What is in the water in Indiana and Missouri these days?
The train wreck that is Todd Akin continues to roll; the latest for those of you not in Missouri is about Todd and friends referring to Claire McCaskill as a dog. Here in Missouri, there are even more stories which y’all might eventually hear about.
But in Indiana…my word. Now I did hear things like “God doesn’t give things that you can’t handle” while growing up [that is a part of evangelical and fundamentalist culture], but really.
Richard Mourdock, Senate candidate in Indiana said the following last night:
“I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is that gift from God. I think that even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”
I do understand the saying “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”, I do not understand how (or when) rape became a “lemon.” Rape is a bodily violation. Rape is a psychic violation. Rape is a spiritual violation. Rape is NOT something G-d intended to happen. Rape is not a “lemon.”
I’ve talked about Dominionists and dominionist theology before. And I’ve talked about the need for religious liberals to counter theology with theology. You cannot wait for a generational shift to happen; that won’t bring you as far as you think. Religious liberals must get into the theological marketplace and start to speak against the dominionist theology that will eventually be in every textbook that schoolchildren receive. Religious liberals must get into the theological marketplace on the internet and counter the theologies that drive us toward death and destruction and injustice (thanatos) with theologies that move us toward life and beauty and justice (eros).
Religious liberals ignore this time in history at our peril. It’s time to get to work.
