Racial and Social Issues: July 2006 Archives

I read an article today about a pastor of an evangelical mega-church where the pastor basically told the congregation that Christians have no business moralizing and should...well I am not sure what. There are links to audio clips, but they are short and cut off before he gets to the point.

The requests came from church members and visitors alike: Would he please announce a rally against gay marriage during services? Would he introduce a politician from the pulpit? Could members set up a table in the lobby promoting their anti-abortion work? Would the church distribute “voters’ guides” that all but endorsed Republican candidates? And with the country at war, please couldn’t the church hang an American flag in the sanctuary?

After refusing each time, Mr. Boyd finally became fed up, he said. Before the last presidential election, he preached six sermons called “The Cross and the Sword” in which he said the church should steer clear of politics, give up moralizing on sexual issues, stop claiming the United States as a “Christian nation” and stop glorifying American military campaigns.

“When the church wins the culture wars, it inevitably loses,” Mr. Boyd preached. “When it conquers the world, it becomes the world. When you put your trust in the sword, you lose the cross.”

I don't know what he is talking about. Well, I do, I just think he is dead wrong. For me, one of the many beauties of being Catholic is morals do not change from pastor to pastor. So if the Church says it's wrong, it's wrong.

The Church has to fight for a Culture of Life. I am not sure why in popular politically correct culture, it is acceptable to rally for social justice when the issues involve war and poverty (and I am not arguing against this), but when it comes to people hurting each other with sex as the weapon, it is a personal matter. I know that people use each other, hurt each other, and allow people to abuse them when they would steer clear of them otherwise because of the misuse of the gift of sex.

When I first became a practicing Catholic again, I started to search online for like-minded Catholic people. What I started to see were people of extreme beliefs in all kinds of issues. Before that point, I didn't realize how "segregated" (for lack of a better term) we were. Rad Trads, Neo-Cons, homeschoolers, non-homeschoolers, blah, blah, blah...Trying to fit in somewhere, I lurked on boards of all groups. What I have since decided is not everybody is called to have overwhelmingly correct experiences and opinions on every issue (although many think they should). One opinion I heard over and over again was bafflement about how Catholics could be so obsessed with abortion and claim to be "pro-life" but vote for Bush and be pro-war. One conclusion I read was it was because everyone is so sex obsessed. The other was that Catholics love to show how good they are by being married and flaunting their 18 kids, but refuse to see the beam in their own eye. I found this opinion completely baffling, as I do the above mentioned pastor's.

I have to admit sadly, I am somewhat a fence sitter on the war issue. I just don't trust any information that comes my way. I don't think Bush is a horrible person who is war happy, but I also know the Pope spoke out against the war. It only occured to me recently that this is not a deficit in my intelligence or Catholicity, but I think there are a lot of Catholics with a lot of different experiences to have a bit more light on different perspectives. Through my own experiences what I do know is this: abortion is a genocide. As long as we are greedy and bloodthirsty enough to kill our own, our perspective of everything else will be unbalanced.

I am so tired. I see the county health and social services offices have flyers up for daycares, for where you can get free birth control, dishes of condoms out, lists of places to get AIDS testing, but nothing that says "girl, keep them legs closed unless he's gonna marry you". Or "don't become another 'Baby Daddy'unless you are married to the baby's mommy". Why not? Because by saying so we lose the culture war by putting trust in the sword? Huh? How about this sword: AIDS kills. Abortion kills. Children living with their mother's boyfriends have a higher rate of abuse than any other non-parent.

I feel like everytime I read something like this, I think the world has just gone so crazy. I do give people the benefit of the doubt. I think there are people, perhaps this pastor who feel that they are not being overly judgemental. Yes, we have to be charitable and have tact, but not to the point to keep making it acceptable for people to hurt themselves and each other.

Slowly, I am getting these thoughts out of my mind and onto the blog, so I should reach the end soon and go back to wondering about the important Pansy stuff, like why Johnson spends all day eating Raisin Bran at work.

