Tag: rape

Conservative Evangelicalism, Are You Going To Kill Me Too?

The Bible is laced with stories of murder.

Christianity is laced with stories of murder.

Conservative Evangelicalism is laced with stories of murder.

 

Fact, fact, fact.

 

Everywhere you turn, it’s here, there, and everywhere; past, present, and future.

Whether intended or not, spiritual, emotional, and physical death are the wake your creeds have long created upon the sea of humanity. It’s undeniable, well documented, and refuses to be erased. Sadly, yours is a murderous brand of believing. Tough to hear, sad to say.

Don’t believe me?

Noah’s Ark, the Crusades, Indigenous Indian colonization, Black slavery, the list goes on and on. And now, your continued brutal assault on the LGBTQ community, the black community, the poor, women, minorities, and any and all of those who would stand against you and your pursuit to nationalize your white, male-driven, conservative Evangelical faith and the white supremacy it enables.

I understand, perhaps not all individuals within the conservative Evangelical faith support these pursuits, but as a former conservative Evangelical pastor of 20+ years, I know for sure, beyond any doubt, that your system of faith is a well-oiled catalyst, breeding ground, and incubator for violence of every type and kind. That’s the truth.

You know the saying, “If it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it probably is a duck.” A past of repeated, consistent behavior is a trustable indicator of the future. Patterns are powerful at predicting. One only needs to connect the very dots your faith system hopes to conceal. As your Lord and Savior Donald Trump declared, “I love the poorly educated.” 

Yes, I’m concerned. And, I wonder why you aren’t. Because now, more than ever, it seems that many among your faith system are willing to knowingly and cheerfully embrace any evil and all costs to lie, cheat, and bully your way into having democracy vanish and your dictatorship emerge, even to the spiritual rationalization of murder. 

You actually called the murder of a police officer during the January 6th insurrection, a “legitimate political discourse.”

You called the reality of school shootings a clear need for more people to have more guns, “if only the victims had been carrying guns.”  

You tell women in the inevitable event of a rape to, “lie back and enjoy it.” And don’t forget, there is such a thing as, “legitimate rape.”

You position yourself as against abortion, “every life is a sacred gift from God,” but refuse to support the solutions that actually work to remedy it. It’s as if you’ve decided that you can benefit from the problem more than the cure. 

You declare that, “America is not racist” while frantically trying to erase all the clear history that  reveals the contrary. In fact, it wasn’t until 1995, that your SBC finally admitted your supportive role in black slavery. Which, by the way, makes me wonder, how do you admit to fostering black slavery in the past and try to erase the history of it now? 

You want us to believe that you are, “pro-women” and “pro-life” but yet hold fast to patriarchal leadership and the demonizing of a woman’s choice, all while you objectify their bodies. Not to mention, all the violence and death you are quick to rationalize when it serves your purposes and decry when it doesn’t. 

Violence, murder, death, and abuse. 

Everything you touch that refuses to be white-washed and converted is subjected to your brutality. The history and present, they don’t lie.

Which leads me to wonder, are you going to kill me too?

For some, that may seem like a barbaric question. But at frequent moments in time, yours has been a barbaric system of faith. I would be ignorant not to consider the possibility. History and the present clearly shows me, it’s what you do.

So, I’m wondering. 

If one day, your dreams come true and you rule the country and make all the rules, when I refuse to pledge allegiance to your so-called Christian flag, are you going to kill me too?

If one day, your dreams come true and you rule the country and make all the rules, when I refuse to give up my land and property into your ownership and control, are you going to kill me too?

If one day, your dreams come true and you rule the country and make all the rules, when I refuse to work in your camps and serve your plantations, are you going to kill me too?

If one day, your dreams come true and you rule the country and make all the rules, when I profess to be a “progressive” and refuse to attend your churches, sing your songs, and believe your brand of believing, are you going to kill me too?

If one day, your dreams come true and you rule the country and make all the rules, if I should have an LGBTQ child who I affirm, support, and empower, are you going to kill me too?

If one day, your dreams come true and you rule the country and make all the rules, if I should stand between the barrel of your gun ready to shoot an innocent black man, are you going to kill me too?

If one day, your dreams come true and you rule the country and make all the rules, if I should refuse to surrender my daughter into your sexual pleasure and service, are you going to kill me too?

If one day, your dreams come true and you rule the country and make all the rules, when I can no longer benefit your pursuits or become a burden, are you going to kill me too?

