Monday again Pogue,

Good morning.

Over the last week I think many of us have been watching America as it tries to work through the chaos of the overturned Roe v Wade legal decision. A divided nation or what? And once again the baseline seems to be religion and God gets the blame or plaudits, depending on your point of view. I’ve even read that “God is capable of incredible miracles” as the verdict of the court case has proven.

Really?

Call me a pagan but wasn’t the verdict the work of pressure groups, lobbyists, religious people, a clever legal team and a whole lot of political pressure? Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for God working miracles, as you will appreciate having read my many Letters To Pogue, but a miracle is, well, it’s an event that defies natural laws and cannot be explained without reference to a supernatural force? Not an overturned legal decision that has hung in the balance for years. At the risk of being offensive, and I don’t want to be, if Roe v Wade is anyones idea of a miracle then they have a rather small God.

We live in a world that is full of injustices, as I’m sure you’ll agree. Differing people focus their attention on different things that they believe need changing and there they make their effort. And many will want you to believe that they are doing God’s work, like an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient entity has need of humans to do her work. I suppose we perpetuate this belief as we, on our part, need to feel needed.

As an evangelical pagan what do I think, you ask?

Well I’m not sure God is actually bothered (deep intake of breath on your part). You see, my god is a big God dwelling in eternity and in eternity the life span of people is almost infinitely small. Yes, I agree with you that the Bible declares God knows the number of hairs on your head but that’s the nature of omniscience. And we are, as I’ve stated before, spiritual beings having a human experience, the spirit or soul not perishing on death. You will live on throughout eternity, long after your body has decayed. God has got you, which should be an immense assurance as you go about your day. Whether your body lives a day or 100 years your spirit lives for eternity.

Then, if I’ve got it wrong and the ultimate entity does work to change the minds, to engineer the decision of people, where did freewill go? Sounds like vote rigging to me but there’s another letter to be written.

No doubt I’ve kicked the hornets nest but that will make the week more interesting…maybe. Let me know what you think.

Yours, trying to gain a rounded view,

Wic.

P.s. As an afterthought, Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner write a long, well researched, section on the positive effects of the original Roe v Wade legal decision in their bestselling book Freakonomics. How American society was changed for the better. It’s worth a read for an informed alternative view. Maybe some saw the improvement as evidence of another miracle?