1st amendment

by

SINGING THE ABORTION BLUES


According to the 2020 census, approximately 30% of Americans are Evangelicals with another 12% members of the Mormon Church. That is 42% of all Americans and that number may increase to close to 50% with the addition of conservative Roman Catholics. I bring that up because of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. It comes under thefirst portion which states that: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. “

In its landmark decision last year, the US Supreme Court said that the original Roe v. Wade decision was flawed and overturned it. That court was packed by Republicans with very conservative justices, most, if not all, can be included in the numbers I quoted above. Theirs was a political decision, to be sure, and not one of Constitutional Law as they are required. The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was a 1st Amendment decision about a person’s right to privacy which included what happens between a doctor and his patient.

Yesterday the state of South Carolina declared that it intends to create a law which subject a woman who has had an abortion to either a prison sentence or 30 years or the death penalty! It takes absolutely no genius to figure out who is I abehind such a draconian statement.

I am someone who for his lifetime has been against abortion, however, I also realized that it would never be my body in play. This is the exclusive territory of women. Therefor, I became an anti-abortion/pro-choice man. It was my feeling that far too many abortions were simply a matter of convenience and not one of necessity.

The pro-life movement wants all embryos to be allowed to grow until birth. But it is at that point that they take a hands-off position. That baby born to a 13-year-old who lives in poverty is now that family’s problem. That is quite simply unacceptable. If you are to win the pro-life argument, you must take responsibility for all fetuses brought to term until that child is in a safe and secure situation that does not include any individual state taking responsibility for that child’s welfare by putting it into the fostFer parent style system. It should be that if you are going to be pro-life that you must give $250 a month to the state to care for these children who are born to parents who are unable to care for the child.

Furthermore, these pro-lifers have no consideration for the costs heaped upon low-income families who simply cannot afford either the costs of birth and then the costs of child care. The pro-lifers are single minded. They first shut down Planned Parenthood which is a 90% educational institution and 10% abortion. They have taken away the education these poor women need to prevent conception and thereby eliminate the need for abortion.

Our nation is now in a crisis of life. They call themselves pro-lifers but in reality, they are simply imposing their religious beliefs upon people who do not share that belief which means they are in violation of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution. The SJC’s decision was one of religious belief and not one of law as required by their position.

by

Southern Baptists Espousing Racism?


First, I am obligated to give credit to the Sunday Boston Globe (June 13, 2021) for certain of the beginning thoughts here.

Tennessee and Oklahoma have recently passed certain laws in regard to what is taught in public schools about race and racism. At the heart of these laws is a restriction in how racism is taught. This is the result of many factors, not the least of which is the political divide of the very conservative wing of the Republican party and its evangelical proponents. This coming week there is a meeting of the white Southern Baptist ministers in Nashville. These far-right wingers claim to be strict adherants to Biblical law. The difficulty here, of course, is the very definition of Biblical law, every church having its own interpretation.

The Baptist Church of the south split from its northern bretheren in 1848 over the issue of slavery. The historical boundary was laid in place and where the northern churches have been far more inclusive, the southern churches have clung to “old south” ideas. But problematic here is the very nature of church and state. Everyone thinks of the 1st Amendment as the “freedom of speech” amendment, which it is and includes religion, however, within that amendment is a bar against making laws that support any single religious idea. And so, it would seem that the newly enacted laws in Tennessee, Oklahoma and Idaho, along with a dozen more southern states with plans to enact similar laws, fly in the face of the 1st Amendment.

What bothers me most about these very conservative churches is that while they swear they are following Biblical Law, it sounds like their tendency is more towards Mosaic Law, Old Testament, than New Testament Law. Two phrases in the Gospels of the New Testament have always been a guide to me as to how Jesus meant us to live our lives. He was asked twice about how to act and said, in so many words, do unto others as you would have others do unto you, and, whatever you do unto the least of my children, you do unto Me. As far as I can tell, conservative southerners do not follow either of these principles. They seem more comfortable with the “eye for an eye” concept, as rendered in the Old Testament. But they are unwilling to accept that highly educated theologians of all walks have long argued over the veracity of both Old and New Testament verses. The best example of this comes under the guise of Moses. The problem here is that there is no proof that a person by the name of Moses ever lived. To wit, the Egyptians of those days kept very exacting records of events and no where is the name of Moses or anyone akin to him mentioned. This in turn puts into doubt all stories about the Ten Commandments which many historical theologians have placed at more along the lines of 500 commandments.

I only bring up those Biblical references as examples of religious dogma and its affect upon modern society. In our country, Christianity makes up 67% of all beliefs in the U.S. No other religion commands more 2% to include atheists. Of the Christian religions, 25% of all are Evangelicals, 21% are mainline and black protestants, and 21% are Catholic. But, according to today’s Bostn Globe, Evangelical religions have been enduring a decreasing membership which have the southern bishops fearing they are losing out to more centrists beliefs. But, since Evangelicals hold substatial polical sway in all southern capitals, they are doubling down of their efforts to stem the tide. This, as shown above, is coming at the expense of truth in history and society. The 1925 Scopes Trials first brought into view the problems with religion dictating what is taught in our schools. It would seem that nearly 100 years has put this landmark decision into the fog of history and allowed those who have forgotten it to return to more primitive times. It would seem the time has arisen for a second Scopes trial, only this time it must be brought before the U.S. Supreme Court to stem religion’s hold on public education.

It is our responsibility to allow our children the full view of both history and society, and to allow them the purview to make up their own minds as the progress in life. It is ill-advised to allow blinders to be put on our children to hide inconvenient truths, to the stains of our past, the the need for civility and acceptance of all people regardless of their beliefs for if we do not, the ability of our democracy to survive will be put on trial.