The Horrible Case of Dr. Gosnell and the Forgotten Ones

[Trigger warning: abortion, murder, disturbing graphic details of Gosnell’s crimes]

In the last week, the Internet has been blowing up with shock, horror and outrage over the murder trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell. A late term abortionist in Lancaster, Penn., Gosnell is on trial in Philadelphia for performing gruesome and illegal late-term abortions that led to death of a woman and seven infants (though in reality, he’s responsible for killing far, far more). During the trial, former employees provided gruesome testimony detailing how Dr. Gosnell frequently and illegally delivered live, viable babies in their 3^rd trimester of pregnancy and then murdered them by severing their heads with scissors. The grand jury report also details how his unlicensed staff illegally administered potentially lethal amounts of drugs to patients, how venereal disease was spread among his patients by reusing unsanitary disposable instruments, and even how he punctured and perforated wombs and bowels leading to the death of at least one woman. The conditions of the clinic can be described as a house of horrors; and according to the grand jury report, when public health officials searched the clinic, “the search team discovered fetal remains haphazardly stored throughout the clinic – in bags, milk jugs, orange juice cartons, and even in cat-food containers.” This place of horrors was Gosnell’s daily business.

 

The Super Bowl, Sex and What to Tell Your Daughters

Sunday’s Super Bowl is over. The players have gone home. The confetti has been cleared. But I have been drawn into the post game debrief conversations centered around sex and sexism at the Super Bowl. As a woman, a Christian, a wife and a mother of two young girls, these conversations are important to me.

 

The Female Apostle and Her Challenge to Evangelicalism

Junia Is Not Alone is a very short e-book authored by Scot McKnight, and in Junia he argues that English-speaking, complementarian translators of scripture have made questionable choices in translating Romans 16:7 because of their commitment to complementarianism.  In part, what his argument also demonstrates is that there is no neutral and objective point of view from which to either translate or interpret scripture.  McKnight’s book raises these questions for us:  Who is Junia?  Why does it matter?  And, how do you know you are interpreting scripture correctly if you are a Protestant without a magisterium or historical confession of faith?

 

Contextual Theology: The Didache and the Fight for Life

Last Wednesday, Ryan Mahoney introduced the readers of this blog to a new series we are running, entitled Contextual Theology. In short, this series is driven by our desire to see Evangelicals re-root themselves in the Great Tradition of the Church.  While many within Western Protestantism have been taught that “tradition” is a dirty word most commonly associated with Catholics, the Reformers of the 1500s would never have seen the Great Tradition in this light.  Indeed, it takes little more than a cursory examination of even a few of the writings of Calvin, Luther and Zwingli to see that these men were deeply invested in tying their theology to the teachings of the universal church that preceded them. So today, as we continue to walk in the footsteps of the Magisterial Reformers, our series continues by taking a look at the modern, pro-life movement through the lens of an ancient text called The Didache or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles.[1]  

 

Culture Wars, Homophobic Chickens and a Net Loss of Yards

So as I continue to struggle to find the path of authentic Christianity in today’s culture, my mind often bounces from point to point within postmodernity.  Why are Evangelicals largely in favor of “big military” and even military preemption, but ardently against abortion?  Why are evangelicals largely against wealth redistribution?  If the evangelical church lives in the grace of the new covenant, why are they largely in favor of carte blanche support of Israel?  What percentage of mega church budgets are allocated towards missions relative to facility maintenance and upkeep? Why is there an Evangelical outcry against homosexuality, but hardly anything said on the divorce rates within their own community or children born out of wedlock?  How has the Republican political party actually served the Evangelical community relative to the advancement of Christ’s birth, death, resurrection and ascension? Where is the compassion of Christ within Evangelical politics?

 

Scripture Prohibits a Woman’s Right to Vote and Civil Rights to Homosexuals?

 

Earlier this year, Blood Stained Ink (BSI) asked, Are Women Second Class Citizens in America? This post briefly provided statistics regarding the number of women elected to the US Congress, as compared to women elected to legislatures around the world. That got me thinking about I Timothy 2 and Empire.

 

Where were You when You just had Sex?

As the ever-expanding world of social media appears to be systematically eliminating anything close to what we might have once called “privacy,” it should probably come as no surprise that there is now a social site dedicated to announcing where you have most recently worn a condom.  You read that right.  Just as you might utilize Foursquare or Facebook to “check in” at a restaurant or a theater or a ballgame, Planned Parenthood has now developed a new website targeting teens and young adults, called “Where Did You Wear It?” In short, it allows you to “check in” on where you just had sex with a condom because after all, “sex that safe should be shared!”

And just how much should we expect you to share?  Well, after entering in all the pertinent geographic information, the site also allows you to add a few more details.  Because after all, it’s not enough that everyone knows where you’re having sex.  This is the “Information Age.”  It’s the “Age of Jersey Shore.”  We need more!

So what’s your gender?  Male?  Female?  Trans?  What about the gender of your partner?  No point in making any assumptions or in protecting his or her identity.  This is all about maximum exposure.

How was the sex?  Was it “ah-maz-ing,” as in “rainbows exploded and mountains trembled?”  Or was it a bit more … down-to-earth, say “a work in progress?”   Don’t be shy, now.  Spill the beans.  We want to know.  Was your world rocked or was it not?!

