Liberty and Justice . . . For All?

When I was in grade school we always said the Pledge of Allegiance every day before classes began. We ALWAYS said it. We never thought anything about it being "offensive to Muslims or atheists." The reason we never thought anything about it was because we WERE "one nation, under God."

We Americans have had our disagreements, even when we were "under God" but this news story I saw the other night deserved today's "You have got to be kidding!" award. It made me wonder about the "liberty and justice" . . . for ALL.

The state of Indiana just passed a law stating you couldn't decide to get an abortion based on race, sex or disability. We as a nation already have anti-discrimination laws on the books. They are good common sense laws. They state that we can't refuse service or housing or jobs to anyone on the basis of their race, sex or physical or emotional disability. Indiana isn't doing something outside of the norm or outrageous. Yet there are some people who think this law is interfering with a woman's right to "health" - to get an abortion.

That's just crazy. In my opinion it is incredibly discriminatory for a woman to say, "I want an abortion because my baby is a boy. I REALLY want a girl. So let's get rid of the boy." How is that different than, "I really don't want white people in my apartment building so let's just refuse to rent them to any blacks."

There are laws against that sort of behavior and rightly so. Yet Planned Parenthood, well known for selling baby parts across the country is suing Indiana so that women can choose what kind of babies they can keep . . . or kill.

What kind of world do we live in where people can chose to kill a living thing because they want to? Was the Orlando shooting any different than what I just described? It too is an example of a willing choice that someone made because they didn't want someone else in THEIR life. It is no different! This world is filled with narcissistic, self focused egotistical people. Jesus preached against that kind of thinking. Perhaps we should take time to listen to his teachings. This is from one of His disciples.

"4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends." - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

We are called to love one another. Even the inconvenient ones in our lives. We must love and pray for those at Planned Parenthood. We must pray for the victims of the Orlando shooting. We must love and pray for young women making decisions that are also literally life and death. May we ALL have the wisdom to choose life. May we ALL choose love. May we ALL choose liberty and justice . . . for all.

ACLU, Planned Parenthood Sue State of Indiana