Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: "Write an Article in Support of Forcing the Followers of Jesus Christ to Pay for Contraception, Sterilization and Abortion"

My latest dropping from the Catholic birdcage is right here from Bilgrimage.  Earlier this week, one Steven Faludi logged into this blog to provide me with a list of five Lenten imperatives--a must do list (for me) for Lent:

That list moves from a command to go to Mass, to one to repent and believe, to another to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament, and finally, to the demand that I give up vice and "write an article in support of forcing the followers of Jesus Christ to pay for contraception, sterilization and abortion."  And it's that last imperative that makes me realize, of course, that the entire list of commands is for me.

Since I'm the one writing the blog at whose site Mr. Faludi has dropped his list of imperatives.  And I've written repeatedly here about the dishonesty of those who deliberately conflate the issues of abortion and contraception, and who are deliberately sowing seeds of disinformation in the public conversation about these issues, when they say that the new guidelines for contraceptive coverage in health insurance plans require Christians (or anyone at all) to pay for abortions.

And here's what strikes me as I read Mr. Faludi's list of commands for me: I don't see how it's possible for me--how it's possible in any way at all--to read the gospels and repent and, following my reading of the gospels, to write an article on this blog that spreads lies about the topics of abortion and contraception.  Nor do I see how it's possible for me to sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament and listen to the Lord who speaks to me as I do so, and then leave that sacred presence and write an article on this blog that deliberately lies about contraception, sterilization, and abortion and non-existent demands placed on the shoulders of followers of Jesus Christ.

In the first place, when I do read the gospels, I don't find any information at all about contraception, sterilization, or abortion.  And this is not to say that there's not a connection between the gospels and the words of Jesus and those issues--or any other moral issues about which he or the scriptures couldn't have spoken, because those issues were not part of his worldview or the worldview of the biblical writers.

But it is to say that I find something rather peculiar in the fixation of some contemporary Christians on issues like abortion, contraception, sterilization, and homosexuality, when Jesus's focus in the gospels is primarily and clearly on love, justice, and mercy.  And when I think about what Jesus does have to say about those topics (while he's silent about the others), it's not crystal clear to me that he would, for instance, have thought it is a praiseworthy or "Christian" goal to try to prevent the access of poor women (or anyone else) to contraception.

I find it even harder to imagine the Jesus whose words I read in the gospels, which are so centered on living mercifully, doing justice, and loving tenderly, commanding me to block the access of low-income women to contraceptives when, at the same time, I'm to understand that he's commanding me to prevent abortions.  Because, to my simplistic mind, it seems self-evident that if I thwart the access of low-income women to contraceptives, I increase the probability that some of those women may soon find themselves in situations in which it appears to them that their only option, as they face an unplanned pregnancy, is an abortion.

And so I don't see how I am behaving lovingly, mercifully, and justly when I place low-income women in that position of moral quandary to prove my purist, self-righteous moral point--which is not even spelled out as a moral command in the gospels.  While the obligation to love tenderly, practice justice, and behave mercifully is spelled out over and over in the gospels as a moral command.

And you know what else is spelled out as a moral command?  It's the obligation to speak the truth.  To make our yea conform to yea and our nay conform to nay.

And lying about a non-existent demand placed on the shoulders of the followers of Christ to pay for abortions or abortifacients is a violation of that unambiguous moral command.

And I tend to think that anything I'd hear spoken to my heart and conscience from the Jesus enthroned in the tabernacle would correspond to the voice of Jesus I hear when I read the gospels.  Because if it didn't, that sacramental voice of Jesus surely wouldn't be the authentic voice of Jesus.

Since the gospels are the foundation of our Christian faith, from which everything else has to flow, if it's to claim any intrinsic connection to Jesus himself.