Abortion and Hearts: Don't Get Too Excited

Absolutely fail.

Last post I wrote about our stance when talking about abortion. Rallies like March for Life absolutely fail to address the problems that lead to abortion, and, what's more, they prevent honest conversations by creating an "us/them" atmosphere.

We can find a solution to abortion by dropping the pride and recognizing that no one has a solution yet. 

Now that's a hard pill.

Religion is not built for finding new answers. It's no surprise that religious groups and pro-life rallies come together, because for many religion is an answer to life's unanswerable questions. For many, that is the point of faith: to keep those questions of "Why" and "How" out of mind with easy, memorized answers. Thus they embrace biblical literalism, papal infallibility, and the cult of clergy as the places for answers.

That is simply not true, and those crutches get in the way of actually finding answers to difficult questions. Scientists have faced this for hundreds of years, and now we're familiar with the "God of the Gaps" dilemma. When religious authorities make God answer any questions, people who actually find real answers (by humbly, persistently approaching the problem) are made out like they reject God. So instead of an atmosphere that encourages people to answer big questions, we are left with a bunch of wrong answers and no will to answer anything.

That's what the March for Life does for abortion.

I have Faith and Hope that answers exist. Maybe an honest conversation about contraceptives is a start, or fighting rapists around the world. 

But whatever solution we do find, it won't be found in the pages of a Vatican encyclical claiming eternal absolute moral authority. That is pride, and it is not helping. 

Abortion: An Issue with Legs

Yesterday's prayer continues to resonate when I think of abortion.

The question is how to promote life when lives are in competition. From any point of view, we can agree that we have a long way to go before we find anything like a satisfying answer. As Merton says, "In one sense we are always traveling, and traveling as if we did not know where we were going."

"A Prideful Sham"

Think of folks who annoy you from the other side of this issue. I'm thinking of some right now. They annoy me because of their smug certainty that they are right, and their horror that I would oppose them, and that I would deny their perfect logic. That's why they're annoyed at me, too. We're all annoyed at each other because we all know the answer. But we don't. That's a prideful sham. 

We must start from humble ignorance whenever we arise to tackle this issue - and, in so doing, attempt to solve the equally great, contingent problems of health care, family, and violence. There are simply too many questions and no satisfactory answers to any of them right now. So to discuss abortion with pride or certainty is fraud.


Instead, let's take up the more difficult, honest position: humble, hopeful unknowing. You'll recognize that as the position one must take to meditate or to pray, and to be loving. 

The position works because it forces us to stop judging each other, trust each other, and to have hope that we can rise above our challenges every day. "But we already possess Him by grace, and therefore, in that sense, we have arrived and are dwelling in the light."

Sunday Prayer

I'm preparing an extended, dialectical post on abortion for next week. But for now, I am happy to recall Thomas Merton, the twentieth century's answer to monasticism in the West and the East. He remembers that God - our answers, our perfect love and compassion - is both the nearest, most natural thing to us, and the most distant goal of our species. I felt this keenly when debating abortion at Policymic, since a compassionate response seems so natural, but the fiery response pretends to be better. I hope we can all overcome the competitive debate and find the God of compassionate answers.

In one sense we are always traveling, and traveling as if we did not know where we were going.
In another sense we have already arrived.

We cannot arrive at the perfect possession of God in this life, and that is why we are traveling and in darkness. But we already possess Him by grace, and therefore, in that sense, we have arrived and are dwelling in the light.

But oh! How far have I to go to find You in Whom I have already arrived!

(via Dating God)

Happy March for Life!

Ha, just kidding.

Compassion in numbers. 

This response to the March for Life by Daniel Horan, OFM, pretty much summarizes my thoughts on the pro-life/anti-abortion issue.

Abortion is a big problem in our world. It has a long history and a long, legal future.

But more than an problem in itself, it is better known as a symptom of other problems. Abortions are women remedying mistakes. So the compassionate response to abortion is to ask - whats up with these mistakes?

And there are so, so, so many "pro-life" causes - war, starvation, crime, relocation.

Not to mention, the adoption/foster care systems in the US and overseas are critically  underfunded.

So where should we be devoting resources?

