Pre-Election Day Thought Jogger – Republicans Against Women and Gays

Sometimes I don’t understand how you can fuck up the rule of no religion in politics.  It seems pretty clear cut to me.  When you’re running for office, sure, you might be a [Monotheistic Belief Structure of your Choice], but when you obtain the status, you put that part of you aside.  You are the representative of the people of your country, people who have all different beliefs.

In a nation where religion is practiced freely (or should be, at least), the only way to combat the issues of religion mingling with politics is to focus on the secular concerns of the people.  For me, I understand this to mean civil liberties and rights.  Typically I don’t really go on political rampages here on the blog since I try to keep to a practical level of information, but I think you know that I am all about women’s issues, gay issues, and really, human issues.

For the last several months, it has become dishearteningly evident that the modern day Republican Party just hates women and gays, and nobody can argue with me when I say it’s because of religion.  Well, no, that’s a little too politically correct.  Let’s just cut the bullshit – radical Christianity has obliterated the rights women and gays have in this country.  And it’s a constant reminder that nobody has been penalized for using Christianity as a tool to gain power over those they perceive to be weaker, second class citizens.

Rape is God’s Will, So Says Richard Mourdock. No Quote, You Say? Let Me Explain.

I have been dormant on the blog for a while (school, work, etc) but recently this came up in the news and it is imperative that I put my two cents in because this is fucking ridiculous.

 

People have used God as an excuse for a multitude of things.   On the top of this list right now is that if you were raped and got pregnant from it, God intended you to get raped and get pregnant from it.

 

Here is a quote and a video in case you can’t believe it:

“I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is that gift from God. And I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”

Since the release of such a statement, Richard Mourdock himself was upset by it, but not because he had a lapse of judgement and regret over something so appalling, but because, apparently, it was taken out of context?

Let me make this clear.  You cannot take something like that out of context.

You cannot have God “will” you to get pregnant from rape without saying He willed you to get raped.

“Don’t penalize the unborn child, it was meant to be there because of  God’s Will.”  With that logic, you are also saying the person who raped you should not be held accountable for his or her own actions because it was in God’s design that they would be a rapist.  They can’t help themselves because it’s God’s Will!  Of course.

Imagine the outcry if a rapist plead “not guilty” to a rape because it was God’s Will.  It would not fucking fly.

How long will it be til someone calls bullshit on this ancient belief that we submit ourselves to God’s Will and just deal with it?   Actually, the real issue here is, when will someone call bullshit on the fact that it is NOT God’s Will – but instead a cover up, a cop out, an excuse for the millions of people who commit crimes such as rape?

Their actions have nothing to do with God – they have EVERYTHING to do with themselves.

I am not a Christian, but it is generally observed that God loves all of us, and I struggle to comprehend how people like Richard Mourdock can even begin to justify saying that God would bring down upon you a most heinous violation simply because He wants to. This, ladies and gentleman, is using God as a justification for rape, is it not?

Again:  You can’t say God wanted you to get pregnant after being physically and mentally violated without saying God wanted you to be physically and mentally violated.  Rape has been, and will always be, a power tool used by humans to enforce power on another.  NOT a design by God’s Will to better you as a person or teach you a lesson, or to bestow a lovely gift of life, which I am assuming is what Mourdock believes is a holy reason for rape.

When shit like this happens, it really paints a gruesome picture of how these people look at women:  They are not people.  They aren’t people who have rights to when they want to have children, if they want to have children.  Women are essentially degraded to the point where they are just vessels for babies to be pumped into and pulled out of.  Rape, for these guys, is totally justifiable, because that’s what women are for.  Intercourse, consensual or not, to make babies.  And I’m pretty sure they stick that sentiment on God too.

It is a policy in Christianity to grant God the praise or the blame and accept it as an unchanging truth. This is a value that Christians should stop enforcing/glorifying and start taking responsibility.  People should be looking at history and pointing the finger at every man (and woman!) who has used God as an excuse to commit a horrendous crime.  And I’m pointing at Richard Mourdock, who is effectively excusing rapists from their crimes by way of God’s Will.

This has got to stop.