If one day, your dreams come true and you rule the country and make all the rules, when I feed the poor, heal the sick, favor the brokenhearted, proclaim justice for the oppressed, visit an adulterous woman at a well, give hospitality to a Samaritan, feed thousands for free, dine with “sinners,” proclaim that all are equally imaged in God, place my hope in Love not a nation, denounce your politics, and stand in fierce resistance to your self-righteous, evil religiosity, are you going to kill me too? 

 

.

 

Grace is brave. Be brave.

If Evangelicals Truly Cared About Abortion

Let’s cut to the chase.

White, male-driven, conservative Evangelicalism would love for us all to believe that, despite some of them having a distaste for certain attributes of President Trump, they give their loyalty to him because they believe he is anti-abortion and pro-life. In their reasoning, this issue supersedes all others. They argue that the protection and preservation of the most vulnerable of human life is paramount. 

Indeed, this justification may help them feel good about themselves, believing that they are aligning themselves with the Bible and God’s will. However, in truth, for many, their stance against abortion is actually the ultimate hoax. Where all other excuses for their support of Trump have revealed their hypocrisy, their position against abortion is the last card in their deck to seemingly justify their vote for Trump and keep some form of integrity. 

To further lubricate their commitment to Trump, they paint progressives as being in bloodthirsty support of abortion and the sole engine that drives the “murder of millions of babies.” Like the false flag of the Gulf of Tonkin, Evangelicals must have an enemy to fight in order to sell and legitimize their faith, even if it means contriving one through issues like abortion. 

That’s why so many Evangelicals desperately want to conceal the truth that progressives hate the idea and reality of abortion, and that progressives want the eradication of it as much as anyone. No one wants to humanize the womb more than progressives–period, full stop. 

Evangelicals also don’t want people to realize, as progressives do, that solving the issue of abortion is much more complicated than other simple issues like police brutality, kids in cages, and mass shootings, of which Evangelicals are, ironically, desperate to make so difficult to address and solve. 

Within the many layers of solving abortion, progressives reject the conservative Evangelical methods of subjugating women’s rights, denying science, and belittling medical truth, especially at the feet of a brutal, hypocritical, conservative Evangelical patriarchy. Contrary to what Evangelicals would have the world believe, there are no progressive, pro-choice people who cherish the idea and act of abortion. For them, this issue is both complex, heart-wrenching, and holistic in its solving. Every progressive believes life matters, from womb to tomb. 

However, apparently, that is not the case for much of white, male-driven, conservative Evangelicalism. With their obvious preferences of school shootings over gun control, children in cages over welcoming the foreigner, police brutality over police accountability, mass incarceration over racial justice, a rich-favored economy over care for the least-of-these, and the military industrial complex over universal healthcare and economic justice for all, their priorities and values are crystal clear. There is almost nothing “pro-life” about white, male-driven, conservative Evangelical Christianity. And quite frankly, when it’s all said and done, so many of them don’t give it crap. With tremendous fear of losing control, power, and privilege, instead of coming clean with their duplicity, they cling all-the-more tighter to their MAGA hats. Indeed, their vehement declarations of being pro-life and anti-abortion are the ultimate fake news. 

This is why, like never before, now is the time for people to smell the oscillating fan of crap they are trying to blow up the ass of America in regards to abortion. 

In fact, the Scripture writer warned of the same diversion tactics now being used by Evangelicals.

“From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush.” Jeremiah 6:14-16 

In this passage from the Bible, God is upset. The religious people of the day are exploiting harmful problems for personal, political gain and not addressing their true solutions. They act like they care, but intentionally allow the issues to remain unresolved. They outwardly insist that they desire a way forward, but inwardly they have no real desire at all. 

Trump and many conservative Evangelicals treat “abortion” the same. They outwardly declare that they are “pro-life” and detest abortion. They feverishly rant against how many “babies” are being murdered. Many make abortion their defining issue as to the reason why they support Trump. They promote themselves as wanting to make it illegal, as if that was the cure. It all looks and sounds so spiritual to the casual observer. Yet, inwardly, for many, they have little-to-no heart for a real solution. For if they did, they would be addressing, providing for, and adopting the proven remedies that positively impact abortion. But, they don’t. 

Instead, with deceit, believe it or not, they actually want to keep the abortion issue alive because it manipulates their voters. Without it, they have no drum to beat and no provocative enemy upon which to summon their troops to fight. The need to create the illusion that they lead the way against abortion while making sure it remains unresolved, that they might remain in power. 

In fact, perfectly credible and widely known statistics show that abortion rates have gone down significantly with the kind of Democratic leadership that approaches abortion wholistically and addresses the real issues that can bring real change. Yet sadly, these same statistics reveal that under Republican leadership, abortion significantly increases–that’s the facts. 

