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AR 24:14 - Moral restraint giving way
In this issue:
BIOETHICS - where assisted death prescription law carries less liability than errors in health care treatment
FICTION - describing darkness, violence, and sex for teens "is more than fine," but don't mention religion
SEX - pastor wants all to "reach for a new Christian sexual ethic"
Apologia Report 24:14 (1,422)
April 5, 2019
BIOETHICS
"New Mexico's Radical Assisted Suicide Legislation" by Wesley J. Smith -- begins: "Assisted suicide advocates pretend they just want a very limited death license, a 'safety valve,' as they put it, for suffering in the terminally ill that cannot otherwise be alleviated (almost always, a false premise).
"The problem is, their laws and proposals never actually read that way. And now a legalization bill in New Mexico shows the true radical heart of the assisted suicide/euthanasia agenda.
"The bill would allow non-doctors to lethally prescribe. ...
"So why allow these less qualified professionals to prescribe lethally? Many doctors refuse to participate in ending their patients' lives where assisted suicide is legal. Broadening the lethal license to non-doctors would ensure a larger pool of ideologically suicide-friendly 'health care providers' to whom advocates can refer suicidal patients. ...
"[P]atients who [are] not receiving end-of-life care because they are not yet in the dying stage of their condition would have to be informed about the immediate availability of assisted suicide.
"The consulting physician (second opinion) never has to actually meet the patient! The witnesses need only affirm that the consult examined the patient by 'telemedicine'....
"Lethal prescribers face far lower legal accountability for mistakes than treating health care providers...." National Review, Dec 27 '18, <www.bit.ly/2WmUSHJ>
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FICTION
Under the column heading "Children's Books," in last year's Christmas edition of the New York Times, young adult fiction author and Adelphi University professor Donna Freitas reflects on the freedom she now enjoys for influencing teens. "A writer can go as dark and violent as it gets. Sex is more than fine (see all of B. T. Gottfred's <gottfred.net> giddy, explicit novels). Graphic, instructive, erotic, romantic, disappointing: Bring it all on! Even better, current Y.A. novels now have many L.G.B.T.Q. protagonists (see Meredith Russo), which was not the case even 10 years ago. Now, I say, the sky is the limit." Well, not quite. She admits: "Religion is the last taboo. ...
"While I used to say that I have a Ph.D. in religious studies, I started referring instead to my dissertation topic, postmodern French feminist philosophy. That way, no one would assume I was conservative, antisex and intolerant. To be known as a person of faith, especially of the Christian, Catholic variety, I noticed, was to cause a kind of allergic reaction, to provoke suspicion and distrust. ...
"Religions and religious people have done and still do reprehensible things in our world, to women, to children, to some of the people I care most deeply about.
"Calls for censorship of novels for children and young adults typically arise from religiously affiliated quarters...."
Yet, "I find that even atheists tend to perk up when discussing the possibilities and freedoms a more open, forgiving spirituality might bring to their lives." <www.nyti.ms/2uvP0zX>
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SEX
The GetReligion blog for religion journalists recently included "Covering Nadia Bolz-Weber: It's time for reporters to ditch the public-relations approach" by Julia Duin (Feb 27 '19) -- "I've been following a trail of articles about the Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber that correspond to cities where she's doing a book tour for her latest book Shameless: A Sexual Reformation. [1]
"Surprise. All the reports have been glowing about this brave, tell-it-like-it is pastor who gives the world her middle finger while writing cool books." Her latest "calls for a sexual reformation within Christianity, modeled on the arguments of Martin Luther....
"Yes, this pastor has a way with words." Vulgar ones. Reader beware: If you are unfamiliar with Bolz-Weber and are easily derailed by foul language, you might want to hesitate before reading further.
