Hispanic Evangelicals and The Lamb's Agenda
The President whom our Latino brothers and sisters, mamás y papás, and community overwhelmingly voted for on this past presidential election, shocked some of us once again. Regarding the morning after pill he said, “I’m very comfortable with the decision they’ve made right now based on solid scientific evidence for girls 15 and older.” Click here to read entire Christian Post article here
The Commander in Chief is now the “Comfortable” in Chief regarding the sexual decision of this country’s adolescent girls. Yet, it should not surprise many of my Latino hermanos about this because we, as a group, voted for him overwhelmingly. We, who celebrate quinceañeras, the age when our girls are about to begin to experience the wonder of life are now being told that they can safely and comfortably choose to abort a life because the “scientific evidence is solid?” What our “Comfortable” in Chief failed to see is the moral evidence that lies beyond the scientific evidence, which is done, in controlled environments not in the laboratory of life.
As pastor, in San Antonio, Texas, one of the cities with the highest rates of teenage pregnancy, I am a front line witness of the devastating effects of sexual activity of teenagers (whether they get pregnant or not). I see, undeveloped personalities of young people having to cope with the implications of having sexual relations at an early age, struggling with self esteem, risking pregnancy, STD’s, and now having to make a moral decision regarding the life of an unwanted, unborn, and innocent human life. At the age of 15! I am certainly uncomfortable and I am surprised how our Comfortable in Chief who has two daughters, of approximately the same age of consent for this pill, who can choose to take the morning after pills without his or Mrs. Obama’s consent, can speak with such aplomb about something that is more profound than simply being comfortable with scientific evidence. What is the scientific evidence? How many 15 year olds have tried the morning after pill and years later been totally comfortable with that decision? Hasn’t this pill been out only but a few years? I can only imagine the consequences of a pill in the hands of immature girls who are going to think that, like taking an aspirin, they can take them every time they’ve had unprotected sex with a boy because someone said it was ok. And think about the adolescent boys who will pressure these poor young girls into taking this pill because of a hormonal moment of unsupervised passion; our girls being bullied once again by adults and peers.
If nothing else, the Commander in Chief should have been comfortable in deferring to every parent in America the decision to teach his or her children about reproductive, sexual, and moral education. We Latinos certainly defend the right to give and receive a consejo from mamá y papá, abuelito, abuelita, tío, tía, and even la comadre!
Jesus Christ, who is the Comforter in Chief, said this regarding our children and us in Matthew 11.3 “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. 6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!”
As our Comfortable in Chief decided to take a pass on the welfare of our children, Latino evangelicos look to our Comforter in Chief to remind us that all children are precious and we must take care of them from the womb all the way up to their quinceañeras and beyond; and woe to us if they should stumble because of us, scientific evidence or not!
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