Today I got an email from a Christian Pro-life group, and I thought "Silly Christians, always fighting against abortion. Don't you know I'm a Pagan?"
Then I froze, as what I had said went through me. I'm a Pagan, and most Pagans fight for Pro-Choice. You will often see women of our community with signs or some other form of media fighting for the right to chose what to do with her body. And that's okay - it's one of the things our Military has fought so hard for - our freedom to chose how to live our lives.
This blog is not an attack or a defense one way or the other. Personally I stand in the middle of the road. I firmly believe that life starts at conception, when one swimming sperm makes it into the egg and the chrysalis begins. Babies are babies before they leave the womb. No body asks a woman what she is going to name her "fetus". I also believe that there is a time for the right to chose, and not being a woman, I cannot imagine the weight of having to decide which way to go: to allow the creation of life to continue or to terminate the pregnancy. I have never thought differently of my friends who have made those difficult choices - I still love and respect them more than my biological adult family.
I just find it odd, that in a faith that places such a HIGH focus on the Wheel of Life and continually celebrates fertility and all things living, it is odd that we are the people who fight the most for the choice to destroy our own seed.
How many people do you know that would toil the soil in their yard, plant seed by hand, water it, love it and do energy work towards their newly planted garden? Many of them can count the days until the first few sprouts of life spring up above the soil. I can imagine how upset they'd be if just before the first sprout broke through the soil to see the light of day a group of children ran across the top of the garden. They'd be furious!!! Are our bodies so different? Or is it the permanent, life altering responsibility that raising children can bring that makes the difference?? After all - raising a child is expensive, hard work and lasts longer than most prison sentences!
I myself have several children. While I thought about this blog, I asked my teen-aged daughter if she knew what Pro-life and Pro-choice meant. She didn't. After explaining them to her, I asked her which one she thought Christianity and Paganism fell into. Her response was what I expected. "That's easy Daddy. Christianity is Pro-Choice because they're hypocritical and rude most of the time. Wicca, Witches and Pagans are Pro-Life because we love and celebrate life!"
And that we do... This is the time of year for Ostara / Eostre / Easter. All three are celebrations of life, though all in their own ways. Many of us will place eggs on our altars, on mantles or shelves as symbols of this Sabbat.
As we go forward and participate in our own celebrations / rituals, maybe we should ask ourselves what is it that we really believe and are we living examples of our said beliefs? Or are we just being "Fluffy Pagans" and practicing only the things we say we enjoy and going about our lives in a way that is counter to our beliefs?
Like I said - this isn't a side or an attack. It is just something to think about...
Blessed Be.
Your daughter's reaction really made me stop & think. I had friends get pregnant in highschool. A few chose abortion, 1 chose adoption, & 2 chose to have the baby. I have to stand for a woman's right to choose because the ones the worst off now are the ones who had the babies; & the children from the ones who had them live hard lives in poverty. As we celebrate the cycle of Life, we also acknowledge the necessity of Death. Plus I think any woman who has been raped should be allowed to have an abortion. I know one who was forced to have her rapist's baby -Christian family & at a Christian university.
ReplyDeleteRape is absolutely one of the times I completely agree with abortion. As far as the friends in poverty, that is usually due to a series of choices, education and/or upbringing. I wouldn't attribute that to having children... but having them before you are financially prepared to definitely makes an impact! But then a person can ask - when are you truly financially 'ready'?
ReplyDelete-Thanks for the comment!-
This, unfortunately, is an oversimplification of the whole abortion issue. It is not precisely true that we fight for the choice to destroy our own seed; expressing it in these terms is as much a perversion of our true intent as is the claim that we also fight for the right to worship Satan. (To wit, one ought to be able to worship Satan, but that does not really enter into the conversation for us, and neither does the "choice to destroy our own seed.") Rather, those of us who are pro-choice generally are so because we believe that a mother alone (or with the help of those she seeks for medical and spiritual assistance) can determine what's best for her and her child. No government and no church should be able to make that determination in her place.
ReplyDeleteJBillman- Thank you for your comment! I agree that no one but the mother has the truest idea of what is best in this situation - and that no part of government or a church should have any say. (Of course, I do not feel that the Gov't should have any involvement in the funding of it, unless it is for Victim assistance.)
ReplyDeleteLike I said, I'm not taking a side- just making an observation about the irony of the situation.
I would like to see more right to choice - especially in states in the 'Bible Belt' like Mississippi. I know that women in that state cannot even get on birth control without their husband's consent. I have several friends who live there and they don't want to have anymore children. (It is dangerous to one friends health, and yet she cannot get the help she needs.)
But that could be the topic of another blog. Thanks again!
I don't look any differently on what choice a person makes. Whether to keep the child or terminate. Its their choice to so, because we have no idea what they can be going through. But they have the choices of birthcontrol or condoms and if they're that worried about being pregnant, they should take those extra steps to prevent that. From what I see, people tend to harp on the fact that for whatever reason they chose to give the baby up, terminate, or keep the child, that they didn't look at why they got pregnant in the first place. Its like when I got pregnant with my son, I wasn't doing anything to prevent it, but when I found out I was pregnant . . . People wanted me to terminate because of my finical situation. I said no and fought my whole pregnancy to keep my son. Its sad that people don't look at the whole picture.
ReplyDeleteDuo- Thank you for your comment! It is a tough situation, and it is never helpful when everyone is not supportive of the choice that someone makes. There is always a bigger picture, and it isn't always easy to see.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't really matter what any one else thinks - it's your life and ultimately on we can make and live with the decisions we make.
Thanks again!