Morality: September 2007 Archives
It is morally wrong for me to abandon my brothers and sisters. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus tells of two respectable leaders who chose not to help a man who was robbed, beaten, stripped naked, and left for dead. They knew they were at risk of becoming ritually unclean, requiring them to turn back to Jerusalem - a costly delay.
Yet a Samaritan - who didn't even get along with the Jews - was so moved by the man's situation that he stopped to help and even paid to have the man stay at an inn and recover.
We have the opportunity to stop and help - even if it causes us delay - or to walk on with the hope that the man will not suffer too much waiting for us to come back
If it is more difficult to pass ENDA with transgender language included, what does that tell you? It tells me that more people are willing to accept discrimination against transgender people and, therefore, transgender people need this law even more than gay and Lesbian people do.
Waiting until people don't want to discriminate before passing an anti-discrimination law makes no sense.
Waiting until people don't want to discriminate against a class of people before passing an anti-discrimination law to protect that class makes no sense.
I'm siding with the Samaritans on this. Walk on by at your own risk.
"Who is my neighbor?" is a question often asked. Jesus told a story about two religious leaders who passed by a man - who had been beaten, stripped naked, and left for dead - for fear that they would become ritually unclean and have to turn back to Jerusalem to be cleansed. An outsider, someone who was considered to be "the wrong kind of people", was moved by compassion and stopped to help the man - even paying for his stay at an inn to recover. The question Jesus asked was "who was the neighbor to the injured man?"
We all have the choice of being strangers or neighbors. May we be moved by compassion to choose to be neighbors.
But will it?
In the Western world, marriage is rarely traded on the open market. Few of us are likely to sell our children into marriage for cash, a house, or livestock.
Marriage is valued by the people in it. Lately, some highly-visible celebrities have had month-long, week-long, or even day-long marriages. These do not strike me as highly valued marriages.
Likewise, we have seen some people - even "family values" folks - outed as having affairs and/or patronizing prostitutes. It would seem that they do not value marriage that highly.
When gay and lesbian people are willing to fight for the right to marry, it shows they consider marriage to have a high value. They are willing to invest heavily in marriage.
To the Christians reading this, I would like to ask:
When Paul ministered to gentiles, and when Peter was told to meet with Cornelius, did that devalue the relationship the existing, Jewish Christians had with Christ?
In Matthew 20, Jesus tells a parable about workers and wages:
For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market place; and to them he said, `You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.' So they went.
Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.
And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing; and he said to them, `Why do you stand here idle all day?' They said to him, `Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, `You go into the vineyard too.'
And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, `Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.'
And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.
Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the householder, saying, `These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.'
But he replied to one of them, `Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you, and go; I choose to give to this last as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?
Now, of course Jesus is talking about those who have long been faithful, and those faithful for a short time, and that they receive the same reward. But the lesson I am drawing here is: those who worked a short time and received a denarius did not devalue the denarius. Those who worked the full day still retained the same value for which they had bargained.
Same sex marriage cannot devalue a couple's marriage. Only those in the marriage can devalue it.
Cherish the bond you have with your spouse. Keep it healthy, holy, and happy. If you do these things, no one else's marriage can cheapen yours.
- Calling those who oppose homosexuals "homophobic"
- Calling homosexuals "moralphobic"
In the latter example, homosexuals are opposing... well, no. Homosexuals don't oppose heterosexuality, heterosexual marriage, or celibacy. And homosexuals in general do not oppose morals, although the set of morals they embrace may not include "sex is only for a married man and woman". In fact, many homosexuals want the responsibilities of the bonds of marriage. That hardly seems to be a fear of morals.
But perhaps I'm missing the point. If I am, I hope someone will explain it to me, and to my female partner of nineteen years.
In the United States of America, most of us don't have to live like a refugee. But there is an opportunity to find out what it's like.
Doctors Without Borders is setting up interactive refugee camps in major cities. This is a great opportunity to see how people live when they've been displaced by war and genocide.
It's also a great opportunity to decide whether this is how we would care to live.
If a refugee camp is not your idea of how you want to live, see whether one of the following resonates with you:
- This is the sum of duty: do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you. (Brahmanism)
- Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.(Buddhism)
- Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law of the prophets.(Christianity)
- Surely it is the maxim of loving-kindness: Do not unto others that you would not have them do unto you. (Confucianism)
- No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself. (Islam)
- What is hateful to you, do not to your fellowmen. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary. (Judaism)
- Regard your neighbor's gain as your own gain and your neighbor's loss as your own loss. (Taoism)
- An' it harm none, do as ye will. (Wicca)
- That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself. (Zoroastrianism)
- Be excellent to each other (Bill & Tedism, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure)
Pro-life groups are protesting a Planned Parenthood clinic. There are lawsuits both ways to open the clinic and prevent the clinic from opening.
I grow weary of the all-or-nothing sides of this debate. To say that a pregnancy can never be terminated is far too restrictive to my mind, yet there are far too many abortions that could have been avoided by some personal responsibility beforehand.
While I don't see a 16 cell blastocyst as a human being, I am sensitive to the potential and what this life is growing into, just as those of us who have been born are always growing into something new. Abortion is a traumatic event for the woman and, depending on development, likely a traumatic event for the fetus.
Like capital punishment and war, abortion is a failure on our parts to find a better solution. A truly pro-life stance, in my humble opinion, seeks to prevent the situations which lead people to make the choices to kill.
And yes, a 16 cell blastocyst is alive. Even if I don't recognize it as yet being human, I recognize it as life.
