Just got back from a 9-mile run. As my runs have gotten longer, I've had to face the fact that I live in a pretty small town, and it's hard to map a route that's long enough without running into a highway or a twisty-turny confusing suburb-place. I tend to get lost a lot. So for today, instead of trying to find a 9-mile loop, I just did my old faithful 4.5 mile loop twice. I was afraid this would be discouraging - it was not so long ago that 4.5 miles seemed pretty long to me, and to get to the end and have to start over sounded awful - but it was not. Though my legs hurt a lot now and around the halfway point I got a serious stitch in my side, I felt pretty good and finished strong.
The annoying thing was that on this loop I pass the Catholic church where I sometimes attend, and today they were having a big anti-abortion protest. CLA posted recently on an anti-gay protest at her school, and when I read her post, I was pretty quick to condemn the school's Pride organization for turning what sounded like a small, harmless demonstration into a big confrontational scene. No one profits from this, I argue, because no one is ever going to change anyone else's mind.
But these protestors, who were just standing quietly and holding signs that said "ABORTION KILLS CHILDREN" (no bloody graphics, though, for which I was grateful), really got under my skin. I spent the next seven miles rehashing every argument, retracing my steps. I do this quite often - I would say I do a good thorough think-through on the abortion issue at least once or twice a week. I read about it online. I (very rarely) discuss it with people I know. It's important to me not to become set in my ways on this topic - I don't want to be pro-choice out of dogma or habit. I want to stay freshly convinced.
I had a frustrating conversation with Krista the other day. She remarked that even though she was personally pro-life, she didn't think that abortion should be illegal, but that it should be an individual decision. I tried to explain that this was the very definition of pro-choice, but I'm not sure she was convinced. It was frustrating, because it seemed like she had pretty much the same instincts I do, but she's swallowed some party line and absorbed a lot of misinformation on the mainstream pro-choice position, and so she allies herself with the anti-choicers.
Anyway, now I'm thinking - what's the point of protesting? It's really not a forum in which meaningful debate or exchanges of information can flourish. Is it basically a collective version of a bumper sticker? I used to protest the war in high school, and it seemed like a good thing to do, but what was the point? What were we hoping to achieve?
In a way, of course, the protesters outside my church today did achieve something - they made me go back through all my arguments and see if they still hold up. And they do. I found it almost irresistably tempting not to shout out: "Banning abortion kills women!" but I refrained. There is almost never any point to rudeness. Still, this event has unsettled me, and I'm still feeling that there's little point in trying to meaningfully exchange ideas with anyone, because people tend to be so stuck in their ways that by the time they're in high school they're sold on their whole life philosophy.
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In a funny way you and I are both in the business of trying to persuade people to re-examine their belief systems. In order for us to do this the process of re-examination you describe is important, because it obliges us to construct new arguments. Years ago I had an insight into the pedagogical process when I was taking a skiing lesson. The instructor was describing how to bend into a turn, and used an analogy that I didn't understand. When she realized that I wasn't clear, she described it in a completely different way, and then a third way-- and then I got it. That's what good persuasion does too. You keep plugging in descriptors until the other person sees what you are saying.
Of course this doesn't work if the person you are talking to isn't interested in thinking about the subject, and this is a problem with religious faith. A religious person may see that your argument is sensible and appealing, but believes that a supernatural being has already adequately addressed the issue. The fact that your argument may "make sense" actually makes your argument evil. The devil told Mr. Christ that if he was hungry he could turn stones into delicious sandwiches, and he could have-- but it would have been wrong. Certitude in an uncertain world is a very comforting thing, and it is not easy to get people to confront their existential reality.
My local parish has a program called "Theology On Tap" once a month at a local pizza place. It is moderated by our Associate Pastor who happens to have advanced degrees up the wazoo. I had never atended until this week.
Fr. Hector began by saying he'd worried a bit over this month's topic which was something like"Does Your Faith Affect Your Vote?" He mentioned that his own position would be kept out of the mix because, as a spiritual advisor, the separation of Church and State needed to be observed. Then he asked if all of us assembled (there were about 60 of us), knew the definition of a Bishop. "A Republican with a Mitre",was the answer, leaving little doubt in my mind that this spiritual leader has his head screwed on right.
The format was to outluine some of the important issues: abortion,economy, environment, health care, etc.
We then swing right into the abortion issue. I have seldom been more proud of the kind of Catholics who are the activists in my parish because the comments made were entirely compassionate, reasoned, articulated carefully and fully supportive of faith in a loving God. Bottom line, almost every person who spoke up, and there were many, supported your position, Em, that reasoning people will make reasonable choices without requiring that everyone must subscribe to the same position. When the discussion moved on to the other topics, by and large the opinions continued to be carefully considered and carefully articulated...except for one slightly nutty guy who'd not been heard from on the other topics who wanted to rail about who was to blame for the Wall St. meltdown.
All in all, a good night for da Catliks.
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