I am not a smart man, Jenny.

In which I channel Forrest Gump for a few minutes….:)

I am not a religious man. I was raised Catholic, but retain none of the religious formalisms from my youth. I don’t go to church..on Sundays or any other days for that matter. I eat meat when I want. I swear. I do recognize the existence of God and that Jesus was his son, but the writer in me knows that the New Testament was all about convincing a bunch of heathen bumpkins in the sticks to direct their miserable lives toward a recognition of a unified Creator. Therefore I suspect that much license was taken with the  actual life and works of Jesus. I believe in the power of metaphor. Therefore, I’m not so sure it makes much difference whether Jesus “actually” walked on water or whether the description of His doing so was meant to show that by believing in His teachings, you might transcend the physical limitations of this cruel and unforgiving world. Did he turn loaves into fishes? Maybe (if I know anything, it’s that I don’t know everything). But I recognize that people may have a better time understanding that Faith will provide for all needs if they see it spelled out in a nice story.

Simon and Garfunkel weren’t really “rocks and islands,” they just wanted to convey that they were as strong as rocks–feeling no pain and never crying.

Whether that all makes me a good Catholic, I’m sure I don’t know. Actually, that’s not true. I know it makes me a bad Catholic. It’s whether or not I care if I’m a good Catholic that’s got me puzzled. I like to think it doesn’t matter whether I don’t eat meat or go to Church on Sunday, so long as I do good things and live a spiritual and moral life, but I know reasonable people disagree on this.

This of course is a very long way of introducing the fact that I’m a decidedly non-religious pro-lifer (inasmuch as you don’t need to be religious to recognize that a human life is deserving of the utmost care and respect). I don’t defend the unborn because a human is made in God’s image and killing a human is a travesty to God. Some people do, and they’re entitled to. I don’t.

Abortion is wrong notwithstanding the existence of God.

So I know that when some people watch what I’ve posted below, they’ll get hung up on the God thing, and that’s a shame. Forget God. If God isn’t your thing, just listen to the words and reflect on this: Is anything that happens within your family a private matter? If I murdered my brother, is that private? Would the state be foreclosed from pursuing justice?

Of course not. So the only thing preventing the state from pursuing justice against those who murder their children while still in their womb is a legalism which classifies the “unborn” as “inhuman”. Babies are human when they’re outside the womb, but inhuman when they’re inside the womb? Are you OK with that distinction? Especially you who have children or know people who do. You who have put your hand on a belly and felt a toe press back. Does classifying these people as sterile “fetuses” undeserving of that precious right not to be killed make you feel good inside? Or does it make you feel something else?

It makes me feel wretched.