Feminism?

I read this blog this morning, and almost shared it on facebook:

http://chicksontheright.com/2012/07/23/yep-theyre-still-trying-to-run-with-that-whole-war-on-women-thing/ 

But a couple of things held me back. 

Firstly, I don't like to call people names, so I didn't want to re-post things like "feminazi" and "harpies", like I believe it's okay to say something like that. I don't want to bash all liberal women, like I think they all think the same.

Secondly, I have a few more things to say about the issue.

I agree with them wholeheartedly on one thing - asking the government to pay for your birth control and abortions is not feminism and is not equal rights, no matter whether you believe those things are okay or not.

Personally, I would not partake in either, and while I wish abortion would be abolished across the entire universe, I am not trying to take anyone's birth control away.

Let's get one thing straight - HEALTH CARE IS NOT A RIGHT. If someone spends years in college, not to mention paying a lot of money for that education, and they learn to provide a particular skill, we do not get to call their skill a "right". That is something we have to pay for, should we desire it. Since when did people start confusing something that would be a great thing for everyone to have with a "right"? Yes, ideally, we would all have health care when we need it, but we don't get to lay a claim on someone else's skill. If you want to lay a claim on that skill, you have to go to school to learn it for yourself.

Now, should the government be paying for that? ABSOLUTELY NOT. I don't see men running around asking for the government to pay for prostate exams. Since when is it an equal right to have the government pay for birth control? Equal to what? Because that is what feminism is about - equal rights - not running around asking the government to provide for your basic healthcare. You can't just grab any issue that is related to women and call it feminism.

Does anyone else miss the days when feminists where the women who stood up for the right to own property, the right to vote, the right to work outside the home, the right to be paid equally, the right to not be sexually harassed or be treated lesser than a man? 

When did women's right get boiled down to wanting the government to provide my birth control for free, and if someone disagrees with that, then they have a war on all of women?!?! Frankly, that is ludicrous, and I have a war on myself by that logic.

This isn't a war on women - this is a war on government spending. I do not believe it is the governments place to pay for birth control, just like it is not their place to pay for prostate exams. It's not a male/female issue - and it's not a male/female issue for any conservatives that I know or that I have ever heard discuss it. The people who want to say this is a war on women are JUST NOT LISTENING.

This is the basic argument between liberals and conservatives - not whether people should have access to certain things, but whether it the the job of the government to pay for it. If you want to make this a war on women, you should ask yourself a few things: Do you believe in fair argument? Do you believe in truth? Do you enjoy painting the person you are arguing with in a negative light? Do you want to win this argument in any way possible, even if it includes lying about the person you are arguing with?

Because if you want to say I have a war on women, then you can answer yes to all those questions. My stance has nothing to do with women, but everything to do with fiscal conservatism.

Why I'm a Conservative, and Why I Just Can't Keep My Faith Out of Politics

I wish women could only become pregnant when they wanted to, would never be harmed or taken advantage of by anyone, and could determine what happens to their bodies. I wish all people had the same opportunities. I wish greed and corruption didn’t exist and all people were fair. I wish people who had more money shared it with people who had less and that no one would ever want for anything. I wish everyone had access to healthcare, that people were peaceful and no one ever needed a gun, that all people could have the opportunities that we have in America, that terrorism did not exist, and that technological progress did not ever affect the economy.

I think liberals would agree with me on the 1^st paragraph. The difference comes down to how we act on it. A utopia would be nice – I’m sure we all wish for it – but – it’s not ever going to be possible.

Women will become pregnant, even when it’s not convenient. Murder is not a solution for that.

Corruption should not be tolerated, but capitalism is not evil. And guess what – greed is not against the law. While greed is a moral vice (and a lot of people think morality is relative, so who really has the right to say when they use that kind of reasoning), as long as all laws are followed, who really cares if someone is greedy? The problem is when the greed causes them to become corrupt and break laws. So let’s all stop complaining about corporate greed, and just focus on corporate corruption.

While I wish that people who were rich gave more to those that are poor, I do not believe in forcefully taking their money away. I believe in a flat tax – no one should be punished for success.

Healthcare is a business. People go to school and develop skills in order to work in that business. The services they provide is something the rest of us have to pay for – it is not a right. We do not have a civil right to someone else’s skills.

When you outlaw guns, only people who break the law will have guns. Stricter gun laws = criminals still have guns, and people who would like to protect themselves don’t. I probably don’t need to discuss this subject any more. Just look at statistics on when gun laws are stricter and you see that crime goes up.

While I wish everyone could experience America, immigration should be accomplished legally. Illegal immigration costs the US $100 billion per year. How are we supposed to be able to help anyone or provide a thriving economy for people to immigrate too, when our resources are being drained like that?

