Professor, Are You A Member of the Religious Right ?

As opposed to … the religious wrong ? By Lucas J. Mather

Professor, are you a member of the Religious Right?

Uh, how much are the memberships? I’m not sure if this is the best time, the professor said as he was packing up to leave.

Huh? No, I , are you already a member of the Religious Right?

How much is a membership?

[The student stood there blinking, so the professor put his stuff down and stopped hurrying].

How much is a membership?

No, I’m not selling anything, the student said, as other students lingered, listening.

I don’t understand what you mean by member, then. What is this organization?

No, are you a…forget it.

Am I a what? If I forget something, I forget it, but you can’t just command me to forget something. I may accidentally keep thinking about it, thereby violating your command.

[The student breathed, HUH, like that, bringing his shoulders back, up, and then down.]

Do you believe Religious Right beliefs? Is that better?

Oh, so you’re axing me about my beliefs! Ah. Well, what do you mean by Religious and Right?

You know, like.

Like? Like James 1.26 ?

What’s that?

It’s one of the only Bible verses that has the word “religion” in it. The next one says, True religion is visiting the orphans and widows in their distress, and keeping oneself unstained by the world.

I never knew that.

Is that what you mean by religion?

No, I mean, like do you believe God commands you to do stuff?

Oh. What do you mean by Right?

You know, the opposite of Left.

The professor held up his left hand, like this?

No, you know.

I do?

Yeah.

I know what you mean.

Yeah.

Do you know what you mean?

The student laughed, maybe not.

Okay, well what I mean by Left is how the Bible uses the term in one case, and that is, as a synonym for wrong. I mean it as false.

Didn’t it have to do with the Parliament in France?

Who cares about Parliament in France, I mean really, the professor said.

Okay.

It’s like when people start talking about Minnesota when you ask them what a Laker is in LA. I know what a Lake is. I don’t know what a Laker is. And the word Minnesota has never helped me understand.

Yeah.

Same with Cleveland Browns. I’m scared to ask about that one.

Lol, yeah. No, okay, I mean,

What I mean by right in politics is correct, not wrong, not false. And left is false. I think in terms of right and wrong. So, government is inherently limited by fundamental rights of people, and the nature and purpose of government is to protect those fundamental rights, such as life liberty and pursuit of happiness. That’s what’s right. It’s correct. It’s TRUE, for God’s sake. The opposite is wrong. Or, left, if you will.

So, like, on abortion? You’re against a woman’s right to choose?

Choose what?

You know.

Her major?

No, abortion.

What’s abortion?

The student laughed and shifted: ending a pregnancy.

Birth ends a pregnancy. I’m not against that at all.

No, I mean, terminating a pregnancy.

Pregnancy terminates naturally in birth. It’s wonderful. I’m not against birth. Here I am.

The student laughed a little less heartily, and looked down: It’s ending the pregnancy when she wants to before birth.

Ah, yeah that kills the baby unnecessarily, the professor said.

But you said government is limited by people’s rights. So, you should be pro-choice. The government can’t prevent her from doing that, the student said.

Can the government prevent her from choosing to just haul off and slap the child?

Uh, —-

All of a sudden you’re against a woman’s right to choose?

Well that’s after the kid is born.

So, the government can prevent slapping, just not killing.

Well, hahah, yeah, it’s not a baby it’s a fetus. It’s not a human.

What kind of fetus is it?

Huh?

Horse, pig, doggy? What kind of fetus does a woman have growing inside of her?

Human fetus.

A human fetus is not human?

No, it’s not a human being.

He or she is not a human being, the professor said, clarifying.

Did you just assume its gender?

She has her own blood type, her own DNA, her own directionality of growth and development into an infant, a toddler, a teenager, an adult, a middle aged person, and then an old lady.

No, it’s just like an organ.

Who’s organ?

Huh?

Organs belong–if it’s a human organ–it’s human, right–organs belong to people.

Yeah, it’s the mother’s organ.

So, it belongs to the mother. Mother of what?

I mean it’s the woman’s organ.

And what is the function of this organ?

Uh—

Organs have function. What does this organ do for the woman?

Well, it’s like an appendix, you don’t need it.

It’s like fingernails.

Yeah.

So, the little girl developing inside the womb is a fingernail or an appendix, that’s your view.

Did you just assume its gender?

Appendixes have gender?

Uh…hahaha…yeah I guess that sounds…

Fingernails are gendered?

They could be.

Okay. How about this? They’re not. And how about this? Prochoice says government is unlimited by human rights, because the prochoice position says, government is powerful enough to prevent people from protecting the rights of vulnerable people. That is beyond the scope of government. Government is limited by fundamental rights, like the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. First among those is life. Right?

Sure, I can see that.

See, we agree, that’s RIGHT.

But do you believe God commands you to do stuff?

What do you mean by God?

An old man with a beard in the sky, the student said.

No such being exists, the professor said. If that’s God, then I’m an atheist.

Okay, then we’re both atheists.

But I’m not an atheist. You have the concept of God wrong.

Okay, a mythical creature that …

I don’t believe in mythical creatures, and that’s not what God means.

It means that to me, the student said.

But I’m not an atheist, the professor said, and I don’t believe in mythical creatures. That’s not what God is. If you say that God is my toothbrush, then you’re a theist–you believe it exists. But that’s not the concept.

Okay, what’s the concept, the student asked.

The Greatest Conceivable Being, Creator of Heaven and Earth, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Okay.

Do you believe that being exists, the professor said.

No.

And I do, the professor said.

Okay.

So, we have the concept right. You deny it, I affirm it. That’s what the debate is about.

Okay. So do you believe that being commands you to do stuff.

Well, atheism is the view that that being is a creature of the human mind–a fiction. We created God. It’s just an idea.

True.

And theists believe that God created people. He created people for a purpose. They have their own purposes at odds with that. So he commands them otherwise for their own good.

Okay.

So how are we doing.

Fine. So …he does command you.

I don’t command him, that’s not how this works. He’s God. I’m not. Pretty simple.

Okay. So. You are a member of the Religious Right?

As opposed to irreligious and wrong.

Hahaha.

How about this question–do you learn anything from me?

Yes, a great deal actually.

Shouldn’t that be the question, in a teacher student encounter? Shouldn’t that be front and center?

That’s probably true.

Yeah, so how we doing there?

Pretty good.

Great. You ready to walk out?

Yeah, let me get my stuff.

So, how about those Lakers, the professor said.

The season is over, professor.

Ah, right. You caught me. I suck at small talk.

It’s okay, the student said.

Copyright Lucas J. Mather, 2018
All Rights Reserved
Originally posted to Facebook Thursday 26 July 2018 at 7:00 am

Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D. is the producer and host of The Republican Professor Podcast, currently ranked #1 in the US and Guangzhou Province, PRC, in the category of Government and Spiritual Formation (#49 in Antarctica and #2 billion in DPRK [North Korea])