The news keeps rolling out accounts of how more and more Republican lawmakers are pushing anti-choice legislation that doesn't even have exception for rape and incest and the health of the mother. A frequent "justification" of this obviously unjust overstep of individual responsibility and liberty goes along the lines of, "If it happens, it's God's will. So just go with it."
The media repeats that with no other commentary, perspective or rebuttal. Why haven’t I heard any push back? I roll my eyes and my thoughts freeze up in dumbfounded disbelief that people can, a) say such BS and expect to be taken seriously, and b) that the public seems to accept that BS as a serious justification for this line of legislative "reasoning". Sadly, I have in-laws from the mid-west who I can easily imagine totally support that "It's God's will" sort of stuff without a second thought. It leaves me dumbfounded because I can't immediately articulate why that "logic" is so flawed or inconsistent with what we immediately and deeply feel is so obviously wrong.
The other day it finally dawned on me (ok I'm a slow-on-my-feet kind of thinking person) that if they want to think about this in biblical terms, then we can put it in those biblical terms they relate to, and oh yeh, let's not leave out Satan! I do seem to recall that there was this fallen Angel character who got tossed out of "Heaven" because he had different views than the chief deity. Having been tossed out, he then went around the corporal world of less powerful beings trying to spread discontent, deceive people and turn people against the chief deity. That's a recurring theme in this whole God thing isn't it? Huh.
So when those lawmakers stand up and put on their "God armor" and say "It's God's will, go with it", we need to pipe up and say something along the lines of, "Excuse me, but maybe that rapist and his crime was just another successful coup perpetrated on yet another person and our society by Satan himself. Remember that side of the Bible? Satan? Yeh, him. The one who lies and deceives and encourages division and betrayal. Your Bible says that he makes stuff happen also, right? Have you seen anything in our lives lately that resembles any of those kinds of things? The kinds of things Satan would be cheering at?"
The events in this world are obviously driven by both good and "evil". If you believe in deities, in essentially every religion around the world, there are benevolent and malevolent forces in those theologies. Those who believe in those theologies and find support from the lessons contained in them can believe that the events in our lives are influenced by those forces, but they might need a gentle reminder now and then that both the benevolent and malevolent forces are at play, and that human characters are subject to the influence of both.
For those who haven't unquestioningly accepted and been bound by any one particular theology, we do well to remember that there are altruistic people, and selfish people, people who would give you the shirt off their backs if you really needed it because they believe you would do the same for them if the situation were reversed, and people who would rob you blind and leave you to die without a second thought, (I suspect I don't have to say that in this venue), and most people fall along a whole spectrum of both characters. There are very few who fall at the extreme end of one or the other. Sadly, we are witnessing an example of quite a few at the extreme of the sociopathic/malevolent end of the scale. To me, this all looks like the sociopaths of organized crime taking over our government. Nothing to do with God’s will, but they’ll do everything in their power to have you believe that.
It's a common ploy in the Republican playbook to frame an issue as having just one cause or one solution. I still cringe at the success of the "You're either with us, or against us" campaign. This "God's will" tagline is just another example in the long list of that tactic. It's time for that tactic to wear out and be exposed for the deceptive manipulation that it is.