Oh got your attention did I? Kewl.
OK, give me five good minutes to hear me out before you start with the "1" ratings and such. I don't do many diaries here (last one was Sept) so when I do, I try to make sure its meaningful and thought provoking.
I am a bit different from many Kossacks in that I am raised Baptist and while not active in church, I still study the Bible and listen to respectable preachers like Billy Graham.
On the other hand, I'm also liberal, love rock, cartoons and comics and will lose my religion really quick if I get cut off on the road. In other words, to quote that old saying, I ain't perfect, just forgiven.
Relax, I'm not trying to convert anyone. I know many here are atheists. That's fine; I believe freedom of religion means Americans has the right to be free FROM religion. And of course I know the jihadists like Robertson and Dobson have hijacked Christianity making non-believers even MORE opposed to it. I understand that. I just want to give a POV that some here might not have.
So back to the point: I believe abortion is murder or at least, a fair approximation of it. Is a fetus a viable human? I don't know. I don't remember what it was like being one. I DO know that the difference between ending a life that's in the process of being formed and gunning a man down in the street is semantics. In the eyes of the Lord there's little difference.
But on the other hand, I can't stand the tidal wave of hypocrisy of the Repubs on this issue. It's wrong to kill a fetus, but on the other hand its OK to cut social programs that would benefit the poor women who mainly benefit from having choice. (not forgetting though, that there are a good number of women who come from upper and middle class homes who also have abortions).
Abortion is murder, but its OK to cut medicare, food stamps, school lunch programs, etc., etc., while giving tax breaks to the rich.
Abortion is murder, but its OK to vote pay raises in Congress and vote against raising the minimum wage while more families than ever join the ranks of the working poor.
Abortion is murder, but its OK to be pro-death penalty, pro-hunting, and pro-war.
Abortion is murder, but its the woes of those with dark skin in the Baltimores, Detroits, and Atlantas, with triple digit murder rates hardly rate a mention.
I don't appreciate abortion, but I will not deny a simple fact: it is inevitable in this society. People drank liquor before, during and after Prohibition. If RVW is overturned tomorrow, people will still be having unprotected sex, women will get pregnancies they don't want and abortions will still be performed. Of this there is no doubt.
I'm a Christian, but I deal in reality. I know there are things that are possible and there are things that are not.
Basically, churches need to recognize that few women make this choice lightly and should be reaching out to women they see going in or out of abortion clinics, rather than shouting obscenities at them.
They should spend energy lobbying THEIR president for greater access to universal health care, day care subsidies and assurances of affordable housing.
Will the Bush Supreme Court elect to overturn RVW? I don't know. But it certainly seems as though they will, in which case there will be a new firestorm that won't go away, it will just switch the onus to a different side.
Abortion is murder, it's an escapable fact. But also inescapable is the fact that this, at times, is an ugly world, filled with murder, rape, corruption, natural disasters, and Rupert Murdoch. Focusing on abortion seems to have just become another way for the GOP to assert leverage against "Godless Liberals". Woe to them that seek to use the name of God for their own selfish needs.
Peace out, and good night.
Note: I am sending this to Red State and a few USENET conservative forums as well. I'll let you know what kind of responses I get.