Every once in a while, in a culture as vast and as complex as ours, you run across something so patently “new” that it’s difficult to know where to even begin an analysis.  And so today, I simply want to leave the analysis up to you.  What do you think Planned Parenthood is trying to accomplish through this site?  What exactly are they trying to normalize and should it be normalized?  What about what we, as a society, are sacrificing for this to be normalized?  Is there moral value in trying to protect people from the consequences of their actions?  What about the value in teaching privacy as a virtue of sorts?  Or is the concept of privacy growing increasingly “passe” in a hyper-connected world?   Regardless of religious affiliation, do you want to be part of a society that “checks in” on a site such as this?  Why?  Or why not?  And if the whole point is being “proud to wear protection,” why is there no ability to “share” this information directly through your personal Facebook account or Twitter?  The comment section is yours.  Have at it, readers.   

 

“Christians” Killing Homosexuals to Win the “Culture War”

In recent days, the politics of Uganda have once again captured the attention of the global audience, as lawmaker David Bahati has sought to introduce a bill into the National Assembly that would call for homosexuals to face life imprisonment for their crimes.  Three years ago, a similar bill, which also included the death penalty for certain sexual acts, was voted down when pressure from the international community was brought to bear on the largely “Christian” nation.[1]  But according to Bahati, “This is a piece of legislation that is needed in this country to protect the traditional family here in Africa.”[2]   In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Bahati went on to say:

 

Voices in the Static: When a Witch and Christian Sit Down to Talk

In just a few minutes, you are going to have the opportunity to sit in on a fascinating conversation that is the first of the “Voices in the Static” series.  These are meant to be conversations that highlight often-muffled “voices” that, although quiet, are steadily shaping our culture in ways that we may not yet be fully aware.   But before I bring you into that dialog, I want to begin by offering you a brief introduction to my partner in this conversation.  Over twenty years ago, Kendra Williams and I knew each other as friends who worked together in our high school theater.  Following graduation, we lost touch with one another, as so many high school friends are prone to do.  But in recent months, we have reconnected through Facebook; and tonight, she has agreed to engage with me in a conversation about her beliefs as a Pagan/Wiccan and how these beliefs shape her interactions with the broader culture and with Christians, in particular.  Kendra holds a degree in the theater arts from the University of Illinois (Chicago) and later went on to study the Japanese language at the University of Maryland.  She presently works as an Office Manager in downtown Chicago and moonlights as an artist in the medium of henna.

 

Breaking Rank: Coming Out as “Gay By Choice”

Cynthia Nixon and her finance, Christine Marinoni

Imagine a hypothetical scenerio in which a well-known pastor from a culturally influential church suddenly came out and admitted that he did not believe the Bible to be inerrant or even inspired.  What would the reaction of the orthodox Christian community look like?  How quickly would we close ranks, talking about the importance of community and foundational beliefs?

If you can imagine this moment and if you can grasp the cultural stakes that are up for grabs, than perhaps you can begin to understand the magnitude of Cynthia Nixon’s recent decision to announce that she is “gay by choice.” Within the broader LGBTQ sub-culture, [1] this is a defection from “orthodoxy” that provides all manner of fodder for those that wish to repress the influence of homosexuality on the wider culture at large.  And as a former star of the widely acclaimed, post-feminist Sex and the City, Ms. Nixon could not be a more public figure.

My purpose here today is not to enter the fray through offering any ill-formed opinions of my own.  Rather, my purpose here today is to allow Ms. Nixon to speak for herself, thus raising questions that are worthy of open discussion.

“I gave a speech recently, an empowerment speech to a gay audience, and it included the line ‘I’ve been straight and I’ve been gay, and gay is better.’ And they tried to get me to change it, because they said it implies that homosexuality can be a choice. And for me, it is a choice. I understand that for many people it’s not, but for me it’s a choice, and you don’t get to define my gayness for me. A certain section of our community is very concerned that it not be seen as a choice, because if it’s a choice, then we could opt out. I say it doesn’t matter if we flew here or we swam here, it matters that we are here and we are one group and let us stop trying to make a litmus test for who is considered gay and who is not.  As you can tell, I am very annoyed about this issue. Why can’t it be a choice? Why is that any less legitimate? It seems we’re just ceding this point to bigots who are demanding it, and I don’t think that they should define the terms of the debate. I also feel like people think I was walking around in a cloud and didn’t realize I was gay, which I find really offensive. I find it offensive to me, but I also find it offensive to all the men I’ve been out with.”[2]

As I said, it’s an enormous declaration.  And there are so many things to unpack in a statement like this that I almost hesitate to open the can of worms.  Nevertheless, this is an important issue for both those within the church and those outside of it.  And when a well-known member of a marginalized community makes a announcement of this magnitude, we absolutely should sit up and pay attention because it has the potential to reveal a great deal about who we are as a society and what we believe to be true.

So what do you think of Cynthia Nixon’s decision?  Was it the brave act of a woman committed to walking her own path, in spite of what the majority of her sub-culture believes to be true?  Or was it the selfish and/or naive act of a woman who willfully threw an oil drum of jet fuel on the bonfire of a culture war?  It’s an interesting question to be sure, particularly in a postmodern culture that idolizes the value of community, but still worships at the alter of Modern, radical, individualized autonomy.

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[1] LGBTQ is the acronym for the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and queer community.

[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/magazine/cynthia-nixon-wit.html?_r=3&pagewanted=3