A-dangit!-men!! Does he (and others like him, both in my own church and others, and no churches at all) think that it's "more moral" for women to be killed in the process of getting an illegal abortion? B/c that's what happens, as history has shown us. You can make abortion illegal, but you won't stop it from happening :-P If he/they wanna DO something about the number of abortions, tell 'em to go check out the way that the Netherlands (for example) handles "sex education" and their teen pregnancy/abortion rates vs. ours :-P
And for the record, yes, I teach this topic in a religiously-affiliated university, with a fairly conservative background. There is sooooo much more to that whole topic/issue than whether or not abortion is legal.
'Scuse me. I'll climb down from my handy, inflatable soapbox now ;-)
I like your inflatable soapbox. I might have to borrow it sometime :)
The other thing that kills me is that in the state of Arkansas, there are two physicians who perform abortions. Two. Neither one of which is anywhere near where I live (one is three hours away, the other is four hours away). Our entire county has 13,000 people in it. The entire state of Arkansas has a 9% abortion rate, of which 3 (not 3%, 3 total) came from our county. Meanwhile, almost 30% of the people in our county live below federal poverty lines. It makes me so mad that the church would waste time and resources on a non-issue when they could be putting food on peoples' tables.
Eep. I hate to ask, but is there a church of another denomination you can attend? Or is there another Catholic church within driving distance?
I know Episcopalians are one of the more liturgical denominations, and Lutherans, too. Methodists are less liturgical (but still very liturgically based, if that makes sense), but, in general, a little more liberal, socially. I know our congregation (United Methodist) has a lot of members who grew up Catholic but left because they couldn't reconcile things like this.
It just really sounds like the church you've got there is not a good fit for you, and to me the most important part of going to church is the community. It feels like your congregation is pushing you away from God, not bringing you closer (which, IMO, is what the church is for).
It's something to consider, at least, but I KNOW it's not an easy decision to make.
The next closest Catholic church is an hour away, I think. Not terrible, but it's a windy little two-lane mountain road.
As for changing churches, I'm so torn about it. I've tried going to other churches before, and it just felt... wrong to me somehow. Besides, in our little town, there's one Methodist church, one Catholic church, 20 Baptist churches, 19 Pentacostal/AOG churches, and 3 Mennonite churches. Not a lot of selection in the liturgical area. :)
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And for the record, yes, I teach this topic in a religiously-affiliated university, with a fairly conservative background. There is sooooo much more to that whole topic/issue than whether or not abortion is legal.
'Scuse me. I'll climb down from my handy, inflatable soapbox now ;-)
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The other thing that kills me is that in the state of Arkansas, there are two physicians who perform abortions. Two. Neither one of which is anywhere near where I live (one is three hours away, the other is four hours away). Our entire county has 13,000 people in it. The entire state of Arkansas has a 9% abortion rate, of which 3 (not 3%, 3 total) came from our county. Meanwhile, almost 30% of the people in our county live below federal poverty lines. It makes me so mad that the church would waste time and resources on a non-issue when they could be putting food on peoples' tables.
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I know Episcopalians are one of the more liturgical denominations, and Lutherans, too. Methodists are less liturgical (but still very liturgically based, if that makes sense), but, in general, a little more liberal, socially. I know our congregation (United Methodist) has a lot of members who grew up Catholic but left because they couldn't reconcile things like this.
It just really sounds like the church you've got there is not a good fit for you, and to me the most important part of going to church is the community. It feels like your congregation is pushing you away from God, not bringing you closer (which, IMO, is what the church is for).
It's something to consider, at least, but I KNOW it's not an easy decision to make.
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As for changing churches, I'm so torn about it. I've tried going to other churches before, and it just felt... wrong to me somehow. Besides, in our little town, there's one Methodist church, one Catholic church, 20 Baptist churches, 19 Pentacostal/AOG churches, and 3 Mennonite churches. Not a lot of selection in the liturgical area. :)
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