convoluted choices

I saw this article in my survey of the news this morning. Everything was fine for this newly married couple until the wife, the teacher requesting maternity leave, was forced to admit to having premarital sex with her now husband and father of their child. To the Southland Christian School principal this called for the termination of her job. Many people would agree and say, "what kind of an example would she be to her students when they find out? Fourth grade students know math and understand the nine month pregnancy cycle." At least I think they do in a Christian school setting. It's all about appearance, after all. Never mind the inability of humanity throughout history to actually achieve moral perfection.

What could this couple have done to avoid the job loss? A number of ideas come to mind.

#1) She could have aborted the baby and never revealed her pregnancy to her partner. Depending on how a person views abortion, this is a viable solution for many. Although keeping the secret from your partner may not be all that comfortable an idea to live with.

#2) If abortion was unacceptable to her, she could have planned to go back to work right after the delivery thus avoiding to have to ask for maternity leave and maybe she'd be able to fly under the radar of questioning by the Christian authorities in the school. I doubt highly that this would work though. People (maybe even her students) could figure out the math because that's what we do. Besides, maternity leave is an expected and reasonable benefit to receive today. So scratch that idea.

#3) Or perhaps she could have resigned her position, while keeping the baby and the future husband, and finding a teaching position in some secular school. I think a lot of women would vote for this choice if they had the foresight to comprehend the embarrassment and judgment that would be brought on her by those in "seats of judgment". I don't think most people have this type of foresight though. We want to believe better of others.

The truth of the matter is that she didn't choose any of these options. She chose to tell the TRUTH, and for that she gets fired! Is there something wrong with this picture? She loses her job for doing what her religion teaches her to do... tell the truth. Sounds strange, doesn't it? You might say, "she shouldn't have 'sinned' in the first place." Okay, but she did. Is there no remedy once the deed is done? Don't Christians call it "forgiveness"?

Religion does not know what to do with human beings' humanity. Religious belief systems will continue to push good, honest, human people out if they don't change their message. In the distant future we may see that the majority of people remaining in these types of religious institutions may well be the morally perfect worshiping alongside those forced to lie, which could be the same person I suppose. The arrogant and self righteous are content to believe that all the rest of the world is wrong and they are right. The distant future... the near future... maybe it's already upon us.