Religion & Ethics: Religious Reich’s Top Ten List

Religious Reich’s Top Ten List of Priorities

Reverend Deborah Elandus Lake

Religious right-wing, conservatives (the Religious Reich) are working to strip us of our rights, freedom, and diversity. They are committed to spreading their brand of religiosity throughout the United States, and the rest of the world. Their goal is to change our Constitution so that the Constitution supports their beliefs. How ethical is this?

The Family Research Council’s website, a Reich gathering place, contains a list they call their Top Ten Legislative Priorities. One of their priorities starts:

To ensure marriage remains reserved to one man and one woman will require amending the U.S. Constitution.

These people want to change our Constitution. They want to change what it means to be American. They want to throw away the gains made through the sacrifices of our ancestors, regardless of their race or gender, and turn America into a state ruled by a theocracy. In addition, they are dangerously close to succeeding because of the power held by Bush, the pending appointment of Alito, and the silence of many of us who disapprove. How ethical is this?

On the same top ten list is what the Reich calls the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act,

which:

…would require those who perform abortions on unborn children 20 weeks after fertilization or later to inform the woman seeking an abortion of the medical evidence that the unborn child feel pain.

The Reich is seeking to make it legal to terrorize women at a time when we are most vulnerable. They want to legalize the bullying of women by our doctors, by our partners, by our churches, by our families, and by our schools during a time when we need their support and advice the most.

The Religious Reich goes on to demand that doctors (those who perform abortions) should be forced to distribute brochures developed by the Department of Health and Human Services to pregnant women (the woman seeking an abortion). The brochure will drive home the Reich’s point that the fetus (the unborn child) feels pain. The language in parenthesis here contains their hostile tone toward the doctors and women who disagree with their view of the world. This is a small example of how the Religious Reich treats anyone who disagrees with them. How ethical is this?

Finally, in the event that the Reich’s terror tactics and bullying fail and the pregnant woman still wants to have the abortion, they want to mandate that doctors offer anesthesia for the fetus before the procedure is performed.

Religious Reich, what kind of ethical standards justify wanting to terrorize people this way?

Where in your Bible does Jesus tell you that it is okay to terrorize and bully women?

When in Jesus' life and ministry did he use his influence to make people terrorize and bully each other?

Who gave you the last word on how a woman decides to become a mother?

These are unprecedented times, and they call for unprecedented responses. Those of us who respect religious diversity, personal freedom, the separation of church and state, the value of the Constitution, and freedom of speech must put aside our divisions, and our egos and work together to bring the Religious Reich to a halt.

Rev. D. Elandus Lake