Terrorism does exist. There are people that hate our country and our values, and they are actively trying to harm us. Our country should be protected. Saying that we should stay out of other people’s countries and business is like saying you do not believe in having a police department. There should be a law-enforcing entity at every level. If you believe in having one at a local level, why not at a much higher level? Someone has to enforce laws. If there is a country harboring terrorists, someone has to do something about it.

Technology and progress often affect the economy – just look at the industrial revolution. God gave us this planet to live on and we should respect His creation, but let’s not go overboard. We have to find a way to balance progress and responsibility. There is no overwhelming scientific evidence for evolution. There is no overwhelming scientific evidence for global warming. In fact, there are studies that come out regularly saying. “Oopsy – looks like we had that aspect of the science wrong, but don’t worry, it’s still true!” How many times does that have to happen before people finally come to their senses? There is a lot of science in the Bible, and not once has any of it been proven wrong.

The main reason I am a conservative is because I am a Christian. We live in a fallen world – it becomes more sinful every day. More people turn from God every day. As the result of man’s sin, our world is not longer perfect; our world is no longer fair. We face the consequences of that sin – our own sin, and the sin of others. A woman may become pregnant when she is raped. She is facing the consequences of someone else’s sin. We can all imagine how painful that situation would be, but sin is never the solution to sin, so murdering her unborn child would not be an appropriate resolution. God promises that while He does not cause bad things to happen, that He can cause good to happen out of the bad. What an amazing promise! I have seen that come to fruition in my own life over and over.

We should do our best to help people in need, and that is also very clear in the Bible, we should not be taking away other people’s rights to force them to help others. God lets us choose whether to obey Him or not – He says He loves a cheerful giver, and no one should ever be forced to give. When He required a tax on the Israelites, He specifically said that the poor should not give less and the rich should not give more. Giving is a heart issue, and if everyone’s hearts were right with God, we would have no problems.

Now if you disagree with me, and you think my faith is just my own and should have nothing to do with politics, and everyone has a right to make their own choices, then that’s your prerogative. I hope those people realize that while they talk to me about not forcing my beliefs on others, what they should realize is that in that moment they are forcing their beliefs on me. Everyone believes something, religious or political, and if you are fighting for it and there are people who disagree with you, then you are forcing it on them. But I will respect you, because we all have to look at ourselves in the mirror and be able to sleep at night. I can have a healthy respect for anyone who fights for what they believe in, even if it is a different belief than my own – I have a lot harder time respecting people who just want to stay out of the argument. Just don’t tell me that my beliefs are relative and only affect me – cause guess what, that’s not my beliefs – those are your beliefs. I know that what I believe is TRUTH and applies to all people. I will always fight for what I believe in the political realm, because politics affect my life, and Christ controls every part of my life.  My desire to obey and please Christ far, far, far outweighs anything else. My faith is everything to me – nothing will ever come before it. Don’t ask me not to bring it into politics, because I just can’t abide by that.

Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right

I saw some clips on the news this morning, and read the following article today:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-shore/dan-savage-and-the-truth_b_1463390.html?ref=religion


I found it all highly disturbing. 


The author of this article clearly has no understanding of Christianity. That is especially clear by the following quote: "So what if every day, for decades on end, Dan Savage has dealt with young lives obliterated through violence informed and buttressed by the bedrock "Christian" view that gay people are less than human?"


Christianity does not teach that being gay makes a person less than human. The Bible teaches that homosexuality is a sin. It does not teach that a person who sins in that manner is any less of a person than every other person in the world that sins.


The writer continues: "So what if any reasonably compassionate person should be expected to vigorously assert that it's time for all Christians to reject using the Bible as a means of justifying the persecution of an entire population whose only "crime" is to prefer to spend their lives with same-sex partners?"


The Bible does not justify the persecution of anyone.


Also, what gives the writer the right to lay claim on what bullying is?
P.S. What immediately become a meme amongst Dan's critics is that those who walked out of his talk felt bullied by him. But that's impossible. People get bullied because of who they are: how they look and act, what they say and do. Perceived as being in some critical way weak or lacking, victims of bullies are selected for persecution; they are pulled from the pack before being pointedly and repeatedly victimized. The people who walked out during Dan's talk were not separated from their peers by anyone. They were content to do that themselves. They were not frightened or cowed. They were offended. They felt that by disparaging what amounts to their God, Dan had transgressed beyond their capacity for toleration. And they were pleased to show their intolerance of Dan's words by protesting against them in the manner they did. Theirs was not an act born of suffering. It was a proud show of disdain.


Telling people that what they believe is "bullsh*t" is bullying. Bullying involved verbal harassment on the grounds of religion. Calling people who walked out of the room names is, you guessed it - bullying.
Insert any other religion or religious text into his speech, and everyone would agree it was bullying.
And even if all can't agree that it was bullying, all can agree that it was disrespectful at the very least, that it was unkind, and that treating people in this way is not an appropriate response to being bullied. Standing up for yourself does not involve knocking others down.


