Archive for July, 2009

This is my first blog with Tulsa Politico. By nature, I am not a political person, but I have a few thoughts about past and current issues that I may write about once in a while. The purpose is not only to get my thoughts out, but also to provide a venue for discussion. No matter what issue, there are always differing points of view, and hopefully we can expand our knowledge together.

In college I went to a few silent protests at an abortion clinic, and I found that I could empathize with the women who go to these places with the weight of unwanted responsibility on their shoulders. Who was I to tell them they should respect life the same way I do? Action is the response to belief, and if these women did not believe in the same principles that I do, how could I ask them to follow through with an action that doesn’t correspond with their belief? And if my belief is that life starts before a person’s actual “date of birth”, then what is my own appropriate reaction to that belief? Do I simply lead my life and let them lead theirs, the two never overlapping except in protest?

So often I have heard people talk much about “personal responsibility” defining this for oneself and immediate family, but beyond that there is little we are encouraged to feel personally responsible for. Something Mother Theresa said in 1997 at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC pricks me, challenges me, and calls attention to the lack of connection between my beliefs and actions. She spoke to women wanting to have abortions saying, “Please don’t kill the child. I want the child. Please give me the child. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted, and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child, and be loved by the child.” Knowing the legacy Mother Theresa has left, I believe that she meant these words with all her heart.

These thought have led me to question my personal responsability, and, I believe, the church’s failed reaction to the abortion debate. What if being pro-life with words isn’t enough? What if, instead of protesting (even silently or appropriately exercising our right to free speech) outside of abortion clinics, I and other members of the church stood outside the doors and offered to take in these unwanted babies if only their mothers would carry them full term? What would happen?

As Mother Theresa challenges us to live out our religious beliefs, so does the Bible. James 1:27 says that “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction…” and in Isaiah 1:17 the church is instructed to “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” I find nothing about only listening to Christian radio, going to church at least once a week, dressing nice, not smoking or drinking, or any “Churchey” things in these verses that imbibe the steriotypical thoughts that my mind jumps to when I think of the word “religion.” I also do not find anything about yelling and holding up graphic pictures and throwing insults at those with other belief systems. What I do find is a practical and compassionate response to the world’s problems that will be uncomfortable at times for those who attempt to put it into action. Yet, this mandate of responsibility for the afflicted, oppressed is what the church is called to do, and this is what I am called to do.

At that same speech Mother Theresa said “Love means to be willing to give until it hurts.” Am I, and is the church ready to stand outside an abortion clinic and let these mothers know that if they wait out their pregnancy we will adopt these children? Are we who claim to be pro-life willing to provide another option to promote life? Are we willing to give in this way until it hurts? To be honest, I don’t know if we can truthfully say “Yes, we will love till it hurts, and we will love even when it is inconvenient and beyond our safe idea of personal responsibility.” We must honestly explore our beliefs, and I hope that when we are ready, we will close the gap between belief and action, and do our part to heal this hurting yet beautiful world.