Stem cells, fanaticism and some other stuff.
I know, I know. I promised not to bug you guys for a couple of days but I just had to take a moment to ponder a few of the things I read in the DSM Register this a.m.
Us Iowans, we elected ourselves a new Democratic governor recently ...to take the place of Tom Vilsack who is running for President (among 300 or so others). Now I am pleased and a tad bit surprised w/the fact another Democrat won because in terms of square miles, our state is overwhelmingly Republican. It is only the cities of Des Moines, Iowa City, etc. that are overwhelmingly more liberal. Anyway, our state house of representatives (with it's newly Democratic majority, thanks George W) yesterday passed a bill to allow additional stem cell research to combat horrific diseases, etc. Looking at the vote breakdown, it was very predictable. No repubs voted for it. None. Zero. Zilch. Two democrats voted against it and even though that particular view makes no sense to me I give them credit for voting their own mind instead of voting along their party's line just for the sake of doing so. I paid special attention to the representatives from the extreme northwestern part of Iowa---the same district that foisted the Nazi-ish Steve King upon the US House of Rep. (Thats another long story right there). Of course none of them voted for the bill. The vast majority of that part of the state is "Christian", Dutch Reformed Christian to be exact, and elects people who are against gay marriage, against abortion, for guns and for less government interference.
I wish someone could explain to me how, if you follow the teachings of Jesus, you would vote in such a manner. First of all....the less government involvement thing. Not such a bad idea EXCEPT, their idea of less government involvement extends only to helping the helpless---the poor, children, etc. How they can espouse less government involvement but want to interfere in people's reproductive and sexual health is beyond me. Abortion, for example. I don't know of any pro-choice people who say abortion is good. What most of us say is that rich White guys sitting in DC or Des Moines for that matter, shouldn't have the power to tell us what goes on in our uteruses (or is it uteri?). My gosh! What an act of government interference! I have a feeling that if men were the ones to bear children, the abortion debate would have never happened. They'd be provided free at taxpayer expense, no questions asked. Example: Viagra vs. birth control pills. It's been awhile, but I seem to remember Viagra being touted as a right to those on Medicaid whereas birth control pills were argued about.
I have never had an abortion but might have if the amnio I had with Jaden had proven to show horrible defects. With a 36 year old mom and 53 year old dad, she was certainly at high risk. Prior to the amnio, I had decided that if the baby had Down syndrome, I could deal with it but if she had something more devastating--life without speech, in a wheelchair, etc. I don't know. I do know it would have been an agonizing decision and one I would have had to answer for spiritually, but the point is....it would have been mine to answer for....not the rich white guy making the laws. Because, where would those rich white guys be as I'd be struggling to raise her? Thankfully, Jaden came out beautiful, feisty and brilliant (OK I may be a bit predjudiced) but she WAS reading before Kindergarten!
Stem cells....would Jesus want to help the people with parkinsons? als? paralysis? alzheimer's? The vast majority of the embryos used for stem cell research will NEVER be implanted and result in pregnancy. Now perhaps that is another arguable issue but it doesn't change the fact that there are all of these unused embryos out there already. Created, I believe, in large part by wealthy Caucasian couples who feel they have a God-given right to reproduce no matter what it takes. Forget that there are lots of kids available for adoption here and abroad. Anyway, perhaps it is God's calling that the purpose of these existing embryos was to save or improve the quality of countless lives. Isn't that the argument we use when God takes a baby or young child through death? If the parents chose to dontate the organs, we talk about the lives this short life saved, yada, yada.
