Our Thoughtless Politics
I often get the feeling that in America politics are just another spectator sport - not something to engage in but something to talk and argue about with feigned authority. I see this in every color of the political spectrum. And nothing gets the apathetic more riled than talk of abortion. It always seems to me that the people who argue strongest for or against it are people who have no experience with it. The people who do have experience, who have had abortions or have stood by sisters or wives or children as they struggled with the decision, realize that nobody comes to a place where they’re considering an abortion without pain or fear. See:
I have family members who, while wanting women to be able to have legal abortions, are still left with emotional scars from the procedure and the loss of life. Their politics don’t come from glib, dogmatic stances - they come from experience and hurt.
I’m using this example as a place to start considering what it means to take stances as the church. Do we talk about important issues out of ignorance or do we immerse ourselves in understanding… understanding of human hurt, God’s will and our own frailty when it comes to living in God’s Kingdom.
As we discuss what Quaker 2.0 means, I think it’s important that we take on the nature of the earliest Quakers - being unafraid to stir the pot, but doing so through communion with God and with our brothers and sisters.