How do we learn to only create life when we're prepared for it, and to not end life because we were careless? How do we learn to help people to be safe partners in community, and not end life because they have lost connection with us? How do we learn to live peacefully with our neighbors, and not resort to violence that inevitably harms and kills the innocent?
To me, those are the pro-life questions. The answers will lead us to deeper love.
With the Democratic candidates lining up to present their national health care plans, we might wonder what it will cost for everyone to be insured. Surely there will be some effect on the rest of us.
To be sure, basic health care coverage for all will mean longer lines in the waiting rooms of general and family practitioners. And there will certainly be an increased cost in either taxes or in premiums. So is it fair that those of us with access to health care be burdened with the costs for those who don't?
No, it is not fair. It is not fair that those who worked hard to get through school and get a job with benefits pay also for the benefits of those who may not have worked hard at school, or who may not have gone to college. It is not fair, but fairness is not the reason for universal health care.
There are self interests at hand. Although your wait at the doctor's office may be longer, the load on hospital emergency departments will be lighter as peoples' colds and influenza, stomach aches and fevers are cared for by a primary care physician rather than an ED staff. That means the waiting room at the hospital will be nearly empty when you arrive with chest pain or facial paralysis.
The cost of primary care is cheaper than ED care, so there will be savings there too. And many problems may be caught earlier, resulting in less drastic - and expensive - emergency care.
Crowded areas of poor people without health care access can be reservoirs of illness. The working poor may be unloading pallets of fruit, or washing dishes in your favorite restaurant, or delivering your newspaper. Although most businesses strive to keep their customers safe from disease, many of the poor are afraid to miss a day of work due to illness. And if the local viruses don't scare you, consider this: the most likely place for an epidemic of bird flu, or a terrorist's engineered disease, is in those who don't seek treatment for their symptoms.
Health care can reduce absenteeism among the working poor, reducing prices for products and/or increasing a company's profit. There's a definite financial benefit to keeping the poor as healthy as possible.
None of these are the reason for universal health care.
The reason is mercy. The reason is that we should have mercy on those who are suffering. They, like us, are human. Like us, they suffer. Unlike us, they suffer more. And that suffering is not fair.
The cost of mercy will not likely be high. The benefit in decreasing suffering will outweigh the cost.
That is far better than fair.
Divorce rates are rising. People are living together outside of marriage. Those in marriage are committing adultery. Sexually transmitted diseases - including HIV - are on the rise. And homosexuals are trying to get same sex "marriage" legalized.
The most recent homosexual advance is in Iowa, where the ban on same sex "marriage" was found unconstitutional by a district court. With homosexuality gaining ground, is America becoming a modern-day Sodom?
Pundits have called parts of America "Sodom". We have read it in our newspapers and blogs, heard it on our radios and televisions: "Hollywood is America's Sodom", "Las Vegas is America's Sodom".
This is not a new idea. In his 1973 American Quarterly article , "The Erotic South: Civilization and Sexuality in American Abolitionism", Ronald G. Walters notes that, prior to the Civil War, among the issues the American North had against the South was the idea that "The Southern states are one Great Sodom a vast brothel".
Perhaps it would be helpful to examine what Sodom was all about.
Of course, we know what Sodom was about. All of the men in Sodom were homosexual - that's why they call it "sodomy". Yet it's helpful to strengthen our understanding by reexamining the scriptures to get a better grip on what the Bible tells us.
In Genesis 13:13, we read that "...the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. " That's a bit unsatisfying. We know it means homosexuality, but this verse just isn't clear enough. Genesis 18:20-21 doesn't help much: "And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know."
Genesis 19:1,4-5 is the payoff: "And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; 4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them."
"Know" is the word used to mean "have sex with". So it's clear that all of the men of Sodom were homosexuals who wanted to have sex with Lot's visitors.
If you have any doubt, you can read what the righteous Lot did to protect the men: Genesis 19:8: "Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof."
Lot offered his virgin daughters for sex in place of the Angels! And did the men accept that? No! Genesis 19:9: "And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door."
Wait. They wanted to judge him? With sex? I'm confused.
What's more confusing is that the word translated as "know" is used both for sex and for knowing a person well. The very same word is used earlier in the same story: Genesis 18:18: Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." I'm pretty sure this doesn't mean God has sex with Abraham, only that he knows him intimately.
There are other references to Sodom, the most descriptive of which is Ezekiel 16:49 "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good."
Aha! committed abomination! That's the homosexuality reference, right?
Perhaps. What's more troubling is the set of more descriptive references to pride, fullness, idleness, ignoring the poor and needy, and haughtiness.
"America: love it or leave it." "My country right or wrong." Tax cuts that benefit the rich more than the poor. Cuts to programs for needy children. Antagonism toward immigrants. These are the troubling signs of a culture tumbling toward a Sodomic end.
The sin of Sodom was how the people treated those in need: the poor and those who were traveling. They were concerned about maintaining their standard of living and keeping undesirables out. Sound familiar?
So is America the new Sodom? Are we self-satisfied, well-fed, lazy people with our noses in the air while we brush aside the needy?
In Genesis 18:23-32, Abraham bargains with God to not destroy the city if there are 50 righteous. After God agrees, Abraham bargains God down to 40, 30, 20, and finally 10. Even so, 10 righteous people are not found in Sodom.
In the United States of America are many people working to help the poor and to welcome newcomers to our country. Many give much of their spare time to make this nation a better place for all people.
Same sex marriage won't make the USA into Sodom. But is America the new Sodom?
No, as long as there are 50, 40, 30, 20, even ten people who are willing to expend their effort to make this a better country, America is not the new Sodom... yet.
