December 18, 2011:

Ponderings of a Pilgrim PASTOR

Someone once remarked that in terms of historical facts, we don’t have enough information to write a decent obituary for Jesus of Nazareth. This is even more true of his mother Mary. There are only fragmentary details of her life in the New Testament. The birth of Jesus to Mary is not even mentioned in the Letters of Paul or in the earliest Gospel Mark or the latest Gospel John.

The Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke each have a story of the birth of Jesus to Mary but the details are very different. The one thing on which both Matthew and Luke agree is that before her marriage to Joseph, Mary was pregnant with Jesus. Not to be disrespectful, but that would seem to have made Mary an unwed mother if Joseph hadn’t married her.

Not so long ago in our country (and sometimes still), when girls became pregnant, boys, willingly or not, "did the right thing" and married them. Some of these young marriages lasted; many did not. Today, more and more children are born "out of wedlock." Their futures and that of their mothers are blighted in many ways, financially most of all. Many young fathers have little contact with their children. And we know that boys without fathers are at a much higher risk for crime.

That is what seems to me to be a tragically mistaken decision of the Obama administration to ban "morning-after" pill over the counter sales to young teenage girls. This continues our country’s practice of putting the blame and responsibility for unwanted pregnancies on young mothers. The argument of Kathleen Sebelius, Health and Human Services Director, that young teenage girls are incapable of making this decision and must first have the approval of their parents and physicians is simply wrong. Banning these pills was a political and not a medical or educational decision. I know that in this election year President Obama is seeking for support among Evangelicals and Roman Catholics but I had hoped for better from him.

Love,
Dave