Thursday, September 25, 2014

A Practice Against The Hippocratic Oath



Dr. Willie Parker is an African American Doctor who claims to be a Christian, and yet performs thousand of abortions.  Dr. Parker was raised by a single mother and was the second youngest son out of six.  He grew up living in a house without electricity, with an outhouse as the only bathroom, and his only food was provided by food stamps.  He later became the first black student-body president at a white dominated school, and went on to become an obstetrician graduating from Harvard.  For years Dr. Parker delivered thousands of healthy babies a year and refused to perform abortions because it was simply against his beliefs.  Unfortunately his beliefs have changed, leaving babies to suffer the consequences. 
            Dr. Parker is one of two abortion doctors working at the last abortion clinic (known as the Pink House) in Mississippi.  “This is because no doctor in Mississippi is willing to provide such a service. Although the state already has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, including a twenty-four-hour waiting period, parental consent, face-to-face counseling with the physician, and a ban on the use of Medicaid funding (except in extraordinary cases).”[1]  Because of these strict laws it has decreased the number of abortions in the state of Mississippi.
            Dr. Parker visits Mississippi for days at a time. On the first day he meets with four different groups of women and hands out the required information. He persuades them to have an abortion and tells them it is morally okay even if you are a Christian.  He goes on to inform them that others do not know what they are going through unless they have had an abortion.  He answers question and makes jokes whenever he can.  Before they leave, if they still want an abortion, he sets up a time for the next day where he can meet with his patients individually.  When he is done meeting with the women individually, he makes an appointment, usually within the next couple of days, for them to come back and have an abortion.  Once the abortion is over with he rarely sees his patients again unless they come back to volunteer. 
            In America or really any country, there are other options besides abortion.  So, why do so many people choose abortion?  I believe, they think it is the easier way out.  They made a mistake and that is their way of fixing “the problem” without having to carry the baby and ruin their bodies, or make sacrifices to raise the child.  It takes away the embarrassment and they can act as if it never happened, not having to face anybody.  Abortion not only kills the unborn baby, but it also harms the mother, “It is antithetical to a genuine feminism — one that recognizes and celebrates the uniqueness of women as women.”[2]  Growing up in the Roman Catholic Church this is what I was taught “Every human life, from the moment of conception until death, is sacred because the human person has been willed for its own sake in the image and likeness of the living and holy God.”[3]  I believe that abortion is wrong, no matter the reason or circumstances. 

Thursday, September 11, 2014

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Banned



           Have you ever wondered what it would be like to go to foreign country where you could not walk freely into a church and worship God?  Well you do not have to even leave the country to feel the same kind of persecution.  Recently the California University system has denied Christians the right to have Christian organizations or clubs on campus.  Making the twenty-seven California college campuses much like a closed country.  Closed countries are “Countries that limit or prevent Christian ministry by expatriates as missionaries.”[1] 
            The reason this topic has become such a big issue is because they banned InterVarsity Christian Fellowship from not just one but all of California’s Colleges.  “We are not talking about a private university – we are talking about America’s largest network of public universities.”[2]  College is a time where countless young adults go “crazy”, but it is also a time where many come to find God.  If Christian organizations are not on college campuses spreading the word of God there will be less people that come to know God.  The people in college now are the leaders of our country, churches, and schools tomorrow.  Can you imagine our country completely run by non-believers? 
            “InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA has been active on U.S. college and university campuses for more than 73 years.  InterVarsity is affiliated with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), and is a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).”[3]   Last year InterVarsity had nine-hundred and forty nine chapters with over forty thousand members.  Now you are probably wondering what caused The California University system to deny InterVarsity Christian Fellowship the right to be on campuses.  The California University system believes, “while InterVarsity invites and welcomes all students as participants, we believe a Christian group should have the right to expect and even require their leaders to be Christian—just as any student group, club or Greek organization should be able to require their leaders to be like-minded.”[4]  Although InterVarsity is no longer an official organization they are coming up with a creative new style of campus ministry.  
Last week Adreanna mentioned in her blog that her sister was in the organization Empowered Arab Sisterhood, they allow all girls to join but you must actually be Arab to receive a leadership position.  Why is this group any different than the InterVarsity Christian group?  To be able to run Christian group you must actually be a Christian.  I do not understand why this concept is so difficult.  It is like a plain M&M, you can all be different on the outside but you must have the same beliefs (chocolate) on the inside to be in a leadership position.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Polygamy



           Polygamy is, “the practice or custom of having more than one wife or husband at the same time” (Google).  “During the mid-1800’s Mormon polygamy was revealed to Joseph Smith (leader and creator of the Mormon religion) as a true mandate from God. Mormons then began practicing polygamy in the United States and sending the message throughout the world with their missionaries.  Soon the Federal government told Mormon leaders that they would lose statehood, if they chose to continue living with multiple wives.  On September 25, 1890, Mormon leadership surrendered and proclaimed from the pulpit the end of plural marriages. Since then it has continued to thrive outside the mainstream Mormon Church.”[1]  In September of 1890 polygamy was officially illegal in the United States.
            Last year in the U.S District Court in Utah, a ruling on whether polygamy would be legalized was put on hold.  But on August 27, 2014 the same judge ruled against polygamy.  Since then, U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups administered that this ruling was against the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of religion.  This comes shortly after Kody Brown; (star of TLC’s Sister Wives) filed a lawsuit against the state of Utah, stating that his family had to move because they feared persecution.  Why would the Brown family only fear persecution in Utah if polygamy is illegal in all fifty states?  Well, because most states do not care if you only have one legal marriage and the rest are “spiritual unions”, but Utah is saying all polygamy is wrong.  Also, what leads people to believe that polygamy is morally acceptable?  Are they forgetting about the seventh commandment?  ”Thou shall not commit adultery.”  They think as long as “the persons involved in any sexual relationship are consenting adults, and then there is understood to be no moral problem whatsoever.”[2]  So then if two people agree to a duel, is it ok for one of them to kill the other?  Just because consenting adults agree on an issue does not make their choices’ legal or ethical.
            Polygamy is not the only controversy happening in the courts of Utah, same sex marriage is also a popular topic.  Back in 2008 when Vaughn Walker struck down Proposition 8 in California by saying, “that it was a form of oppression and discrimination to prevent members of the same-sex, in this case a couple of the same-sex, from getting married and enjoying the legal and societal recognition benefits of marriage.”[3]  So now Utah is having the same dilemma, not only with same sex marriage, but with the number of people that can be in a marriage.  With this statement being said Judge Waddoup “ruled that the state of Utah is not required to recognize the plural marriage of the Browns, it does require the state to no longer criminalize polygamy – effectively authorizing it.”  The state of Utah has “redefined marriage in terms of both number and gender, leading to almost absolute confusion when it comes to what marriage is.  The conclusion many people have come to is “the only harm that he would consider here, is a harm that is directed to the individuals involved.”[4]
            Growing up attending Catholic and Christian schools, and reading the bible frequently, I have learned that marriage is between a man and a woman.  In the Bible Genesis 2: 22-24 talks about husband and wife saying, “Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.  The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman, ' for she was taken out of man."  For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”  The Roman Catholic Church, as you can imagine, is against polygamy.  Marriage or Matrimony in the Catholic Church is a “covenant by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring"[5]  Polygamy is like giving permission to your spouse to commit adultery. For this reason and because of my religious beliefs, I believe that polygamy is morally and ethically wrong.