Apparently rape is all part of God's plan...

[CailinDana]

Now isn't that reassuring. Lie back and think of god all ye victims, and feel blessed by the fruit of your suffering.

Sigh.

His crazy fairy in the sky views aside, surely everyone that is religious and in the "God's plan" way of thinking must think the same. Don't most Christians believe that? So logically they all must think that rape is God's plan?

Posie, I'm an atheist, but that is one hell of a leap and I think there are Christian feminist posters on here who would be pretty offended by that.

Surely there are some Christians that have a more 'free will' idea of God, but if you object to abortions on the grounds that "god created this life" then you must logically think the rape was for a reason. TBF I have met such a person, who said (but I didn't realise it at the time) that a girl in her church was raped and kept her baby, she was 14yrs, and she was a great mother, God wanted her to have that baby.

And apologies to any Christians I offended with the first post, it's a little early and it didn't come across as I intended. Not ALL Christians but SOME.

m.youtube.com/#/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=PyzlYKh-ih0&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DPyzlYKh-ih0%26feature%3Dyoutu.be
This is a very funny-and thought provoking video from www.fullfrontalfreedom.com about the subject of 'legitimate rape'

I'm a Christian and was not offended by the op, only by the statement.

I think it's a very simplistic and stupid view of God, TBH. So if god intended that life, he sanctions rape? Why single out rape and not other atrocities? Or are we also back at that stage of saying that poor children must be starving because god wants them to die, or people killed by natural disasters are being punished for some kind of sin?

Actually I'm pretty sure these idiots hold those same stupid views, but the rape one is getting much more screen time because it is an excuse to bash women.

Actually I'm pretty sure these idiots hold those same stupid views

I suspect that many of them simply don't think through the logical ramifications of their beliefs about 'gods plan'. (though of course some of them do self-righteously blame natural disaster on 'sinners' ...whether it affects the just the 'sinners' or not.)

Oh well, hopefully this episode will lead to this man losing his election, and he'll have lots of free time to ponder how that fits into 'gods plan'.

I always knew there was a good reason why I am an atheist.

I'm with you Snatch - if he simplified his stance to life begins at conception it wouldn't be nearly so offensive. But I agree with you really that thinking God micro-manages the Universe and our lives probably is a bit bonkers given the evidence.

Also - I probably should read the link and all of the thread - but what is it with "legitimate rape" ? WTAF is that meant to be ?

What strikes me with the 'why punish the child for the sins of the father' stance, is that there is no consideration of the woman at all. I knew that the general pro-life position is that the rights of the foetus trump the rights of the woman, but in this case they are actually using terms like 'punish', and it highlights the fact that in this case the woman is taking the 'punishment' in place of the foetus.

I bet you're right there too, grimma.

The fact is there is no logic to this way of thinking - that's why you end up with such ridiculous ideas. In trying to fit the events of the world into a crazy belief system, you end up coming out with crazy things. That's the only logic to it.

Juggling - the "legitimate rape" thing refers something another candidate, Todd Akin, said recently. He claimed that in cases of "legitimate rape" the body has ways of preventing pregnancy, thus implying of course that any rape victim who does get pregnant wasn't actually raped "legitimately."

No, I think the logic is very simple and consistent: they hate women; they like the status quo. Anything else has to bend to that.

This is the kind of thing that almost makes me ashamed to be a Christian. Until I remember that people spouting this venom aren't actually Christian. I don't like abortion (who does?) but I'll defend any women's right. This is misogynistic crap and I'm happy to say "not in my name!"

So behind the term "legitimate rape" is a culture of not believing women is that about it ? Otherwise why feel the need to qualify the word "rape" - it speaks for itself quite plainly I'd have thought.

Well said weegie.

I think it all falls under the category of justifying mad ideas Juggling. There is no way to justify forcing a rape victim to carry a baby, so they come out with fantastical nonsense and God related fuckwittery instead.

The thought of what he might have meant by "legitimate rape" makes me shudder.

omg
man's a fool

But many religious people do believe in an all-powerful all-seeing God who is in everything that happens in this world. For them, it is logical to say that God gave you a child through rape, and you should keep and cherish it.

Now don't get me wrong, I think that's rubbish, but it is consistent with a certain devout world view. Got cancer? God gave it to you! Chopped up by serial killer? God let you be murdered and taken up to heaven, etc etc. But he does love you.

It's the old old monotheistic problem of how you square one omniscient supposedly benign and loving god with the tide of awfulness that happens in the world every moment. In this case, by finding a 'good' consequence (rape, what terrible bad luck! Sorry! But you got a baby out of it-yay!) to what to most of us is a desperate trauma without an up-side. God's not evil or uncaring, he's kind, you just have to change your perspective.

I believe in an all-powerful all-seeing God who is in everything that happens in the world. It has never required me to think rape is anything other than appalling and fundamentally wrong. FWIW.

If someone is Christian and thinks people get cancer because God willed it, frankly, I think they are pissing on around 2,000 years of theology and being wilfully idiotic.

"But many religious people do believe in an all-powerful all-seeing God who is in everything that happens in this world. For them, it is logical to say that God gave you a child through rape, and you should keep and cherish it."

If you believe that God is behind everything that happens in this world, including letting you get raped and pregnant through that rape, I don't see how you can logically say that God is not behind your decision to abort that pregnancy.

Well said notgood.

One of the many things that concerns me about this eejit's opinion is that it's taken as a standpoint for republicanism in America. I'm sure there are many republicans who are reasoned and rational people just trying to get along like the rest of us but their opinions are somehow dismissed because of a comment someone made in order to grab headlines. So sad.

Well, NotGood I expect the answer is God is not in the rape (evil work of Satan) or abortion (double evil work of Satan) but is behind the conception (always good). Very neat, very unconvincing.