Evansville Bumper Sticker and the State of Logic in America
So I have to riff on this bumper sticker I saw in Evansville today. For those who don't know, Evansville is home to a lot of conservative evangelical christians. Anyway, with that background, check out the bumper sticker.
"If Mary Had Been Pro-Choice, There Would Be No Christmas!"
To start, let's set aside the incendiary nature of such a comment. I'd like to focus on the problems of logic involved.
To imply that, in order to be pro-choice, one must have "punched their membership card" (so to speak) by having an abortion is complete idiocy which shouldn't even necessitate being pointed out. As my fairly conservative best man Aaron H. pointed out, it's equally silly to imply that those who are pro-life haven't had and won't have abortions. I'm pro-capital punishment, but I've never killed anybody who I thought had wronged me, and of course no one would expect me to.
We can also take a look at the pagan roots of Christmas and acknowledge the fact that the holiday enjoyed by some so-called Christians wouldn't even change that much with the Mary's decision to end the life of her deity child. We can still have presents and jingle bells and a tree and candy canes without Christ, folks, and many MANY people do, whether they'd admit it or not.
Finally, let's get back to the religiously incendiary nature of the comment. It's just this sort of rot that does absolutely nothing more than further polarize the sides. The evangelicals read it and say "Darn right! Stupid abortionist pro-deathists!" The atheists read it and say "Typical preachy nonsense from the christians. No surprise."
Just once I'd like to see a christian or an atheist (or anybody for that matter) shirk the stereotype, live above it, and speak some damn truth. There are times in this country when I wonder if logic and reason aren't, to use a term recently made popular, "undocumented individuals," or its more conservative counterpart, "illegal immigrants." Though these unwanted hangers-on may have made their way into our consciousness, it seems as though they're not welcome, an unfortunate inconvenience, and that it's only a matter of time before we're through with them altogether.
I have hope for our country, but it's definitely been reduced to a faint glimmer by things like this. Maybe I'm reading too much into a bumper sticker; I suppose we'll see.
"If Mary Had Been Pro-Choice, There Would Be No Christmas!"
To start, let's set aside the incendiary nature of such a comment. I'd like to focus on the problems of logic involved.
To imply that, in order to be pro-choice, one must have "punched their membership card" (so to speak) by having an abortion is complete idiocy which shouldn't even necessitate being pointed out. As my fairly conservative best man Aaron H. pointed out, it's equally silly to imply that those who are pro-life haven't had and won't have abortions. I'm pro-capital punishment, but I've never killed anybody who I thought had wronged me, and of course no one would expect me to.
We can also take a look at the pagan roots of Christmas and acknowledge the fact that the holiday enjoyed by some so-called Christians wouldn't even change that much with the Mary's decision to end the life of her deity child. We can still have presents and jingle bells and a tree and candy canes without Christ, folks, and many MANY people do, whether they'd admit it or not.
Finally, let's get back to the religiously incendiary nature of the comment. It's just this sort of rot that does absolutely nothing more than further polarize the sides. The evangelicals read it and say "Darn right! Stupid abortionist pro-deathists!" The atheists read it and say "Typical preachy nonsense from the christians. No surprise."
Just once I'd like to see a christian or an atheist (or anybody for that matter) shirk the stereotype, live above it, and speak some damn truth. There are times in this country when I wonder if logic and reason aren't, to use a term recently made popular, "undocumented individuals," or its more conservative counterpart, "illegal immigrants." Though these unwanted hangers-on may have made their way into our consciousness, it seems as though they're not welcome, an unfortunate inconvenience, and that it's only a matter of time before we're through with them altogether.
I have hope for our country, but it's definitely been reduced to a faint glimmer by things like this. Maybe I'm reading too much into a bumper sticker; I suppose we'll see.