You will notice that many of my rants of late have to do with moral decay surrounding things like abortion, and I suppose other related. I think much of it has do with the fact that our last move has taken us out of the country where we saw little people except our few Amish neighbors, back into a more urban-esque surroundings. I guess you can kind of make a case for it being "the ghetto" as Webster's defines ghetto as:

2 : a quarter of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure

It is not a wealthy neighborhood, and it is predominately Puerto Rican, so according to Webster, it fits the bill. However, if you want to make the case for it being a ghetto, it is really quite mild in comparison to North and East Trenton, or the South Bronx (more ghettofied neighborhoods I am quite familiar with-and don't even like to drive through). There is not much crime, else we would not reside here, and accept for the socio-racial status that fits the definition, it is relatively quiet and boring.

OK, so we established the "where" of ghettodom, but the part I hate is not the "where" it is the "what". It is the lifestyle. "Where" does not bother me. I am an odd amalgamtaion who prefers to live in either extreme country, or if I can afford it, as extreme city as possible. I'd rather see no one for miles, or have corner stores, the Y and the public library within a two block radius of my home.

Back to the "what". Self-destruction. I am tired of watching it and feeling helpless to do anything. The out of wedlock birth rate among black Americans and among NewYoricans is about 80%. Mind you, the rate is very different among Puerto Ricans living in Puerto Rico:

Births of Puerto Rican descent in NYC differed markedly from births in Puerto Rico. In general, Puerto Rican mothers delivering in NYC were less educated, had less access to early prenatal care, and had more than twice the proportion of out-of-wedlock births as mothers delivering in Puerto Rico. Women in consensual unions in Puerto Rico were considered as unmarried in this analysis...

Hmm, why is that? Let's see what Planned Parenthood has to say about that:

As a commonwealth of the United States, Puerto Rico lives under the same constitutional protections and federal laws as the rest of the country, thereby ensuring the legality of family planning, contraception, and abortion. The government, however, provides no policy regarding sexuality education, resulting in virtually no such education in schools past the purely physiological...
...Located just outside of New York City, PPHP is an active affiliate that also has a strong focus on adolescent and youth programs. Additionally, PPHP's successful advocacy experience will be another area of sharing and learning. PPHP has mobilized such diverse groups as college students and clergy, and has an impressive group of community advocates that work on various legislative issues.

Think there is any correlation?

I am so tired of the norm: girls having "Baby Daddies" and not husbands. What's that got to do with me you ask? Good question. Well for one, on a totally selfish note, if one more person refers to my husband as my boyfriend, I am going to scream. In two days I have had as many refereneces to him as my boyfriend and have been asked as many times if all my children are from the same union. But that is just my vanity.On another personal note, I bought into the sex with a condom before marriage is A-OK" philosphy, and it broke my heart.

Anything else? Well, my neighbor has three daughters who are grown, and have children with no husbands. None of them are very neighborly. Coming from living next to the Amish, I was slightly surprised. When you see a nighbor and crack a small smile, it is usually returned with a smile. Not our neighbors. My smiles have been returned by angry looks. Later it got to me through my children that part of the reason is I am blanquita. WHAT-ever. But more so, I noticed many of my female neighbors did have it in them to me friendly and neighborly, just not to me, but to my husband. There have been lots of subtle attempts to send a message of availability to my husband, despite the fact the signals have never been reciprocated.

I am not threatend. But how happy a person are you when you have a newborn a few days old, and you are advertising to other men, not the baby's father, that are married? What do you teach your children about commitment? What do you even know of commitment? You end up with generation upon generation of people who allow themselves to be used, are not happy for it, yet know no differently. A person is not an island unto themselves. The children they are raising might be a potential romantic involvement for one of my children. They are people who could be positive members of society, or not. I also have a theory from watching my in-laws. They are miserable people and dead beat parents. I think even in their misery if they were a "set" of parents, they would have done a much better job together than apart. I think there is something to be said for God requiring two people to raise one.
If you would not like to take my word for it, read a bit from the Fragile Family Study.

I'll also leave you with The Speech Bill Cosby gave a couple of years ago at the Brown vs. The Board of Education 50th Anniversary. Lots more annoying and judgemental stuff about personal responsibility. (I stumbled on this when someone called me racist for perpetuating the problem among blacks by mentioning the fact that 80% of black children were born out of wedlock.)

I was personally tickled at the mention of our cousin.