Both sides now

I remember one time I was talking to a friend and I can't remember what the conversation was about even, I just remember my friend looking right at me and saying Marg, "Canada may have been a Christian country once, but it isn't now!" Man, that used to bug me, how it seemed like my secular friends had no fear of offending, but heaven forbid you say something, anything that was politically incorrect. Like it was an absolute, in a world of relatives.

But I've gotten over it, or at least I hope I have. And he was right, as painful as it was at the time to see, he was right. If Canada or other western nations were ever Christian, they surely aren't now. So, what do we do now, people like me, people who believe in the sanctity of human life, or the sanctity of marriage, or even that a child needs a mom and dad.  Do we have the right to our values, privately even? 

I'm not sure.  Because every time I hear my deepest core values referred to as anti-choice or anti-gay, I'm not sure I have the right to exist. I feel a little bit smaller every time, and then I feel frustrated. Why is that, that everyone seems to want to cheer for their team, and noone seems to want to admit that maybe we could learn from other people, from our differences even? 

I was listening to a lecture the other day, as is my hobby, and the lecturer articulated something that's been brewing in my mind for a while now.  He said that we, as Christian apologists, should be able to articulate the other sides position to their satisfaction, before we begin to say anything. What if we all tried that?  I'll go first.

Allow me to do this in my own way please.  Pro-choice, what does that mean? Well, I work with mentally disabled people, have for years, and what I have learned is that as hard as it is sometimes, I have to respect the people I support, their right to make choices for themselves. Even if it's a choice that I don't think is in their best interest. Even if it's a choice that I personally think is morally wrong. And so I ask, painfully, why would it be any different with abortion?  It's about individual autonomy.  It's about that person's right to be seen as a whole person, with the ability to make choices for themselves, to be fully human.  Have I got it? Now I'll just go keel over lol.

So, there you have it, my subordination. Oh, I forgot gay marriage, different verse same chorus.  Sigh, your right to disagree with me.  Two people's right to be happily buried, lol, whether I like it or not. So, may I ask, can we please go back to me being called pro-life and traditional please? I like that much better, being seen for what I am as a human being, rather than being defined by other people's views of me. Until then, I'll just go on hoping that one day, someone who is pro-choice will tell me what the sanctity of human life means to them.

Thanks for listening,

M.A. Harvey


Here's Joni:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcrEqIpi6sg