A Culture of Life?

I have kept to myself on the Terri Schiavo “case.” I think that this becomes a metaphor, one selected by the religious right and the neo-fascists in office, for the duplicity that has become the hallmark of American political discourse in recent years. I found it offensive and obscene that the personal struggles of a family that faced the death of a daughter and a wife would become fodder for the conservative agenda and could take center stage from the drama of the was in Iraq. But memory is long. I recall that the President’s father used his hatred of broccoli – a vegetable that Garrison Keeler later quipped was the source of human intelligence – as a diversion from his agenda. Ms. Schiavo’s death was not the issue. Nor was her dying. The issue was how to further obfuscate the truth that this administration is consumed by lust for blood and oil.

Activist Judges?

The courts did something radical in the Schiavo case: they upheld the letter of the law. This was not activism. This was a conservative reading of the letter of the law and enforcing what had been legislated. The question of who makes medical decisions in a marriage has already been defined: the spouse. Ms. Schiavo did not have a living will, to my knowledge, that would have countermanded the decision that her husband made. The allegations made in the press that Ms. Schiavo pleaded, “I want to live…” is the stuff of poorly written melodrama. Her higher brain functions were lost. These do not regenerate. It is impossible for a person so horribly traumatized to say these – or any other – words. Did they represent the wishes and hopes of the family? Perhaps. I’d want my daughter to live, too. But these decisions have to be made and the law determines who is empowered to speak. The presumption of the law is that the spouse speaks for the patient and is best capable to make medical decisions. How is that “activist”? If anything if is conservative.

Sanctity of Marriage

The administration that seeks to uphold marriage seemed hell-bent on undoing one of the fundamental clauses in the marriage compact: that the spouses form the family unit. While I am loathe to speak of a “Judeo-Christian Ethic” that rests at the heart of our way of life, I must observe that Luther spoke of marriage as the basis for the State. The protections that marriage provided for the wife and children – food, shelter, education, a trade – were seen by Luther and others as the State in microcosm. Fundamental to this was the right of the spouse to administer the house in absence of his or her partner and to make decisions that represented the welfare of that person.

This administration has no interest in upholding the sanctity of marriage. This administration’s “culture of life” is little more than a front for something deeper, something much more sinister.

Blood and Oil

I used to have a counter on this site that measured an estimate of how much money has been spent on the war in Iraq. As I watched the number grow and considered how the monies might better be spent I began to realize that this is not the real issue. Money is artificial: is has value only because of the agreements that people have placed in it. It is a metaphor for wealth, a means to trade. It has no intrinsic worth. Life, on the other hand, is the only thing that has any intrinsic value. Human life and the life of the planet are of inestimable worth.

Apparently the culture of life does not extend to the people (non-belligerents) killed in Iraq. Apparently it does not extend to the prisoners of war cloistered away in Guantanamo or other locales. Apparently it does not extend to Americans that do not enjoy a right to food, shelter, education, and employment. Apparently it can be negotiated when there is enough oil and material wealth to be gained by its sale. And there it is: life has become a commodity, its value measured by the wealth that it can generate.

A Family’s Grief Exploited

I am saddened by the grief run amok that the glare of the public gaze has created and that this family will bear. The sad thing is that the “culture of life” embraced a macabre fixation with the maintenance of a body at the expense of the life that was already lost. The person that was known at Terri Schiavo was already dead. The body was left. But it made good copy: the conservative, right to lifers fighting for the existence of a discarded shell. But I wonder what will happen to them in a year when the name is all but forgotten but the pain will continue. How will the culture of life have enriched theirs?

Is There Such A Thing as a Christian Left?

I am frustrated by the perception that Christianity is a religion that limits morality to sexuality and ignores the idea of justice and peace. So much of the nonsense that is passed of as "biblical religion" is an attempt to control the individual by denying sexuality and imposing a parochialistic vision of life on all. I am very shy to use terms like "God's will," with any certainty. I am not convinced that the bible is an apodictic book of rules or that God's will can be parsed down to a list of "shall nots".

But if There Are Rules...

