As with many letters to the editor ash sends to her local paper, this one responds to a previous writer in a manner including the previous writer’s assertions. Suffice it to say the writer in question attempted, unsuccessfully, to make his particular brand of Christianity the law of the land:
This letter is futile. It will convince no one. It will persuade no one of the rightness of its argument while merely reinforcing those who already agree.
It is also derivative, drawing upon a previous observation to remake its case. “Creator,” as it has been pointed out, is deliberately non-specific. Is it God? Only if one interprets it to be, and only if one insists on a particular God coinciding with one’s particular brand of religion.
I posit that “Creator” could refer to the two people involved in creating new life, one of whom (as designed by God Himself?) is assigned the physical responsibility of carrying that life thus decides whether that life, in its earliest stage, becomes an actual, independently breathing, self-aware human being. Or not.
As I see it, there are two great ironies afflicting the American experiment. One is the sad legacy of slavery, in which one race of humans dragged another to this continent, only to taunt them “go home” if they didn’t like their lives post emanicipation. The other is refusing to acknowledge that the entire existence of this country is anathema to the principle that religion itself, much less any preferred religion, shall govern it. While many conflate the two, they are not analogous. The first group, despite contemporary rationalization to the contrary, comprised fully-formed humans. The second encompasses a rudimentary, pre-autonomous version of life.
While South Dakota attempts to impose Draconian restrictions upon fertile women who happen to live there, South Carolina proposes becoming a “Christian state.” If that occurs, South Carolina will actually become its own country, since it will no longer qualify as American. So I have to laugh – if not grimace – when someone offers to “educate liberals” about abortion dependent on a Bible lecture. That’s not education; that’s indoctrination.
And that’s it. Discuss among yourselves. My yard sign withstood the tornado just fine.