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/global-abortion-rates-increase-when-the-us-cuts-funding-to-womens-health-clinics-2019-04-02

Yet, with Trump at their side, many conservatives ”do not even know how to blush” at the truth about abortion, how they exploit it, and how they resist actual remedies. Instead, they declare “Pro-life, pro-life” where there is no pro-life among them. All in hopes of drowning out the biblical voice crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the ways of the Lord to heal abortion and cure its causes.” 

See, if Evangelicals truly cared about abortion they would be far less concerned about making abortion unavailable and far more concerned about making it unneeded. But, they aren’t. Instead, they are outwardly striving to make abortion illegal and, therefore, willing to put the “lives” of pregnant women at greater risk while actually failing to decrease the numbers of abortions. In places where abortion is illegal, over 70,000 women die from unsafe abortions every year while abortion rates actually increase.

If Evangelicals truly cared about abortion they would be champions for women’s equality, men’s sexual accountability, birth control for men, the demise of toxic masculinity, and the cessation of male rape culture. But, they aren’t. In fact, their support of a President who advocates, “grabbing women by the pussy” reveals everything we need to know about their true concerns for abortion and life. 

If Evangelicals truly cared about abortion they would be leading the way at teaching men and boys how to make respectful and responsible choices concerning their own sexual behavior. They would be teaching men that it’s abhorrent to use coercion, assault, and exploitation to satisfy their own hunger for sex and power. But, they aren’t.

In fact, men could actually prevent all abortions by using condoms and/or rejecting unprotected sex. The science is pretty clear; no sperm, no baby, no abortion. If white, conservative Evangelical men want to lord over women and prevent abortions, they could start and end by keeping their abortion-maker in their pants. But sadly, they aren’t.

If Evangelicals truly cared about abortion they would be declaring from the mountain tops, “The problem with abortion isn’t the post-conception choices of women, it’s the pre-conception choices of men.” “Men are the problem, the sin, and the solution, long before women.” But, yet again, they aren’t. 

If Evangelicals truly cared about abortion they would be leading the way at having a vision and commitment for fostering a society in which all women have the information and means necessary to prevent unintended pregnancies, to carry healthy pregnancies to term, to raise their children with safety, stability, and dignity, and to have safe abortions when necessary.

This means providing insurance coverage and public funding for family planning. This means  greater access to contraception. This means effective programs that combat domestic violence and sexual abuse. 

This means, first and foremost, the valuing of economic justice. 

This means giving women the means to have and raise a child in health and safety. In fact, the most common reasons women choose abortion is because they cannot afford a(nother) child. By providing low-income and young women with genuine education and career opportunities, health care, child care, housing, services for disabled children, and other basic supports, many would have the resources they need to fulfill the serious obligations that parenting brings.

Yet, sadly, this is not the heart nor aspirations of many Evangelicals.

In fact, it should be of no surprise to anyone that, for many, their white, male-driven, conservative Evangelical stance on abortion isn’t about caring about abortion at all, not even close. 

Instead, truth be told, it’s actually about being “against” the full fruition of women’s equality, the sexual accountability of white men, and the cessation of their religious dominance to dictate the lives of all others. This is the Evangelical wizard behind the curtain. This is why they support Trump under the guise of being anti-abortion. Clearly, the only lives that matter to him are his own and that of white, male-driven, American, conservative Evangelicals. There is almost nothing “pro-life” about the presidency of Donald Trump, and many white, conservative Evangelicals are totally cool with that as long as he joins them and leads the way in dismantling the enemies of their pursuit of supremacy. 

I mean, isn’t it interesting that many Evangelicals demand their God-given freedom to NOT wear a mask in order to protect the lives and prevent the deaths of other people while they wave signs declaring, “My body, my choice?”

Priceless.

So, one more time for the people in the back. The reason why so much of white, male-driven, conservative Evangelical Christianity makes such a big deal about abortion isn’t because they are “for” life, “for“ birth, or “for” Jesus. Not a chance. It’s about standing against anything that threatens their white, male, conservative Evangelical power and privilege. 

In fact, if white, conservative Evangelical men could get pregnant, abortion would not only be legal, it would be deemed biblical, made easily accessible, and free. Not just that, but probably offered next to the church coffee shop or bookstore in the lobby after Sunday services. 

Don’t be fooled.

If Evangelicals truly cared about abortion, it wouldn’t be a thing. 

But it is, and if they get their way, it will always be.

 

Grace is brave. Be brave.

Check out Chris Kratzer’s book getting rave reviews… Stupid Shit Heard In Church.

 

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