Congratulations, Did You Pray Today?

September 22, 2008 by Holly in anti-choice, religion  

I went to the Bloomsburg Fair two days ago with my family. (My legs and feet have been healing for the past day after over 8 hours of walking and eating) The fair is something I look forward to every year and it’s also the best place to stock up on religious fliers from Baptist and Catholic churches which you can find tents and booths for every five booths or so. I have made a habit of collecting miscellaneous fliers, brochures, pamphlets, posters, bibles and basically anything I can get my hands on that I don’t have to pay for and since (as I mentioned in my previous post) religious people are all about “informing” (*cough* converting) people over to “their side,” they usually give a great deal of stuff away for nothing. So I go through the fair, having a great time, collecting all my religious literature that I usually end up doing some sort of collage or painting around throughout the long winters here in Pennsylvania, and eating as much as humanly possible; it’s a time that should not be missed, that’s for sure.

This year was no different, except for the fact that I got to show my boyfriend what the Fair was all about and why his past 31 years on Earth have meant nothing since he has not enjoyed the essence that is the Bloomsburg Fair. Towards the end of the day I came across this huge booth for something-or-other-church-of-somewhere where I scored big time in the flier department; so much so that I couldn’t get all of my new literature into my purse before everyone started walking away and I had to catch up. Best of all, I got a free, plastic rosary that I immediately had about one-hundred different ideas for, so I wrapped it around my hand until I could get all of my fliers into my purse.

I was walking merrily along, minding my own business, trying to catch up with the rest of my family that had obviously grown tired of my collecting process by then, when all of a sudden I hear a woman’s voice squeal with delight “I see you have a rosary! Congratulations, did you pray today?” I, of course, stop and look around because by then my head has been down for far too long trying to organize everything I was carrying and who knows where this woman came from. So I look up from my loot and I am greeted with this middle-aged woman’s face, staring at me with a polite smile on her face and I look up a little more and see little baby fetuses among a table in the biggest pro-life tent I have ever seen in my life.

My aunt started yelling my name and “no” as if she is shielding me from fire, protecting me from something that has come to take me away never to return. I was still a bit shocked as I didn’t think my beloved fair would be so cruel to me, but alas I replied with a simple “Um no, I’m going to use it for something.” Of course this woman prods me and asks what, I tell her art and she looks at me like I just told her I had a bomb in my purse and says “Well it isn’t art,” to which I reply “Well, it will be.” She keeps right on talking to me in the most condescending tone I have ever heard in my life and then when I make it perfectly clear that I will not be joining her on her crusade to convert the pro-choicers by telling her I am an atheist and a feminist and that I have to be going now, she starts asking me more questions and I swear this woman was specially trained in what questions one should not ask even acquaintances or someone who was on her side of the playing field. As soon as the word feminist came out of my mouth she jumped all over it and asked me if I was gay. Not a lesbian, not homosexual, but ‘gay’ with such venom I swear her eyes turned red, smoke came charging out of her ears and she was probably trying to get god to strike me down to hell where I stood. And even after I made her fully aware that that is not a question to ask someone and it would not matter if I was gay or was a married Mormon wife with eight children she kept right on going asking me if I had ever been pregnant and why I believed it was perfectly fine to destroy children.

So I gave in. YES, I GAVE IN! I humored her in debate I knew that she couldn’t handle and I was right. By the time I was through talking to her and told her for the eighth time or so that I had to go and was through with her and this nonsense she was preaching to people who I hope know better than to listen to her, I went in for the adoption stance. “So yeah, sure, a woman can give that child up for adoption…and that child would be put into a system so crowded that they would come out of it, property of the US government at 18 years old with no life experience, no proper parenting and no real idea on how to make a life for themselves.” I really wish I was surprised by her answer, but I saw it coming five miles down the street and I see it coming every time an anti-choice person tries to get me to think religiously–She said “What happens to that child is no concern of yours, you gave them life and you are not responsible for that child after giving it up.”

So according to the book of pro-life, this means that every unwanted pregnancy should be carried to term, that child should be given up for adoption and then after that, fuck them. Who cares, they’re gone, out of your life and sitting in foster care somewhere where they are still unwanted and more than likely, with the ridiculous amount of qualifications a family must pass in order to adopt, live int hat system until they are 18 years old and are hopefully so poor that they have to join the military. According to the book of pro-life, the child that you give life and then give up for adoption will HOPEFULLY become a dead soldier.

So for the record, every child should be a wanted child and I’m sorry, but I think women are more intelligent than they are often given credit for; I believe that they have the ability to make an informed decision for themselves without having to be guilted into carrying a pregnancy to term because it would make a group of people feel better.

Her parting words to me were to be careful of what I wrote on my website and hopefully I will learn to be a slave to god.

Sorry, but I got bigger goals than that.

I refrained from getting stuck in front of the McCain/Palin booth that was down the road from this one, which I think was a wise decision.

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  • WOW! Sorry to hear that. That is a CRAZY story. Coming from a "pro-lifer" (and a man) I feel the need to apologize on the crazy women's behavior. Please don't associate all Christians / Pro-Life to this one particular situation. I doubt you will but eh, you never know.

