Shut Up and Sit Down

This is an open letter to the anti-choice, anti-sex, anti-woman crazies of the so-called "conservative" movement.

Hey, you. Shut up and sit down. Yes, you.

Now listen, I don't care who you are or what you do for a living. You simply do not have the moral right to foment violence against anyone else on the basis of your disagreements, however heartfelt. You especially don't get to do it for political or religious reasons.

You don't get to pile up the rhetorical wood, soak it in lighter fluid and then act oh, so surprised when someone throws a match. The rest of us know you're just as morally guilty as the person who lit the fire.

In America, you still get to believe whatever you want. You just don't get to act on it if it breaks the law. You don't like a law? Change it. If you can't change a law, it's because more people agree with your opposition than they do with you. Deal with it. That's democracy.

And let's talk about religion, shall we? Here's what I believe: I believe that people have souls. I believe those souls don't enter the body until shortly before birth, and sometimes during the birth. I believe the fetus is like a car with the engine running - and no passenger. My reasons for believing this aren't any stranger than your belief that a collection of 2,000-year-old writings of disputed origin are the literal Word of God.

My belief is that abortion does not kill a human being with a soul. Yours is that is does.

These are irreconcilable differences. That's why we have separation of church and state here - so that no one is afraid because of what they believe. It's one of the founding principles of our nation.

You do not get to decide my beliefs for me, nor I for you. You can't make me want to punish people for having sex, and I can't make you feel compassion or stop judging them for it. So be it. This is the deal we made as a nation.

You don't seem to get how this basic principle of church and state being separate protects us all. (For instance, it protects people who want to have a backyard cookout from PETA extremists who believe meat is murder. They believe it just as fervently as you believe abortion is murder.)

That principle, that public contract is what's supposed to keep all of us safe from retribution for our beliefs. Many parts of this country were founded by religious refugees; the freedom to worship freely was important to them. You want to live in a theocratic state? I suggest Afghanistan.

And while we're on the subject, can you show me anything in the Bible that prohibits abortion? You can't, because it's not there. Your adherents like to cite Psalm 139 or Jeremiah 1:5 as proof, when it's something others just as fervently believe is proof of reincarnation! Who are you to say that what you believe takes precedence over everyone else?

Do you have any idea how many churches allow their members to choose abortions? Even the Seventh Day Adventists, who are not exactly slackers in the "strict" department!

Of course, some of you don't really believe what you say - or at least, you don't actually live your beliefs. (Ask anyone who works at an abortion clinic, who all have stories of anti-choice activists who bring their daughters for abortions.) Some of you are simply parroting what you think people want to hear. Maybe you're a member of the media who finds beating the anti-choice drum brings more viewers (and more lucrative speaking engagements). Maybe you're a politician who's pretending to care about the issue because, well, it's easy than risking your nice cushy job with a principled stand.

Shame on you. You are disgusting excuses for human beings. Instead of appealing to people's higher natures, you get down in the slime and roll around with them.

You are the lowest form of pimp.

A man lies dead today, a good man who's helped countless women in their time of need. He was shot dead in a church.

If that doesn't prove what hypocrites you all are, nothing ever will.

Comments

[Dindrane]

Spot on, this. Bravo, and thanks.

[timm0]

I'm sorry, but your advice, though sage, is unlikely to register. The problem with the fundamentalists is that the whole "sit down and listen" part of the equation is not a very strong skill.

Dispassionate debate, logical thought, and the ability to critique one's own beliefs or actions are looked at with disdain in that camp - and these activities are looked on as bad because the practice, by definition, challenges the elements of blind faith that they've been told they must adhere to if they want to avoid burning in eternal hellfire.

Those folks occasionally yell at me for "putting us down." But I can't really help it... if you believe in fairy tales and the bogeyman, don't expect me to take any religion-based, political positions very seriously...

[wendy82551]

Right the eff on.

It's time we got serious with the O'Reillys of the world--people who want to have their rhetorical cake and eat it too. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that their irresponsible language creates an environment for this murder to happen, and unless we get up and start taking action against them, it's going to continue.

Let's start the good old capitalist way--boycotts of sponsors for anyone who uses inflammatory rhetoric--like calling people Nazis or murderers. They are, as someone else said, nothing more than fundamentalist christian terrorists, and they need to be treat accordingly, including "Mullah" O'Reilly.

[blaqntelligence]

Beautiful!
And thank you!