I suppose that the reality is that is there are rules in the Bible that are prosciptive, then they must be reviewed. Here are a few that don't get much press from the so-called "Christian Right":

• The eating of fat is prohibited forever. (Lev 3:17)
• You cannot round the corners of your beard or the hair on your temples. (Lev 19:27)
• Witches should be killed. (Ex 22:18)
• The congregation was to be a bastard free zone. The Bible was so dead set against bastards that their children, even to the tenth generation, could not enter the assembly of the Lord. (Duet 23:2) This is in keeping with God's principle of punishing children for the wrongdoings of their parents.
• Handicapped people could not approach God. Their presence would profane his sanctuary. (Lev 21:16-23) This scripture single-handedly offends almost every category of handicapped persons you can name. The blind, lame, injured, hunchbacks and dwarfs are specifically named. If anyone is left out, the catchall phrase "anyone with a blemish" is thrown in to cover them. I guess in Israel, the handicapped parking stalls were at the far end of the parking lot.
• Entrance into the assembly of the Lord was granted only to those with complete testicles. (Duet 23:1) Now, I will admit that keeping one's testicles in tact is a pursuit worthy of some attention, but I have to ask: What went on in the "assembly of the Lord" that required a complete and full set of testicles? And, since testicles are usually not on display, was there someone at the gate assigned to check?
• Anyone working on the Sabbath is to be killed. (Ex 35:2) This law was to protect the sanctity of Sunday afternoon football. Unfortunately, any player that touched the ball would have to be killed after the game, because he had touched a dead pig. (Lev 11:7,8) That would certainly make it easier to play defense.
• Menstruating women and everything they touch are unclean. The only cure for this uncleanness was for the priest to kill a couple of pigeons. (Lev 15:19-30) What could be more logical?
• If a couple has sex during the woman's period, the two are to be cut off from their people. (Lev 20:18) Once again, how would anyone know that this had happened? The couple is obviously not going to tell. Maybe the genital inspector from the temple made house calls.
  Women were officially second class citizens. They were considered possessions that were owned, (Prov 12:4) and were officially subordinate (1 Cor 14:33,34).
• Homosexual men were to be executed. (Lev 20:13) No mention is made of homosexual women. (The Dancing Fool has to make an observation: There is no word in either Hebrew or Greek that is equivalent to the English word "Homosexual." This has to do with actions. Now guys, how many of us have, at least once, gotten off with another guy? - tDF)
• If a woman grabs a man's privates during a fight, her hand is to be cut off. (Duet 25:11,12) Now, is it really necessary to have this law on the books? You get the impression that the person who was writing the laws had recently experienced this and was still a little pissed off.
• False prophets are to be killed by their own parents. (Zech 13:3)
• Stubborn children were to be stoned, and the stoning was to be instigated by their parents. (Duet 21:18-21)
• And whatever you do, don't ever, ever, ever, pee against the wall (1 kings 16:11 KJV). OK, I know. The phrase "anyone who pees against the wall" is just a euphamism for men. I just couldn't resist this one. [Source: www.liberator.net]

OK... now let's get a tat bit more serious. What does the Bible say about justice?

Now let me be a bit of a theologian for a moment. If the key to the New Testament is justification by faith through grace, then one has to look seriously at the idea of justice and justification. Both words come from the Greek "δικαιοσυνη". Both words ultimately lead to forgiveness and acceptance of the sinner by a God whose righteousness is defined by God's grace. That is evident in the Old Testament, as well. One need only read Leviticus 25 to see how this idea of grace is extended to the foreigner in the land. A short quote is necessary here:

19:9: "When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field to its very border, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10: And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God. 11: "You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. 12: And you shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD. 13: "You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning. 14: You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the LORD. 15: "You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16: You shall not go up and down as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand forth against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD. 17: "You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason with your neighbor, lest you bear sin because of him. 18: You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

No grudges, no injustice, no discrimination against foreigners. Care is to be extended and the rich may not oppress the poor. Food is to be provided, however passively, for the poor.

I tend to like Deuteronomy. Here is a quote from that majestic text that the Right tends to ignore:

10:17: For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. 18: He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. 19: Love the sojourner therefore; for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 20: You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve him and cleave to him, and by his name you shall swear.

Here is a famous quote from Micah:

6:6: "With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7: Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" 8: He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Do justice (forgiveness and acceptance), love kindness, and walk humbly with God. A tall order.

I think that those of us that incline to the left from a perspective of faith need to reflect on these quotes that fired the hearts of prophets, priests, and martyrs since Abraham first heard the word as a wandering Aramean, homeless in the desert and broken, yet beloved of God...

Ah, but I am only a fool...