Coffee Conversations after Church
by Robert Morrison
August 3, 2009
It’s not that unusual for me to have fellow worshipers come up to me after church, over coffee. Normally, however, we swap family stories, talk about children, grandchildren, hobbies, and common interests in our town. Yesterday, however, two friends sought me out with some urgency.
My first friend of the coffee hour was in anguish over his daughter’s decision to live the gay lifestyle. He and his wife had raised two daughters in their loving Christian home. Their younger daughter married and has blessed them with grandchildren. Their elder daughter pursued an academic career. He described this daughter as a brilliant scholar, a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy at a major university. But he and his wife are heartbroken over their daughter’s decision not only to live in a lesbian relationship with another woman, but also her plan to change her sex. Their daughter is beginning hormone treatments soon. Distraught over their daughter’s choices, he appealed to me for help.
I referred him to PFOX—Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays. There, my sorrowful friend would learn that parents can give unconditional love to their children—even as they hold out hope they will exit the gay lifestyle.
My friend was especially concerned that his lesbian daughter would take the extra step—sex change surgery—seeking to alter forever her sexual identity. Will “gender reassignment surgery” be covered under President Obama’s health care takeover, he asked, explaining that his daughter does not currently have the money to cover such expenses. I told him I cannot see how such surgery would not be included in the Obama plan. And if the President or Congress does not include it, activist judges surely will. He pleaded for consideration of parents. “Our wills give our entire estate to the two daughters we gave birth to” he said poignantly. “Now, we will have only one daughter. Where are our rights?”
A second friend teaches ethics at a local university. He was especially concerned about end-of-life decisions. He understands that President Obama’s takeover will require seniors to meet with doctors to discuss their end-of-life plans. That troubles him.
It will be too easy, he says, for these conferences to translate as government pressure for euthanasia. If the government cash-for-clunkers program runs out of money in just one week, what assurances can we have that government health care will not similarly be cash-strapped in short order? I told this friend that I did not believe that the bills currently being considered would require that this counseling be done by a physician. It is just as likely that the counselors will be government bureaucrats trained to this purpose.
These conversations on a humid Sunday morning are remarkable. I’ve been attending the same worship services for thirteen years and never have these conversations over coffee attained such urgency, such intensity.
Americans should have such conversations now—before Congress returns. And they should share their deep misgivings with their elected representatives during the August recess. If our Members of Congress won’t read the bills they’re voting on, it’s our duty to read them for them—and to cry out loud and long about the troubling things we find in those measures. “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,” wrote Thomas Jefferson. That was never more true than now.
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Comments
This is not a true story in any way? Kind of sneaky how you put the Health Care Reform into your “conversation”.
Shouldn’t Health be what every Christian wants for everyone? I think Jesus would agree with me.
@Nathan: apparently, fundamentalist Christians have some sort of right to violate and infringe upon the rights of non-adherents.
I agree with Nathan; parents don’t have the rights to control their grown child’s mind, body, or anything else. Their child, on the other hand, has the right to pursue happiness.
Look on the bright side, they’re losing a lesbian daughter and gaining a straight son.
There is no need to change the will. Even after the sex change he will still genetically be female. That can’t be changed.
And BTW, regardless of how you come down on the particular issues, I think its reprehensible to use your friends story, something they apparently view as a tragedy, as fodder for you to score political points.
And I don’t think you could ever be a very good preacher. You only ever seek to make people afraid of something or someone etc. Its Un-Chrisitan.
Patrick wrote:
There is no need to change the will. Even after the sex change he will still genetically be female. That can’t be changed.”
Which underscores the futility of a woman trying to become a man. That’s as as as a Black man like myself bleaching my skin and saying I’m White. No, I still a Black guy except with now-ruined skin and even worse self-esteem.
Put simply transgenderism is a form of self-hatred and thus quite unhealthy.
“And BTW, regardless of how you come down on the particular issues, I think its reprehensible to use your friends story, something they apparently view as a tragedy, as fodder for you to score political points.”
Did it occur to you that Mr. Morrison asked his friend for permission to repeat his story?
@Nathan
Have you read the health care bill to prove that transgenderism isn’t covered?
If not, here you go:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h3200ih.pdf
“By: ol cranky | August 4, 2009 at 4:46 pm
@Nathan: apparently, fundamentalist Christians have some sort of right to violate and infringe upon the rights of non-adherents.”
Actually, Christians like myself are simply proposing that homosexuality and related behavior brings misery not happiness. There is scientific evidence to support this:
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=255614
Now, true religious imposition on the gay community can be found in mostly Muslim like Iraq. There the gay lifestyle is considered a crime worthy of the death penalty:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/155656
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090503/FOREIGN/705029847/1002
Interestingly, you don’t see groups like GLAAD protesting in front of mosques or Iraqi embassies in the US. That’s another post.
Given the choice I’d rather someone think that homosexuality can be cured through God’s grace (e.g., Christians) instead of the Iraqi method (i.e., death by fire).
By: Nathan | August 3, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Hi, regarding your two points:
1. Your friend with the daughter/son issue. Which of his rights were taken away exactly? Is his will unable to be rewritten? I don’t follow your logic. And do you have any proof that sex reassignment surgery is covered in Obama’s plan, or is this just a slippery slope argument that you are unable to substantiate?
2. The program you are referring to is designed to help seniors prepare their finances and keep them from being scammed or unprepared so that the government doesn’t take what should go to their families without legal wrangling. You are taking the slippery slope argument. In a similar fashion, I could easily say that President Bush’s (and now President Obama’s) faith-based initiative could lead to a publicly-funded Official State Religion, but clearly that was not the case. Slippery slope arguments are called faulty logic for a reason: They do not hold water.