxymoron.
  2. No, the fight is about preventing the unnecessary killing of human babies.
  3. It is possible to be intellectual about God. But our relationship with Jesus - and by our I mean the collective church - is granted solely by God's grace through our individual faith. However, that individual faith does not allow for us to self-determine what constitutes morality. The only hysterical thing about this is that Madam Pelosi believes she can somehow justify killing babies before God.
At the risk of being sarcastic, good luck with that.

Jesus says in Matthew 25:40, while teaching on things that constitute loving our neighbor as ourselves, "The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me."

Another teaching of Jesus (perhaps more appropriate for Madam Pelosi) begins in Luke 9:46 - "An argument started among them as to which of them might be the greatest. But Jesus, knowing what they were thinking in their heart, took a child and stood him by His side, and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.”"

I'm not a woman, and to many that disqualifies me from speaking out on women's issues. However, I am a follower of Jesus Christ - a sinful, stumbling, try-again-today believer in the death and resurrection of our Savior. And that qualifies me to speak up and chastise Madam Pelosi in this instance.

Madam, this is America; and you are free to voice your opinion and you are free to believe whatever you choose to believe. If the law of the land allows abortion and you agree with that, you certainly have every right to do so. But when you step across the line of faith and profess to stand with Christ you must align yourself with Him. You can't have it both ways.

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7 comments:

  1. Thank you for the invitation Steve; feel free to do the same :-)

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  2. I Do chose to voice my opinion and this I Do believe...Nancy Pelosi is one of God's ugliest creations.

    I write a blog which I have entitled “Accordingtothebook” and I’d like to invite you to follow it. I’m your newest follower.

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  3. Oh...and I do believe that every word you put to print in this post is true. God bless you richly and often as you speak out for Him.

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  4. Thank you sir; I appreciate you stopping by and thank you for your kind words. I look forward to reading what you are led to write.

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  5. I personally think that God should be left out of it. Religion and politics should not be meshed together. I know that's not possible for some people but it is the way that The Constitution is written (separation of religion and State) AND the Bible says that though Christians are "in" the world they should be no part of the world and should pay back Cesar's things to Cesar but God's things to God. So she shouldn't be intermixing the two PERIOD.

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  6. Jennifer, thanks for stopping by and reading/commenting. I'm all about dialog at The Stream and we don't have enough of it here!

    While the Constitution does ensure that no "State" religion can be established, I think the jury is still out on the depth of the separation between church and state.

    Regardless, since Madam Pelosi chose to discuss both her faith and the issue of abortion in her speech, I felt compelled to respond. I agree with the concept as Jesus illustrated regarding giving to Caesar what is Caesar's, etc. However when your faith runs up against a political issue, which one do you side with?

    Christians are frequently castigated for not being 'sincere' in their faith - by saying one thing and doing another. I think that was the case here. If her faith is indeed sincere, then Madam Pelosi should be abiding by God's principles, not society's. It may not win her many votes but it could cement her eternal election...

    Just my thoughts :-)

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