Definitely not to overblown, expensive political demonstrations where believers get to preach to the crowd and politicians get to posture like they are willing to spend political capital on this issue because they want Christian votes.

Compassion is the first step to community, it is the first step to Christianity, and it is the only step to Humanity. Are million-man marches on Washington full of compassion? I really don't think so.

IDK

I Don't Know why, ya'll, I'm having a little dry spell. I'm going to watch some chickens for a while then I'll be back on the bus. Until then...

...these are the best two things I've read this week:

Over at Revealer (NYU's blog on religion), a review of Zero Dark Thirty that gets it right: torture is really terrible, and we should not be happy about it:

The War is far, far away, on a screen.  It gives you a headache and is over for at least a little while when you turn off the machines. It is terrible and distant. And most of us have never been made uncomfortable by it for a nanosecond. Until Bigelow.

And from Stanford (via Barking via Elliot) a statistical survey on qualities that lead to Happiness versus Meaning, and the various interactions between those.

Our findings suggest that happiness is mainly about getting what one wants and needs, including from other people or even just by using money. In contrast, meaningfulness was linked to doing things that express and reflect the self, and in particular to doing positive things for others.

Sunday Prayer

Sister Joan Chittister expertly combining real Christian feminism, science, and a spirituality for adults today. I kneel to the master. Seriously, in fifteen minutes you will know what to tell "theology of the body" conservative christian feminists. And, more importantly, you will have words to express the difficulty of being a powerful, spiritual adult.

Gay Anglican Bishops - We Aren't So Fortunate

At Millennial Faith I try to monitor the intersection of religious institutions and the 20-somethings who are rejecting them for being bumbling, dusty, ignorant, arrogant, and irrelevant. Recent news made that negative part of my job very easy.

The Church of England recently ruled that gay men could serve as bishops, as long as the man in question remains celibate. This decision extends to bishops the protection that Anglican leadership had previously approved for their priests and deacons. While it is unquestionably a baby step forward for queer equality in religious institutions, the decision may create more problems than it solves.

"Policing the Bedroom"

Priests and deacons have been allowed “civil partnerships”, defined as a partnership without sexual union, since 2005. The new decision simply confirms that the 2005 consensus includes bishops, in principle.

Because the Church does not consider the partnership to be a marriage, ie, no sex, the Church can remain theologically consistent internally while creating a generous loophole to temporarily calm the many critical groups inside and outside the church. It is simply a legislative bandage that may be a baby step forward for queer rights in religious institutions.

In truth, the Church policy is “don’t ask don’t tell.” Many Anglican clergy cohabitate with their civil partners, and the Church has no intention of policing their bedrooms. While generally well-received in local communities, this unspoken agreement has helped create a conservative fringe in the Church of England who call for stricter enforcement of the Church’s sexual ethics, and a wave of dissidents who have joined the more conservative Roman Catholic Church.

Dr. Jeffery John, openly gay former candidate for Bishop.
His next step - returning to parish or legal action?

Adding insult to injury, the policy has not soothed progressive critics of the Church, inside and out. The current situation policy morally obliges gay pastors feel to lie to their colleagues and communities. Also, the UK civil authorities are not satisfied with the workplace practices of the Church, which has a special tax and code status. The refusal to face the sexual policy adds to the bad reputation garnered by the Church’s rejection of female clergy last month (covered at Policymic), and will likely create tension with a government that fights for gender equality in the workplace and recently approved same-sex marriage.

Worst of all, the decision to allow bishops with civil, celibate partnerships can be used as a convenient excuse to exclude homosexual bishops. A “don’t ask don’t tell” policy only works until the Church asks. Leaders of the Church of England are not likely to elect progressive or controversial bishops, so a gay candidate would be finished as soon as he is found to have a more-than-civil partner.

Bishop Robinson (ret)

The future of the Church of England is unclear. If leadership lean progressive it risks schism and losing thousands of conservative members to other denominations. This is a real threat that was forecast when the American Episcopal church elected the first openly gay bishop Gene Robinson.  If leadership lean conservative it risks severe penalties from the government, as well as growing less relevant to an increasingly secular Britain (plus the necrosis of systematic secrecy and immorality).

No matter what, the cumbersome governance of the Church and the government guarantees a long, expensive, public, and painful fight.

(a version originally published at Policymic)