I was driving home from Decorah last Saturday morning and had just come through Cedar Rapids when I saw a small billboard that read, “God is Pro-life. Are you?”
I…dislike billboards like this one. Not so much because someone holds this opinion, but because it’s sitting there in an attempt to influence someone’s belief. It’s not like an ad for a Chevy. I don’t regard the Chevy/Ford debate in the same light as debate about the existence of (a) God (although someone could make a heck of a lot of money if he worked up a window decal of a Richard Dawkins [or Chris Hitchens] caricature with its pants down, urinating on a cross; it’d be the Darwin fish for the 21st Century).
In any case, I’m not sure God is pro-life, per se. I figure God is pro-human. God lets lots of unborn babies die in the womb, not to mention all the kids that’re killed by cars or from falling out of a tree or being mauled by a pit bull. God, being God, gets to choose, I suppose, who lives and who dies, but it doesn’t appear s/he’s willing to grant any of that decision goodness to the folks who were created in his/her image. Do as I say, not as I do.
Leah and I have had cursory conversations about the role of religion in Ava’s life. My own experience with religion growing up makes me inclined to believe that Ava would be better off taking in all this church stuff when she’s a little older and better able to understand what’s going on. When she can ask us questions. Taking her now is the equivalent of asking her to sit through a screening of Barry Lyndon. She’s not going to get any of it, so why tie her down for 90 minutes when she can be out in the world? As a show of good faith, I’ll sit down with Ava to watch Barry Lyndon every couple months, just to gauge her preparedness for hitting the pews.