May 26, 2005
Religious Right's Hypocrisy on Abortion and Stem Cell Research
Garret over at dangerousmeta has a great post about the hypocrisy of the religious right (and George Bush) in the way they apply their interpretations of the Bible. Sometimes the beliefs and practices of the ultra-religious completely astound me.
I was raised Catholic because my mother is devoted to her church. I do not fault her for wanting to raise my siblings and I to be "good Catholics", but she's a smart woman and when I was 15 or 16 I realized that I did not want to attend church anymore and told her so. She let me make that decision without contesting it and the only time I have set foot in a church since is for weddings or to take photos.
I have a lot of respect for the good things that religion can do for individuals. My mother's faith is one of the things that keeps her going each day, battling a terrible disease that has robbed her of her livelihood and mobility. To think that stem cell research could one day make her life better and to realize that her own church is trying to prevent such research from proceeding is one of the most backwards things I have ever heard of. Religion and faith, in its most pure form, is supposed to help people - not hurt them. This reason alone makes me question God.
I am not a believer and likely never will be, but I respect people for having faith as long as that faith does not end up doing harm to others.
Later: I think the reason I decided I did not want to be Cathloic was that at age 15 or so I came to the conclusion that organized religion was more harmful to people than it was helpful. I grew up not knowing my grandparents on my dad's side as they were devout Jehovah's Witness and disowned most of their 10 children (including my father) when they married out-of-faith. I also recall a story my father told about his brother Clair dying at a young age because their parents would not take him to the hospital and instead insisted that "God would heal him." Such thinking astounds me and makes me want nothing to do with organized religion.
Posted by Cameron Barrett at May 26, 2005 02:18 PMCam,
I couldn't agree with you more about organized religion. I am in the exact same boat as you. I was raised catholic and went to catholic grade school and high school and my mother is the one who has the faith in my family. But she has it right because she treats everyone with respect and accepts others for who they are, and if you are a real christian that is how you should be and Her faith is strong even with all the crap she has gone through in life. Religion is Not trying to force your beliefs on someone else as the radial ultra religious do. They truly have no idea what being a good person is. But in their eyes god is on their side so they can do no wrong i.e. George Bush. Which is completely foolish. With the amount of people that have died in the name of god or allah or whatever, brings me to only one conclusion. And that is, that religion is a disease upon mankind, invented by man to justify murder, hate, intolerance etc. and to keep us in line. Now I do believe in my heart that there is a god of somekind, there has to something out there that helped to create all the beauty etc. we see in the world. But that is as far as I go.
Posted by: Joe at June 3, 2005 11:39 AM
The whole country, by now, is aware of the controversy of evolution in the state of Kansas. For those who aren’t up on the situation, the Kansas State School Board will probably either drop evolution from required science or insist on Intelligent Design (ID).
Intelligent design sounds innocent enough, at first. The process of creation is too complex to be random. That doesn’t sound controversial since evolution could be argued to have a pattern and intent. But the ID people are creationists. Their view of creation is that a big invisible man in the heavens did a magic show, said a few magic words and the universe was created 6,000 years ago.
These people, with totally ridiculous arguments, ridicule studying fossils, carbon dating and all manor of physical science.
Posted by: Hellbender at June 8, 2005 12:26 AM
It is true that stem cell research could possibly alleviate some of your mother's suffering at some time in the future, depending on what is ailing her and on how successful research with stem cells proves to be. Those stem cells often come at the cost of a life that would have continued if not for the intervention of an abortion though. So who decides who must die, in order that some other might possibly live slightly longer?
Death is still a promise made to every individual at conception though. Stem cell research won't help anyone avoid the eventuality that is their own mortality. Your mother's faith in God gives her the ability to face death knowing that her loving Creator has a place for her. No amount of life prolonging treatment can match that in value.
Also, with regards to hellbender's comment, if you would like to discuss intelligent design with an intelligent believer in ID/creation, then feel free to email me.
Posted by: Dave at June 9, 2005 12:09 PM
Just as an FYI, I am a Christian and I am a liberal democrat. (Although I don't think democrats know what they stand for these days)There are some of us out here. I believe that Jesus wants me to get out with the masses and spread his message, not pass laws that will force non-believers to do what I think is right.
Posted by: Kim at August 10, 2005 07:56 AM
