PUBLISHED TO
"I mean honestly, it's very hard at this point to even take a lecture from Democrats on what is moral and what isn't. People who are willing to allow legislation to pass supporting late-term abortion, the idea that they would take out 'So help me God' in the platform that House Democrats have raised this week."Notice it was only ‘abortion,’ and taking God out of the “so help me God” platform that bothered her. That is the extent of her morality. Sarah-Huckabee-I-Couldn’t-Tell-the-Truth-Even-If-I-Wanted-To -Sanders, is tired of being told that lying is wrong. Even though lying is mentioned in those Ten Commandments she wants to put in every courthouse across the country.
And this is a conversation going on nationwide. The lying liars can keep on lying because… abortion... and ‘under God…’ They can separate children from their parents, gut the paychecks of the poor while handing that money to the rich, or build racist walls between peoples. All things Jesus would hate! Yet they say they are moral because they don’t allow legislation to pass supporting late-term abortion. For them, that’s all it takes to be moral?
And that’s why I prefer to be human (or democrat, according SHS) instead of moral. Even though I’m constantly told that if I don’t embrace the Evangelical view of God, I can never be moral, I’m okay with that, because I don’t want to be Evangelical moral. As a human (or democrat, according to SHS); as someone who does not embrace the Evangelical philosophy, I will always have the option of choosing humanity over dogma, compassion over morality, and love over fear.
For example:
If I am a father, and my daughter is raped: as an Evangelical, I am morally obligated to tell her that this was God’s will. It was a ‘legitimate rape,’ and it’s her fault for being there in the first place. “Rape is kinda like the weather, if it’s inevitable, relax and enjoy it.” If she doesn’t “make the best out of a bad situation,” I must remind her that this is God’s plan and she needs to accept it. I must then proscribe a certain set of behaviors that she must follow and obey regardless of how she feels or how badly she is hurting. And she IS going to have that baby if she gets pregnant, because “even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, it’s something God intended to happen.”
As a human (or democrat, according SHS) someone not bound to Evangelical morality, I don’t have to take that route. Instead, I can comfort my daughter, share her anger, her fear, her frustration, and her confusion. I can do my best to be a safe place for her to grieve. I can embrace her while she tries to heal—physically and emotionally. If she finds herself pregnant, I can support her choice in how she handles that pregnancy. Together, the two of us can work our way through the pain. I can share in the emotions that support us as human beings, regardless of what the Evangelical morality tells me I need to do.
If someone I love, let’s say my son, announces that he is gay: Evangelical morality says I am morally obligated to inform him that he must reject this legitimate, biological part of himself, or else suffer the wrath of a God who loves him so much he murdered his own son to prove it. I must ostracize him, and, even if I love him, I must oppose his right to be safe, to be happy, and to be free. I must harass and harangue him, and if that doesn’t work, then I must finally cast him away, even if that means he lives unprotected on the streets. He made this choice and therefore deserves what he gets.
As a human (or democrat, according SHS), I can take the humane approach. I can love him, embrace him, support him, and learn about his life and what being a gay man involves in a world so opposed to him. I can teach him how to love the best I know how, and teach him that love, and loving, are things we must do not only to make ourselves feel better, but also to bring humanity together. I can support his search for romance, his right to be happy, and experience love. I can also do my best to keep him safe from a legal perspective. And most important: I can learn what is true about sexuality and do my best to understand it from a scientific (real-life) perspective.
With Evangelical morality, I must deny the wonder and awe of the cosmos because I’m not allowed to entertain the possibilities of a universe free to construct and build upon itself. I am not allowed to see a creative universe, but, instead, a passive universe simply doing what it's told. I must surrender curiosity and reverence for dogma and doctrine. If observation and awareness challenge my dogma, I must deny that observation and make up my own “truth” (can you say… “Conservapedia”?), and then do all that I can to squelch further inquisition. Inquisitiveness is not allowed outside Evangelical moral tenets.
As a human (or democrat, according SHS), I am free to bask in the phenomenon of an imaginative universe. I can embrace the majesty, the wonder, and… dare-I-say… the mystery. When observation challenges belief (Evangelical morality), I am free to leave that belief behind in favor of a new discovery… a new frontier.
As someone bound to Evangelical morality, I must never learn what might challenge what has been told to me by the “elders” (or SHS). Therefore, I must approach all education cautiously and with terror. As a human (or democrat, according SHS), I am free to choose learning, regardless of the topic, and regardless of where it leads me. I am free to challenge myself to grow mentally, spiritually, and psychologically.
With Evangelical morality, in any situation, I must always choose Evangelical morality over compassion. However, as a human (or democrat, according SHS), I am free to choose compassion, humanity, kindness, and understanding over Evangelical morality. I am, therefore, free. Free to be human, free to love unconditionally, and free to accept and embrace all humanity, even those aspects of humanity that I'm uncomfortable with (fully aware of how much ‘work’ that takes). I am free to choose the direction my life goes, and free to love others, and let them choose the direction their life goes, even if I'm uncomfortable with it. I am free to do everything in my power to make life on this planet… in this place… in this moment… better.
And mostly important: I am free to seek the truth. To renounce the lies and demand that those lying to me acknowledge that they are doing so (and that I know they’re lying to me). If they will not (or cannot) tell me the truth, then I am free to demand they not be allowed to speak for the powers that are, at this moment, bringing chaos upon the earth.
I am often challenged with Pascal's Wager: “What would you lose if you simply chose to believe in [Evangelical] God…” My response: “I would lose my soul.” I would look just like Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who simply cannot tell the truth, but continues to demand others embrace her deceptive and misrepresentation of morality.
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