"Were you Ethical Today?"...:
...my mother asks over the phone. It is Wednesday, and she knows I have my Christian Ethics class on Wednesdays and Fridays. I told her a couple weeks ago I knew I was in trouble when I was in the bookstore and saw the list for this class. It includes "The Ethics of Abortion: Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice" edited by Robert M. Baird and Stuart E. Rosenbaum, both of whom are professors of philosophy at Baylor University.

Now as I have written before, this is an exceptionally liberal divinity school. But it is still a divinity school. And the future ministers outnumber the future professors by 5 to 1. I have severe misgivings about this particular aspect of this class. I have very strong opinions on this subject, probably to the point where even the most tolerant or noncommittal Pro-Lifer would call me a baby killer.

It did nothing to quell my anxiety when I happened to mention to a third-year M.Div. student that I was taking this class. She said, "oh....yeah. I took that last fall. He's my least favorite professor here. When I mentioned that I was a practicing Buddhist he called me a heretic in front of the whole class."

I think I'll be sick those days. No, really. Whether I'm in class, or not...I'll probably be sick those days.


Footnotes

Family Values:
Many years ago I was sitting behind a minivan at a stoplight. This vehicle was a motorized cliche for the Southern, religious, socially conservative, "pro-family" set. It sported a fish decal, Pro-Life license tag, parochial school stickers and no less than three "My child is 'student of the month' at whatever-suburban-white-raising-idiotic-bigots-school" of your choice bumper stickers. There were at least five out-of-control children in the back seats. This van was rocking, and not from the activity that begat the five children, if you know what I mean. As we turned the corner, I got a good look at the woman behind the wheel. She looked as though she were about 30 seconds from committing murder/suicide. If ever there was a poster girl for Pro-Choice...I wonder if she is just as "happy" today with the choices she made in her life as she appeared to be then.