About the Author
Sidney Carton is a Library Clerk in Riverside, CA, where he lives with his wife “Lucie,” his daughter “Isabelle” and his son, “Elias.” He currently studies in the Masters of Library and Information Science program at San Jose State University, in the hopes of one day being to say that he is an actual Librarian, instead of saying that he just “works in a library.”
He enjoys politics, history, scale model building, calligraphy, and ginger ale. A Mormon Democrat, he seeks to balance his conservative religious and social values with his liberal political ones. On a good day he can do so without giving himself a migrane. On a bad day, he writes on his blog.
Sydney Carton, the fictional character on which my pseudonym is based, was one of the main characters in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. A cynical washed-up lawyer, Carton finds redemption in giving his life in place of Charles Darnay, the husband of Lucie Manette, the only woman Carton ever loved. “The Loadstone Rock” is a recurring image in the same book.
Check out this guy, hes an insane illustrator: http://zachmontoya.blogspot.com/
I recent bought a drawing which is signed Sidney Carton.
I am wondering if that is you
Afraid not.
I am a liberal Mormon
Are there Mormons that are politically liberal AND socially and religiously liberal? I think I might be one.
For example. I am pro choice when it comes to abortion. The church provides for exceptions for its anti-choice stance regarding rape, incest, and physical and mental health of the mother. I am pro choice because for one, most of the anti choice lobbyists and groups want to restrict abortion beyond those positions, some groups advocate denial of all abortions even to the death of the mother. A new law in Georgia makes it incumbent upon the mother to prove that a miscarriage was spontaneous or of natural causes, or the mother could be charged with a crime. Other proposed laws by the new super radical right Tea Party Jihadists want to redefine rape as only allowing forcible rape to qualify for abortion.
There are also new or proposed new laws that allow for a third party to kill a person attempting to preform and abortion or threatening the life of a fetus These measures are demeaning to women, and attempt to criminalize their wombs. I am pro choice because to defend the LDS position, one now has to move to the left of it.
I am also pro choice because the Supreme Court still says it is legal, despite opinions to the contrary. Church law regulates abortion for church members. You know that if you choose to violate there tenets, excommunication could be the consequence.
The 12th article of faith states “ We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
The 11th article says: We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
So basically, as a Mormon, I am bound to uphold the law, and the law says that abortion is legal. As a Mormon, I must allow others to believe what they want to and not interfere with it.
The basis of anti-choice is, they believe abortion is murder. There is no mention of abortion in the bible
Refer to the following article:
http://civilliberty.about.com/od/abortion/f/bible_abortion.htm
Question: What does the Bible say about abortion?
Answer: The abortion debate has heavy religious dimensions. If we take a purely secular view of human nature, then abortion during the first weeks of pregnancy is hardly a bio ethical concern–there’s no time for a brain, the seat of secular person hood, to develop.
But if we approach the question from more of a religious angle, then it becomes more problematic. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, teaches that the soul is implanted at the moment of conception. Other traditions teach that the soul enters the body during quickening, the point in pregnancy (usually around week 20) when the fetus begins to move. But what does the Bible itself have to say about the matter?
The Bible never specifically mentions abortion. This is significant, because herbal abortifacients–most notably penny-royal and silphium–were in common use at the time that the New Testament was written. Jesus, Paul, and the other major figures of the New Testament were surrounded by cultures that practiced abortion, but no specific condemnation of the practice can be found in the Bible.
Likewise, Exodus 21 draws a clear demarcation between the killing of a person and the killing of a fetus. Exodus 21:12, for example, reads:
Whoever strikes a person mortally shall be put to death. If it was not premeditated, but came about by an act of God, then I will appoint for you a place to which the killer may flee.
But Exodus 21:22 reads:
When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no further harm follows, the one responsible shall be fined what the woman’s husband demands, paying as much as the judges determine.
In other words: Killing a person outside of the womb warrants the death penalty or exile, but killing a fetus is punishable only by a fine–and that’s in a circumstance where the killing of a fetus takes place against the woman’s will. Exodus describes no penalty of any kind for women who choose to terminate their own pregnancies, nor does any other passage in the Bible.
But the Bible certainly suggests that human life begins prior to birth. While Rebekah is pregnant with the twins Esau and Jacob, for example, Genesis 25:22 states that “the children struggled together within her.” Likewise, when Elizabeth (pregnant with John the Baptist) meets the Virgin Mary, “the child leaped in her womb” (Luke 1:41). One of the most frequently cited passages in the abortion debate is Psalm 139:13, which addresses God with the statement that “you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
Roe v Wade currently is interpreted that the state has no compelling interest in abortion before 22 weeks of gestation. When does the soul enter the fetus? I don’t know but I don’t believe that is does at conception.
So the Bible’s position on abortion, like its position on so many other issues, can be described as extremely ambiguous. It treats the death of a fetus as a non-homicide and makes no attempt to punish women who have abortions, nor does it mention the widely-practiced abortion that was contemporaneous to the period during which the relevant texts were written. On the other hand, it does not suggest or imply that person hood begins at the moment of birth. This is why the Judeo-Christian tradition has long struggled with the question of abortion. A theological approach to abortion, if it is to be found at all, cannot explicitly be found in the text of the Bible.
Again, as a member of the church, one agrees to the abortion dictates in ones own life. This does not mean that I should impose these beliefs and restrictions on others.
Which brings me to issue #2. I am also pro gay marriage. Equal protection clause in the Constitution says all should have the same rights. Not my business what other people believe or who they love or marry. Refer to articles 11 and 12 above. Consequently I was very dubious about the church financing Prop 8 activities in California, and therefore I am currently rather ambiguous about paying tithing.
I am for Obama but against his conduct of the current wars, as I was against the wars when GWB was in charge. I will concede that OBL should have been killed, but we still murdered a person as a state and have his blood on all our hands, as we do with every war death the USA commits. Stop griping and don;’t even start to blow back on this issue. Refer to the Book of Mormon and refusing to fight against an oncoming enemy IS an option. There are many ways to defend ones self, family and country.
I am for so called Obama care but want it replaced with an even more progressive single payer system or even Government run health care, which (health care) is a fundamental human right according to the UN, which I support.
I hate haters, so Glenn Beck is trash and so are Rush, Fox News, and other neo-con and fundamentalist apologists and propagandists.
I am a union member and pro labor, and The Texas legislature just voted down my pension bill, and denied me a benefit that the my employer and my union bargained for in good faith. This gives me one more reason to never vote for a Republican, ( which I haven’t yet and won’t ever)
I think the USA could be a lot better and no I’m not going to leave. (At least not permanately, but I will seek dual citizenship in other countries for me and my family).
I have no patience for the religious right, these are the same fellow travelers that killed the Mormons in Missouri, and they are no better now. They want to murder women’s health care providers and gays. Read about anti gay laws in Uganda and the support these efforts get from US theocrats. ( See Sarah Palin and her ilk.
I could go on but you see the point. I have a testimony of the Gospel, but don’t find anyone infallible. I am pretty much a socialist. There are many socialists in the church, mainly in other countries. I think the US budget could be balanced by military reductions with zero impact on national security.
Yes I am a liberal Mormon, and an unapologetic one at that.
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