each time i pick up the paper, i read about some disturbing bill that our state legislature has passed and that our governor has signed into law. our state has adopted measures that make it impossible for a woman and her doctor to determine the best course of action for that woman's health and well-being. the state is distributing monies intended for public education to parents who send their children to private schools, many of them religious institutions, and to parents who home-school their children, with none of these having to meet the stringent requirements that public schools must meet. the state is imposing its will on trans minors and their healthcare providers, despite testimony from medical and mental health experts that the restrictions that have been enacted are harmful to these vulnerable young people.
it amazes me that a party that proclaims itself as a defender of individual liberty is seeking to stifle free speech and to control the most private matters between people and their doctors. these new laws are born of hatred for those with whom the majority in the government disagrees, and ignore the advice of experts. those in power are showing us what our nation will look like if christian nationalists are in control. their actions make me ashamed to call myself a christian. what is being done in the name of protecting children and giving parents more control over their children's education flows from a warped belief that the majority in our state has the right to dictate how others must think and to enforce their conservative christian view on all of society.
the dystopian governing philosophy that has taken hold in many southern and western states is frightening. college teachers are being told what they can and cannot say in their classes. students are being denied the opportunity to examine questions from many sides. textbooks are being censored, and history is being rewritten to make it more palatable to white racists. books that look at the large questions of life in a multicultural society are being removed from library shelves. gender-nonconforming children are being forced to hide who they truly are and being taught that their sense of gender identity is abhorrent. many of us live in states where tyrannical rule by a conservative majority seeks to stifle open discussion of the issues and to rule by intimidating those who disagree with that majority.
may we see the great harm we do when we believe we have the answers and those who disagree must be wrong. may we turn from the orwellian path that tells us that we cannot believe what we see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears. may we not be afraid of painful truths about our past, and may we use knowledge of those truths to become better in the present. may we enable each person to receive the health care that is needed, rather than allowing personal beliefs and prejudices to come between a person and that person's healthcare providers. may our governing bodies govern with compassion and respect for each person. shalom.
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