"Bolz-Weber loathes what she sees as the holier-than-thou attitude prevalent among Christians. ... In Shameless, she takes aim at everything from Augustine of Hippo, the fourth-century theologian, who taught that Christians should deny the urges of the flesh ... to the evangelical purity culture of the past several decades, which holds that women, in particular, must remain virgins before marriage.
"Her descent as a teen from a church-going teenager into being an alcoholic and a rebel has been told in many places. To excuse her foray into sexual license (and I haven't even gone into what she's saying about the benefits of porn), she goes after the purity movement, which has taken a shellacking this past year from several quarters. ...
"Although Bolz-Weber had been raised in a church that saw abortion as evil, she no longer holds to such teachings. ...
"Through better sex, her spirit softened, and she found herself closer to God, which led her to rethink the relationship between sex and religion. Bolz-Weber discusses these events in Shameless, which is both a theological text and a personal one. Until now, she's never spoken about her abortion, but she believes that it's time to begin a new conversation about abortion and religion. ...
"One thing that is certain: Bolz-Weber is not a victim and she's not persecuted by other Christians. ...
"[T]he idea of nasty sex-obsessed conservative Christians makes for a nice bogeyman, and Bolz-Weber will play this drama for as long as she can." <www.bit.ly/2UhPPLC>
From the publisher: "Raw, intimate, and timely, Nadia Bolz-Weber's latest book offers a full-blown overhaul of our harmful and antiquated ideas....
"Bolz-Weber offers no simple amendments or polite compromises, because the stakes are too high - and our souls and our bodies are worth too much. Instead, this tattooed, swearing, modern-day pastor ... urges us to take antiquated, sexist ideas about sex, gender, and our bodies and 'burn them the f*ck down and start all over.'
"This is a journey of holy resistance. Along the way, as antidotes to shame, heresy, and all-too-familiar injustice, Bolz-Weber dispenses grace, freedom, and courage. She shares stories, poetry, and scripture, cultivating resilient hope and audacious love rooted in good news that is 'powerful enough, transgressive enough, and beautiful enough to heal not only the ones who have been hurt but also those who have done the hurting.'"
Publishers Weekly (2018 October #2): "A former pastor, Bolz-Weber expertly sets her critique of Christianity's current teachings and her own ideas for reform in dialogue with biblical texts, early and recent Christian thinkers, and evangelical cultural models for femininity, masculinity, and sex. ... Bolz-Weber proposes dropping the abstinence-only approach by instead using concern as the criteria for sexual health. By this standard, a devout Christian with concern for his or her spiritual health would abstain from sex before marriage."
Kirkus (2019 January #1): "The whip-smart pastor and author ... channels Martin Luther and calls for the church to reform its approach to sex. ... The author, who is now divorced, insists that the church should not be more faithful to abstract principles than to people. ... She also writes straightforwardly about desire.... Not exactly the usual stuff of Christian sex books - and that's a good thing.
Library Journal (2018 December #1): "Bolz-Weber seeks to "reach for a new Christian sexual ethic" by examining sexual morality through her experiences and the lens of people she's encountered in her church. [H]er stories are fascinating but do not directly address the core issue of how the Bible treats sexuality. Instead, she engagingly shares her own memories and those of some of her parishioners while also relating the history behind the church's teachings on relationships. Finally, she presents a sexual ethic based on principles such as gratitude, connection, and shamelessness.
See level-headed critiques of Bolz-Weber's work in Christianity Today (Feb 7, '19) <www.bit.ly/2CZaOZB>, The Federalist (Feb 18, '19) <www.bit.ly/2CVwNAy> and Tim Challies' widely read blog, wherein he observes <www.bit.ly/2I9NJXo> that "Her schtick is not cool. It’s not funny. It’s not shocking or edgy. It’s stupid, it’s bland, it’s old, it’s boring, it has already been tried and found wanting."
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - Shameless: A Sexual Reformation, by Nadia Bolz-Weber (Convergent, 2019, hardcover, 224 pages) <www.amzn.to/2ur8EgL>
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