Sunday, October 24, 2010

The Bully God, And The Unwed Mother

"...the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."-- Job 1: 20-21 (KJV) People have used the image of the Judeo-Christian God to intimidate, justify war, condone torture and intolerance....you name it. Those of us who have lost children to the adoption industry know this God on a first-hand basis. For some of us, his name was never invoked, but he was there, in the background, in the minds of the families, social workers and everyone else during the BSE. Just like Torquemada, the engineer of the Spanish Inquisition, many of these folk felt they were doing God's work by systematically divesting unmarried mothers of their infants. They might as well have put us to the rack.

That this idiocy lingers to this day speaks to the arrogance and ignorance of a lot of people. I remember the feeling I had in Sunday School when I was taught that the Jews were, supposedly, the chosen people of God. Where did that leave us? "Well," said the teacher, "Jesus came along and fixed that."
 
So now the Christians think they are above everyone else by virtue of their belief and they even have trained beemommies to pass that thought along. Everyone seems to have a need to not only feel superior, but to feel that they are safe from whatever scares them. The problem is that, when philosophers and prophets began coming up with explanations for the things they didn't understand, they seem to have created the Creator in their own image, as a bully who has his representatives on earth to police, judge and correct. I wonder how Jesus would react to the people using his name and his teachings (as they are available) to condemn, adjudicate and correct those whom these worthy folk think are "sinning." Right...I think so, too.
 
In the present day, the message is delivered in mass doses via the media, polished by spin doctors and financed by ovine believers. You'd think that, after 2000 years, we would have outgrown the superstition and the intolerance and moved on to the message of love. Nah...how would people have power over the minds of others without a little blind faith? So, in the name of God, the Big Bully, the LDS, Bethany, and others are still running the social engineering game, taking from the unwed and vulnerable and giving to "the right kind of people" and, Goodness, No! No one gets a penny for this! Yeah, right again.
 
I am not a Christian, however I am a Theist and a spiritual person. I really hate to see perfectly good teachings used to justify this crime of taking the babies of those who just need a little help. I hate that this dogmatic drivel is being used to create Stepford Beemommies who, with wide, glazed eyes, insist on telling other young women who are expecting how glorious it is to surrender your child in the name of the Most High. There is still the judgement against overt sexuality and the shaming still goes on and on and on.
 
Take a look at the Westboro Baptists who protest at military funerals. They proclaim that "God Hates Faggots!!" I didn't think that God hated anyone. When did God become so obsessed with human sexuality that he ignores war, famine, child abuse, human trafficking, slavery, poverty and disease to go after people being who and what they are? I dunno, but that seems a bit one-sided of the Almighty to me.
 
Now, I know that there are Christians who are not into either forcing their personal beliefs down the gullets of others or caring about what two (or more *giggle) consenting adults do in their bedrooms. But they don't shout as loud and are not as intrusive and abusive as their more fundamentalist, evangelical brethren. But, only a few have the courage to speak out against these pious preeners. Jim Wallis, and the Sojourners publication, available on line, are trying to get the message back to love and caring for one's neighbors but they have enough to do just fending off Glen Beck.
 
Meanwhile, as it was in our day and is to this day, God is still the Big Bully In The Sky, throwing down thunderbolts and smiting whoever dares to cross the arbitrary line drawn by the pundits in the pulpits. I refuse to blame anyone for taking my children other than the ones who did and, while they professed to be God's people, I don't believe it. I really have no description of the God of my Agnostic lack of understanding, but I am sure that he/she wouldn't approve. I would love to see these arrogant proselytizers step out from behind their protective assumptions and take responsibility for their actions.
 
That would be refreshing. It would also be honest and I don't think that they are there, yet.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Morning Robin

Those religious people who go to church regularly who feel after attending church they have the right to judge others. Are the very same judgers who keep me away from attending church. Hipocrites those who pretend that attending. church service gives them the right to judge others.
The beemoms are another story must be terrible to have to live with a choice that one has made to give your baby up.
I do know how hard it is live without having a choice and actually keeping my own baby.

Gale

Von said...

Don't get me started on hypocrisy!If you can convince young mothers they don't need to feel guilty for doing something beautiful that is god's work, for a childless couple, there's no need for pain or suffering and you won't change your mind either.Think how terrible you'd feel if you let down a nice couple who had 'bonded' with your baby, had baby showers and been 'paper pregnant'!

Marley Greiner said...

A few years ago I attended a presentation by a grad student who was researching how paps and adoptive parents represent their adoptions (maybe I'm not saying the right, but you should get the idea) She found that the vast majority of them, even those who were not churchgoers or particularly religious" expressed that God had given them "their baby" or "God's hand" was in it. If it wasn't God directly, it was some higher power or providence, or fate. Nobody seemed to think it was public policy or a greedy adoption agency or lawyer.

Michelle said...

God, fate and other excuses are to make the mother a non-person. PAPS rarely take responsibility for their own hunger, greed and willingness to procure a baby by any means. Nobody ever says they're going to get a baby from a mother no matter what it takes - it's always some external influence or circumstance which they use for justification.

One time I overheard a mother telling her daughter that she heard about a pregnant inmate. The mother was so excited by the possibility the baby could be adopted by her daughter. Why couldn't she refer the 'inmate' as a woman or a mother? Desperation and infertility psychological issues can create a false sense of entitlement or superiority over others. Lawyers and agencies reinforce this irrational thinking.

Jennifer said...

I am a Christian adoptee who attends church regularly and is actively trying to educate Christians on adoption.

Let's face the facts and understand exactly how God feels about this issue, directly from scripture...

God put his only Son into the womb of a poor, teenage, unwed mother.

Now, what do you think God thinks about adoption? Perhaps his heart is as broken as ours.