According to a recent AP story, parents in India are aborting fetus' upon the discovery that the fetus is female.The article states, "In India, there is a huge cultural preference for boys in large part because of the enormous expense in marrying off girls and paying elaborate dowries. Officials have acknowledged that current laws have proved inadequate at combatting [sic] the widening sex ratio gap."
This article got me wondering about the proper feminist response to the situation in India. On the one hand, nothing is more precious to feminist philosophy than reproductive freedom (Abortion is a sacrament to feminism, as Rush says). On the other hand, the Indian situation presents a unique problem for feminism, namely the intentional selecting of female fetus' for abortion. Thus, creating a society where male is good and female is bad.
Selective abortion, based on gender or race, is nothing new. The founding of Planned Parenthood was based on the eradication of minorities from the United States, a purpose for which Planned Parenthood still exists. Nevertheless, the question must be asked, is feminism prepared to defend reproductive freedom at the expense of the status of women in Indian culture?
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_INDIA_SEX_SELECTIVE_ABORTIONS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-05-24-06-48-11
P.S. It may be too little to late, but the Rob Bell post is coming.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Eulogy for Prof. Brad Huffaker 5/16/2011
I am a secular humanist. I am a liberal Democrat. I am a moral deviant. I distribute condoms to any of my students who ask for them...Well, not me personally, but these are some of the highlights from my first day in class with Mr. Huffaker.
I was only 19, and having been homeschooled and raised in a conservative Christian home, I was scandalized by what I heard come from his mouth. I mean, I knew there were Democrats in the world, but I couldn't believe anyone would openly admit to being one. I knew there were people who were not Christian and didn't believe in God, but I made sure to stay a safe distance away from them. Despite my best efforts to avoid those different than me, here I was stuck in a small classroom with an instructor whose worldview was alien to mine. He wore a polo shirt that barely covered his stomach, sweat pants, and sandals with socks. I was determined to dislike him and his class. Fortunately for me what I found was an unexpected intellectual challenge and, most unexpectedly of all, a very close friend.
We live in a world where we are given two options, as it relates to having a worldview. The first option is to be friends with everyone and to have no firmly held beliefs at all, and to never let on if you do so as to never offend anyone. The second is to have such deeply held convictions that we cut ourselves off from anyone who thinks or lives differently. The most valuable instruction I received from Mr. Huffaker is that both of these options are wrong.
What I learned from him was the importance of having deeply held beliefs and the importance of debating them both intelligently and passionately, while at the same time considering an alternative point of view. I learned that people with extreme differences can, not only tolerate each, but love each other. I learned that people with differences don't have to hide their opinions but should engage in open and civil debate. From my first semester with him to now, I have carried these principles with me. And I must say that, after having lived in Seattle where everyone and everything is different than what I'm used to, having Mr. Huffaker as an instructor and friend really paid off.
It has been my personal experience that those who speak about tolerance, acceptance, and diversity are in fact enemies of such ideas. This is certainly not the case with Mr. Huffaker. While he was not himself a religious man, he never discouraged my Christian faith. On the contrary, he encouraged my study of scripture, theology, and philosophy. He even came to hear me preach on a Sunday morning. Mr. Huffaker always disagreed with my conservative political philosophy, but again his motivation didn't seem to be to change me but to challenge me, and he did. The last time I saw Mr. Huffaker, he mentioned his desire to get his will in order. He said that he might leave me some money. I told him he wouldn't want to do that. He asked me why, and I replied that I would give the money to the GOP.
It is true enough that Mr. Huffaker and I agreed on very little, but on this we do: that the freedom of our own minds to think about serious matters must be protected and encouraged, and all people should be allowed to speak and be listened to. Has this conservative, Republican, Christian, Lutheran benefited from having a close relationship with a secular, humanist, liberal, deviant? Yes.
Over the last few months Mr. Huffaker had gone through a series of serious surgeries in Tulsa, and I was driving him back and forth. When Mr. Huffaker and I arrived at the Tulsa hospital for the second time he told me, "Don't tell anyone I'm telling you this, but if you want to put in a good word for me with 'the man upstairs' that would be fine with me." I told him I had been praying for him since the moment I met him, and he said he appreciated that. So I don't think he would mind if I prayed,
Almighty God, creator of all that has been, all that is, and all that will be, remember your child Brad Huffaker. Deliver him not into the enemies hands, but for the sake of the holy, innocent and bitter sufferings and death of your beloved son Jesus Christ welcome him into the life eternal. In the name of the Holy Trinity the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I was only 19, and having been homeschooled and raised in a conservative Christian home, I was scandalized by what I heard come from his mouth. I mean, I knew there were Democrats in the world, but I couldn't believe anyone would openly admit to being one. I knew there were people who were not Christian and didn't believe in God, but I made sure to stay a safe distance away from them. Despite my best efforts to avoid those different than me, here I was stuck in a small classroom with an instructor whose worldview was alien to mine. He wore a polo shirt that barely covered his stomach, sweat pants, and sandals with socks. I was determined to dislike him and his class. Fortunately for me what I found was an unexpected intellectual challenge and, most unexpectedly of all, a very close friend.
We live in a world where we are given two options, as it relates to having a worldview. The first option is to be friends with everyone and to have no firmly held beliefs at all, and to never let on if you do so as to never offend anyone. The second is to have such deeply held convictions that we cut ourselves off from anyone who thinks or lives differently. The most valuable instruction I received from Mr. Huffaker is that both of these options are wrong.
What I learned from him was the importance of having deeply held beliefs and the importance of debating them both intelligently and passionately, while at the same time considering an alternative point of view. I learned that people with extreme differences can, not only tolerate each, but love each other. I learned that people with differences don't have to hide their opinions but should engage in open and civil debate. From my first semester with him to now, I have carried these principles with me. And I must say that, after having lived in Seattle where everyone and everything is different than what I'm used to, having Mr. Huffaker as an instructor and friend really paid off.
It has been my personal experience that those who speak about tolerance, acceptance, and diversity are in fact enemies of such ideas. This is certainly not the case with Mr. Huffaker. While he was not himself a religious man, he never discouraged my Christian faith. On the contrary, he encouraged my study of scripture, theology, and philosophy. He even came to hear me preach on a Sunday morning. Mr. Huffaker always disagreed with my conservative political philosophy, but again his motivation didn't seem to be to change me but to challenge me, and he did. The last time I saw Mr. Huffaker, he mentioned his desire to get his will in order. He said that he might leave me some money. I told him he wouldn't want to do that. He asked me why, and I replied that I would give the money to the GOP.
It is true enough that Mr. Huffaker and I agreed on very little, but on this we do: that the freedom of our own minds to think about serious matters must be protected and encouraged, and all people should be allowed to speak and be listened to. Has this conservative, Republican, Christian, Lutheran benefited from having a close relationship with a secular, humanist, liberal, deviant? Yes.
Over the last few months Mr. Huffaker had gone through a series of serious surgeries in Tulsa, and I was driving him back and forth. When Mr. Huffaker and I arrived at the Tulsa hospital for the second time he told me, "Don't tell anyone I'm telling you this, but if you want to put in a good word for me with 'the man upstairs' that would be fine with me." I told him I had been praying for him since the moment I met him, and he said he appreciated that. So I don't think he would mind if I prayed,
Almighty God, creator of all that has been, all that is, and all that will be, remember your child Brad Huffaker. Deliver him not into the enemies hands, but for the sake of the holy, innocent and bitter sufferings and death of your beloved son Jesus Christ welcome him into the life eternal. In the name of the Holy Trinity the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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