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Monday, November 16, 2009

Keep religion out of it.

Currently religious leaders are throwing a shit fit over abortion coverage as part of the healthcare reform. I have a middle-ground view on abortion, but I won't go into it. Instead, let me remind you about a little girl with Type I Diabetes whose parents refused to seek treatment for her, choosing instead to pray and "leave it in God's hands," allowing their little girl to die.

Remember that. The lesson I gathered from this tragic incident?? Keep religion out of healthcare.

And we know what happens when religion and affairs of state mix. Remember Mary I of England, Bloody Mary, who sent hundreds of Protestants to the stake for daring to worship God in a different manner. Not even children were spared during her bloody reign. During that same time period, an innocent girl named Jane Grey lost her head because the Protestant faction did not want a Catholic monarch and disregarded Henry VIII's will, known as the Act of Succession, which turned out to be illegal because it had been passed by an Act of Parliament. The lesson to be learned? Keep religion out of affairs of state and politics. Those are just two among the thousands of examples provided by history.

Have you heard that the Catholic Church in DC is threatening to withdraw their social services (ie, assistance to the homeless, etc) if the local government doesn't drop a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage?? I think Ghandi had it right when he said, "I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. They are nothing like your Christ." So true, Ghandi.

I can't keep defending religion when it's used in the worst way possible. When it's used to defend actions such as suicide bombings and honor killing. When it's used to  keep a woman from seeking an abortion when she's raped, or as an excuse from getting medical treatment for your children. When it's used as an excuse to commit  treason or persecute people who see things a little differently than you do.

I am losing faith in mankind, and as a result am less able to believe that there's a higher being that created us and cares about us. Where was God when over a million people lost their lives in the American Civil War?? Where was God when Hitler persecuted and murdered over six million Jews?? Where was God when the World Trade Center towers fell?? WHERE WAS HE????

2 comments:

Leslie said...

Letting us make our own damn mistakes...just like any good parent.

Yeah. Crappy answer.

I don't have a better one.

Anonymous said...

The Greek philosopher Epicurus had a good answer for this:

“Is God willing to prevent evil,but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”