Why Christians Evoke Such Disdain in The Secular Society
Christians are their own worst enemy at times. No one is immune to hypocrisy, even the most righteous, moral, benevolent person you have ever met has been a hypocrite at one time or another. That being said it doesn't mean that a hypocrite is necessarily wrong - but sticking their nose where it doesn't belong while spouting moral certitudes will undoubtedly create a vicious backlash. In some cases the disdain is completely justified and others it is just a knee jerk reflex devoid of rationality.
Case in point: A news story regarding a new vaccination for a devastating disease and a "family group" (read: Christian Fundamentalists) pushing legislators to block it from being grouped in with the mandatory childhood vaccination schedule. I'm talking about the vaccine to prevent HPV in young ladies which is the leading cause of cervical cancer. HPV is generally spread through sexual contact. The family group says making it mandatory will send the "wrong message" to young girls that it will be all right to have casual sex. Even I as a Christian find that to be a ridiculous argument. Cervical cancer a horrible disease and the vaccine is proved and approved - not dispensing it on the grounds that it sends the wrong message is cruel and inhuman.
The only leg a legislator has to stand on in blocking this from becoming part of the mandatory vaccination list is the method by which it is spread. It is not spread through the air like TB, polio or measles. Still, to condemn any number of young women to suffer the devastation of cervical cancer including rendering them incapable of having children based on the moral certainty of these family groups is wrong.
Case in Point #2:
A Time Magazine cover story about those horrible Crisis Pregnancy Centers that are popping up all over the country where they try to help young ladies decide NOT to abort their babies. (sarcasm off). Time asks: When a young girl in crisis seeks counseling is it fair that she is shown what her "baby" looks like and what its heartbeat sounds like? Seriously, has anyone ever ran a cover story about the fairness of Planned Parenthood's and NARAL's tactics.
Simply because these centers are backed and funded by Christian churches and organizations do they instantly become suspects. What these centers do is remarkable and commendable. In many cases they provide all the medical care for free and help support the woman financially for up to year after the baby is born. They help with adoption if that option is chosen.
What they don't do is provide contraception. AHA! Now we begin to see why the distrust and disdain. They are PRO-LIFE! More precisely they are anti-choice! Well, since they don't take money from the government there is no way to hurt these centers economically within the political realm. So, we get articles like this in Time Magazine where they try to portray these angels as anything but. Even when these articles attempt balance the sneer of condescension is laced throughout. In the end the reader is supposed to view these good people as kind hearted Christian kooks.
If anything these Crisis Pregnancy Centers adhere to the concept of “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”. The so-called Family Groups do not. They deserve the disdain they get from the secular community because they intend to foist their moral value judgment on the general population via legislation. The Crisis Pregnancy Centers, while making no noise about morality laws face hostility simply because they displease the secular world. They dare to do their work where they can't be touched. They dare not bow down before the shrine of abortion-rights. They dare to console young people to practice abstinence before marriage (impractical or not) as the only sure fire way to prevent pregnancy and STD's.
They dare to call a fetus a BABY!
So, to follow the logic of the "keep your morals off my body" crowd it is NOT OK to risk a young womens life to HPV due to some moral judgment of certain Christians, but IT IS OK to condemn a private group trying protect and save an unborn child because the group is backed by those horrible Christians.
In the end all one can say is: none of us has a monopoly on truth or moral certainty.
CW
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