My mother is bad for my blood pressure.

[murielm99]

My mother called tonight, because she wants the dates of all my daughter's concerts for this fall. I could not find all of them, so I told her I would call her back. Dang! Now I HAVE to.

It is not that I don't care about my parents. I want them to be well and safe.

Anyway, my mother started talking about the two meetings she attended. I thought she said one of them was Lutheran Life, so I asked her what it was. It was Lutherans FOR Life, and another group that sounds even more crackpot.

She started in about how many people are killing babies, and how God does not like that. She told me abortions cause breast cancer. She said all women who have abortions develop mental problems.

Needless to say, we had a big argument. I am still shaking with rage over her gullibility and ignorance. If she wants to be against abortion, fine. She does not have to have an abortion. But how dare she try to prevent others from exercising their choice?

I am so tired of fundies that I want to scream. Why do I have to have them in my own family?

[neebob]

1. I'm sorry

Your mom's as nutty as mine, it sounds like. My mom somehow got the idea that if John Kerry is elected, there will be partial birth abortions like every five minutes. I could go on and on and on, but I'm sure the other DU people are sick of my mom posts.

[murielm99]

2. I try not to let it get to me.

And I do care about my mother.

But I think that ignoring all the crap and being polite is what got us into the position we are in today.

Any more, I answer back. I do not answer back if it means someone will harm me physically, kill me, harm my family, or fire me from my job. I am sorry we have gotten to the point where I have to think about those things before stating my views.

But I am sick of taking their crap. I will keep working for a country where I don't have to worry about the consequences of answering back.

I am sorry you have a nutty mother, too.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

3. Hmmmm, See I am a Lutheran, and I don't get people who

get into things like that.

If you want to be a Catholic, go be it. Don't try to drag my nice mellow beer-drinking, covered-pot dinner eating, no-one-cares-what
you wear or who-you-are ELCA down in the mud with ya.

If you don't want to go all the way to the big C.... there is always Missouri Synod... close enough.


<dons flame-proof suit>
thus endeth the rant.

[murielm99]

5. My mother is Missouri Synod.

During our conversation, she was trying to convince me that ELCA people are a big part of this, too. I told her they were probably lone nuts. Most ELCA are kind of live-and-let live people.

I am United Methodist, and we are pro-choice.

This was not a nice conversation.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. That explains it then. We are pro-choice.

They hate us for our freedoms.

[murielm99]

8. Is that your denomination's official position?

I want to be able to tell her that!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

9. ELCA says: (and this is slick!)

Because of our conviction that both the life of the woman and the life in her womb must be respected by law, this church opposes:

the total lack of regulation of abortion;

legislation that would outlaw abortion in all circumstances;

laws that prevent access to information about all options available to women faced with unintended pregnancies;

laws that deny access to safe and affordable services for morally justifiable abortions;

mandatory or coerced abortion or sterilization;

laws that prevent couples from practicing contraception;

laws that are primarily intended to harass those contemplating or deciding for an abortion.

The position of this church is that, in cases where the life of the mother is threatened, where pregnancy results from rape or incest, or where the embryo or fetus has lethal abnormalities incompatible with life, abortion prior to viability should not be prohibited by law or by lack of public funding of abortions for low income women. On the other hand, this church supports legislation that prohibits abortions that are performed after the fetus is determined to be viable, except when the mother's life is threatened or when lethal abnormalities indicate the prospective newborn will die very soon.

Beyond these situations, this church neither supports nor opposes laws prohibiting abortion.
-----------------------------------------------------------
I cannot find right now the little booklet they published a few years ago. Essentially it said that every person must attempt to seek out God's will in each decision about pregnancy and interpret that will to action.



Oh yeah... on edit...
http://www.elca.org/socialstatements/abortion/

[Ladyhawk]

4. My mother is nutty, too.

Last year she decided I was demon-possessed. Really.

Fundies suck ass.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. Your mother is richly blessed.

She has achieved the pinnacle of perfection in God's eyes; and now she has nothing to do in life but meddle in the affairs of others.

Tell her the rest of the world stands in awe at the halo surrounding her head and the visions of the Blessed Virgin over one shoulder and The Christ over the other.

Tell her you hope that one day, you can come close to matching her magnificence, so you can preach the gospel to the masses, and spread the word that our reverent Lord Jesus has asked us to be intolerant and hateful of those who dispute the word of Jerry Falwell.

You should drop to your knees as you tell her this. It oughtta make her shut up for a few seconds, anyway. ;-) Good luck!