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| Protesters dressed in ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ costumes at a Kalish town hall (CJN) |
This morning I watched a CBS feature story about Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale. That book spawned the highly acclaimed and award winning ‘TV’ series of the same name - which streams online at Hulu. I have never seen this series. And other than the fact that I knew it had something to do with abortion rights, I knew nothing else about it. Now I do. From Google:
Based on the best-selling novel by Margaret Atwood, this series is set in Gilead, a totalitarian society in what used to be part of the United States. Gilead is ruled by a fundamentalist regime that treats women as property of the state, and is faced with environmental disasters and a plummeting birth rate. In a desperate attempt to repopulate a devastated world, the few remaining fertile women are forced into sexual servitude.
What is depicted is a disturbing vision of the future based on a version of Christianity that does not exist today. But the message is clear. Which is that when society allows religious doctrine to rule – evil happens. The religious fundamentalism of today is seen as easily becoming a slippery slope to hell on earth. Where women are reduced to being baby making sex salves. Women are depicted as being forced to wear clothing that hides their bodies and wear hats that limits their view of others. Message: Women should not see or be seen. They should exist just to make babies.
The viewer cannot help but to see religion in the most negative light. That Christianity is the religion depicted in this series is just a metaphor for any bible based beliefs – including those of Orthodox Judaism. The view expressed in this series is that the will of God as expressed in the bible is morally inferior to the ‘more enlightened’ will of the human mind.
Utopia therefore lies in a world without God. Or at least without any document (e.g. the bible) that dares to claim it is His word.
And yet the acclaim this series is getting is unmistakable. Is there anyone that even hints that there is a anti-religious bias here? If there is, it is being kept secret. The popularity of this series and the sympathy generated by the women depicted in this series is being used by pro abortion rights groups. Who show up dressed like these women in venues where abortion rights are being threatened. Even if only slightly. More about that later.
At this point let me reiterate my pro choice position on abortion. While I am indeed pro choice that does not mean I believe that abortion should be used as a means of birth control. Or that simply not wanting to be pregnant is enough of a reason to end a pregnancy. In that sense I agree with the pro life position.
Not because I believe that life begins at conception. But because I believe that abortion on demand is wrong. The need to keep a medical procedure legal and free of any encumbrances does not mean I support the idea that a fetus has so little value that it can be destroyed because of - ‘oops’ - an unwanted pregnancy. Need and demand are not the same thing. Demanding abortion as a means of birth control is in my view - immoral.
Legalized abortions should not be defined as the right of a woman to have control over her own body. Which is how most pro choice advocates characterize their position. That is wrong because it isn’t only a woman’s body that has value. Her fetus - a potential life - has value too.
Those who believe in abortion on demand see a fetus as little more than a nuisance that can be discarded at will. While I would not restrict abortions in any way as a matter of law, that doesn’t mean I see a fetus as a nuisance. I just don’t think we can start nibbling at the edges of a law without the possibility of it hurting our religious rights.
As noted above some women show up at venues where abortion rights are being threatened - dressed up like the women in The Handmaid’s Tale. As if the slightest restriction will turn America into Gilead. This happened to Illinois State representative Rabbi Yehiel Kalish despite the fact that he is pro Choice. From the Chicago Jewish News:
Kalish… the only rabbi to serve in any legislative body in the country has apparently not answered to anyone’s satisfaction why he declined to vote “yes” on the Reproductive Health Act, Illinois’ answer to strict anti-abortion bills recently enacted in red states like Alabama…
In response, Kalish has said he is pro-choice and regards the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court abortion ruling as “settled law…”
Constituent critics have torn into Kalish’s Orthodox Jewish beliefs stated as his reason for voting “present” as failing to adhere to support for the separation of church and state…
At a Kalish town hall meeting at the Lincolnwood Public Library, five protestors appeared in the front row dressed in the 17th-century-style red robes and white headdresses of the ‘Handmaid’s Tale,…a common site at the statehouses where attempted abortion rollbacks have taken place, but never at an event where a Jew has been the featured speaker.
To recap - the message of The Handmaid’s Tale is that religious beliefs are a slippery slope towards hell. This is what is being acclaimed. This is what is winning awards. What about God’s will as expressed in the bible? Who cares?! The bible means absolutely nothing when it comes to abortion rights. This is why I say that the good guys are losing the culture war.
Their victory might mean we will not end up like Gilead. But it may mean we will end up like Sodom. Or at least some Godless hedonistic version of it. Because if God’s will is not a consideration, what is to stop that from happening?