What Dan Savage and the writer of this article fail to understand is that Christians are human. They sin, some of them bully people, and some of them treat gay people badly.  They are no better than anyone else. What makes them different is that they have recognized their need for a Savior.


When people like these 2 attack Christianity, they are being ignorant and misinformed. They think they understand an entire belief system based on the actions of some, who are actually not living according to that belief system. They think they understand an entire text based on a few verses they have picked out.


What disturbs me the most is the following line:
If that's not what Jesus meant by, "The truth shall set you free," I can't imagine what he did mean.


It bothers me deep within my soul when people who are clearly not Christian dare to believe they can speak for Jesus. And what Jesus was saying in this Scripture is that people who meditate on His word (the Bible) will become his true disciples, and then they will know the truth. I highly doubt this writer has a personal relationship with Christ and meditates on the Bible. He clearly can't understand how offensive his quotation of this Scripture is.


I hope all Christians stand up for what they believe in. They should not be ashamed to say that they believe that homosexuality is a sin. I was for a long time, because of the backlash it brings, and because I was too afraid to offend anyone. I was in a place where my faith was weak, and I knew I wouldn't be able to  defend myself or my beliefs. Now my faith is strong. I believe in Jesus and every word that He spoke. Part of that is that I believe in loving others. If Christians took that responsibility seriously, and loved others as Jesus commands us, no one would calls us bullies just because we disagree with a particular lifestyle choice. I disagree with some of my own lifestyle choices that are now in my past. Once the majority of us start approaching others with love and not condemnation, then people won't be able to say that Christianity as a whole condones the bullying of others.


Further reading: http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/7345/53/

Constitution 101

I have been hearing commercials on the radio for awhile now for the Constitution 101 course offered by Hillsdale College. It always sounded like something that would be good to do, but I never took the leap. Well, this week I decided it was downright irresponsible of me not to take the course. There has been so much talk lately of the constitutionality of immigration laws, Obamacare, etc., etc., etc. I know what the constitution basically says, but do I really know enough? I decided that I don't.

The course is online, FREE, and since all the lessons are archived you can watch the videos whenever you want. How flexible is that?! I definitely couldn't commit to a certain time every week at this stage in my life, so this kind of format is perfect for me. I just registered and I hope many of you will join me!

http://www.hillsdale.edu/constitution/

Faith and Politics

Even as recently as a year ago, I considered myself "not political." What that really meant is that I couldn't handle debate. I couldn't handle the idea of arguing with anyone in my life or even strangers. A couple things in my life have changed that. 

Spurred on by my interest in the 2012 election, I virtually never listen to music anymore - I spend most days listening to talk radio. This had led to knowledge and knowledge has led to confidence. 

Another change came from the controversy over "Tebowing." When I say that Tim Tebow changed my life, that may sound odd to a lot of you, but it's very true. What "Tebowing" did was provoke a lot of thought and self-reflection. How often did I discuss my faith or things impacted by my faith (which is everything) in a public arena? Practically never, unless I knew people would agree with me. I had bought into the whole idea that my beliefs should be kept personal, and I shouldn't share what anyone else might find offensive. Now, if you had asked me outright if I believed that, I would have wholeheartedly said no. But, I lived that way, and I think a lot of Christians do. 

People want to claim "separation of church and state" and tell us to keep our views to ourselves. I think some people actually believe that is in the constitution. What actually IS in the constitution is "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."  This country was founded by people who wanted freedom to practice their religion, not people who wanted to suppress anyone's right to practice theirs in public.


Here is an example:
http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/local/firefighters-prayer-center-of-religious-debate-20120424

The cross being there does not violate anyone's rights. It does not violate the constitution, because it does not force anyone to believe in God, or practice a faith they do not believe in. It's existence does not mean that the local government favors Christianity over any other religion, nor has there been any evidence of that. If people don't believe in the Christian faith, then why does it bother them so much to see people practice it, or even just symbols of it? 

There is a lot of bullying in the media towards Christianity. We're supposed to keep our faith private - we're not supposed to "force" it on anyone else. The problem with that, is that Christianity is not a "religion." It's an entire way of life and effects every single decision a person makes, no matter how minute. Jesus would never shy away from controversy - that is crystal clear in the Bible. And Christians are called to "make believers of all nations." We should be proclaiming our faith in all arenas as often as possible. Just like Tim Tebow. He prays when he wants to thank God for his success, and this has somehow become something to be made fun of on almost every talk show on tv. There should be Christian outrage, but I haven't heard a lot of it. A cross on a lawn is considered highly offensive, but someone making fun of a man's communication with his Savior is perfectly acceptable. It's shameful.

I want to start off this blog by saying that I will not let anyone pressure me to keep my faith out of politics. My faith is the whole reason I am interested in politics. In fact - I will strive to interject my faith into my political views as often as possible.