    At least you did have fun @ the fair ;)
  • Well, I definitely think you showed some restraint in even humoring her. I don't think I could have remained calm enough, I would have just walked away immediately for fear of saying some un-Christian like things to her.
  • Mark
    "As soon as the word feminist came out of my mouth she jumped all over it and asked me if I was gay. Not a lesbian, not homosexual, but ‘gay’ with such venom I swear her eyes turned red, smoke came charging out of her ears and she was probably trying to get god to strike me down to hell where I stood"

    Yes because as a feminist, you are also a dope smoking, satan worshipping, orgy attending, drunkard gay litterer who has over due library books and makes the baby jesus cry. Feminist just all that more efficiently.

    [/sarcasm]
  • kim
    it is so hard to remember they are people too.. granted, people who think they have the right to decide for all of us...but people none the less...even though it is hard to take the high road with them I guess we have to or we become like them. glad you avoided the den of hypocrisy known as the Mccain/palin tent. Just walking past them at the NC State fair gave me the creeps.

    Kim
  • Julie
    I'm sorry you had such a poor experience with someone claiming to be a Christian. Not all pro-lifers share her stance.
  • Wow, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. So you're just supposed to pop 'em out and then leave them to a miserable existence? That's so fucked up I don't have room to describe all the ways that's fucked up. Seriously, I would have just told her I was a Satan-worshiping baby-eating lady-fucking nymphomaniac pot-smoker. It would've saved you a lot of time and if you'd had a camera, you could've added "picture of hysterical fundie" to your piece of art!
  • Oh, good god. "Psycho" is the right word. I went to the L.A. County Fair this past weekend and had to dodge people handing out fliers and bibles in nearly every aisle. Even leaving, I was chased (wtf?!) by two old men with 'Yes on Prop 4' pamphlets and you're-going-to-burn-in-hell attitudes.

    My response to each and every query was an affronted, "No, of course I'm not interested. I'm a woman." It's repellent (and kinda scary) how venomous people—who have approached you, mind you—get over even polite refusals. And they used up my civility quota a long time ago.
  • Leigh
    Whoa...You're a more patient person than I, that's for sure/ I wouldn't know where to begin with a person like that. Humoring her would only make ME angry, attempting to convert her to my way of thinking would only make ME upset.
  • kaytee
    oh wow holly.
  • well... you already know my stand on all this... but it really makes me ashamed that some people really just don't get it... :(
  • I don't think she truely understands what it is to be christian means, she's very misguided and I too would life to apologise, she is not a typical pro-lifer honest.
  • On behalf of Catholics everywhere, I offer you my truest apologies. I was born and raised in a fire-and-brimstone fundamentalist Pentecostal church, but turned to Catholacism about a year ago with my wife. Fundamentalism exists in all Christian denominations and churches. I wish my fellow "Christians" could learn to see the people they criticize with as much charity as they claim to have for human fetuses. I have a very dear friend I love inexplicably who had an abortion becausether own father raped and impregnated her. I respect her choice and I have so much love for her as a human. We're not all bad : )
  • That was so cool of you handling that situation so well!
  • Sal
    Wow, this women was clearly disturbed. How can one say such nasty things. I swear these "preaching" types are the worst of all and I totally agree with you about making choices rather than just popping kids as if there is no tomorrow.
  • mothworm
    I'm always amazed by the people who respond to stories like this with "I'm shocked! That's not what real christians/pro-lifers are like". Because, from my experience, yeah, that's exactly what they're like.
  • Proud Womanist
    Right on, mothworm. I'm so SICK of all the "oh all christians/pro-lifers" aren't like that - because you know what? If the ones that "aren't" like that don't speak up and stop that behavior then all it is is words. You are colluding, every time you VOTE with your anti-woman ideas. That is why I lump all of you bastards in the same category.
  • I am really sorry you had such a poor experience
  • I feel so sorry about you. Your experience really makes me feel sad.
  • Actually, the qualifications for getting into the military are high enough that a lot of foster kids probably don't qualify.

    That woman is talking about kids who will be thrown away by everybody.
  • Beau
    "I see you have a clitoris. Congratulations! Did you masturbate today?"

    In the shocked silence that followed, I could then have explained that prayer, like masturbation, is a private conversation with God, and not something to be bragged about in front of strangers. She wouldn't "get it", of course, but it would be fun to explain.
  • You know I'll never understand why it is when a non-Christian runs into a crazy Christian that all other Christians are quick to dismiss them as not a "Real" Christian.

    The problem is that there is not barrier to entry when it comes to being a Christian. The only requisite is that you believe that Jesus Christ is your personal savior. That's it. There's no secret handshake. Heck, you don't even have to know the bible. All you have to do is declare you are a Christian and you are one.

    So Christians, I sorry, but these people belong to your group set because they believe in Jesus Christ too. I'm sorry that they embarrass you but just like Uncle Larry who pees in the kitchen sink whenever he gets drunk, they are still family.

    Getting to the topic at hand, there are currently over half a million children in the foster care system. The next time someone tells you to give your child up for adoption, ask them if they are going to adopt your child. Many Pro-Lifers are quick to offer the adoption route but not many are as quick to put their money with their mouth is.
  • thanks for giving me fact, it such a good blog, always keep in touch
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