Ray,

Thnks for giving us Don Reed's moving account of his
own faith and the story of Joan of Arc. Don is a true
hero in the stem cell wars. Aj and I  have sat beside
him and and his son Roman many times to testify for
escr in the California legislature. He is always
humble, his testimony moving and from the heart. The
courage that both he and his son have shown in
remarkable. Please continue to let us know his
thoughts on the battle's in CA and elsewhere.

Greg Wasson
Louisville, KY

ps - is it my settings, or is the online listserve not
being maintained - I go to the pien site and the last
post is from october.

--- rayilynlee <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> 55 Wednesday, December 28, 2005  -  JOAN OF ARC, AND
> STEM CELL RESEARCH
>
>
> A noted bioethicist, a minister, recently asked me
> to put together my "problems with conservative
> religion"-why I do not trust them with the future of
> stem cell research.
>
>
>
> I have been remiss on answering his request: partly
> because the subject is vast and very sensitive, but
> mainly because of my natural aversion to work.
>
>
>
> But I will try.
>
>
>
> A couple disclaimers:
>
>
>
> First, I believe in God. One small nightmarish
> example, foolish even, but real to me: I had a dream
> in which my son's body was lying on a football
> field. He was wearing shoulder pads, everything,
> full football gear. But his head was several feet
> away.  His head was upright on the grass, and it
> spoke to me: "I'm all right," he said repeatedly.
>
> I woke, shaking, sobbing in the moonlight, while
> Gloria also woke, and comforted me.
>
>
>
> A few weeks later, my son was paralyzed on the
> football field. Was I being given a warning from
> above? I have no idea. But I do believe in God, as
> the source of all.
>
>
>
> Second, if I pick on Catholics and Protestants more
> than other faiths, it is because they are my own. My
> family is Catholic; I was raised Protestant. I do
> not imply other religions are superior, merely that
> my ignorance about them is more pronounced.
>
>
>
> As to which religion I most "like", I would have to
> say Deism, the faith of America's Founding Fathers.
> Jefferson, Washington (also Lincoln, later on) were
> Deists. Deism basically said, God created the world,
> and after that, He observes, and we have free
> will-so everything is up to us; we cannot blame
> Anybody Upstairs for what goes wrong.
>
>
>
> Deism, having no official organization, was not
> attractive to those who like to use religion as a
> power structure, in which they can rise, grow rich,
> and dominate.
>
>
>
> The only mark Deism left was an invisible one: the
> Constitutional separation of church and state.
>
>
>
> Which was very wise.
>
>
>
> Because some religions say they speak with the voice
> of God-- and therefore cannot be wrong-- and may not
> even be questioned.
>
>
>
> Which seems to me like a modern-day version of the
> old Abbott and Costello baseball comedy routine,
> "Who's on first? What's on second?".
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Me (to religious person): How do you know you are
> right?
>
>
>
> Religious Person:  God told me.
>
>
>
> Me: How am I supposed to know what God told you?
>
>
>
> Religious Person: Because I told you what God told
> me.
>
>
>
> Me: But-
>
>
>
> Religious Person: Are you questioning God?
>
>
>
> Me: Um--
>
>
>
> Religious Person: It is simple. Listen to me, and do
> what I tell you, which is what, after all, God told
> me to tell you.
>
>
>
> Consider, instead, what happened to Joan of Arc.
>
>
>
> Everyone knows the basic story, how a 12 year old
> girl had a religious vision, and angels told her to
> drive the English out of France, (which they
> militarily occupied) and the little girl said,
> "Okay."
>
>
>
> And Joan from the province of Arc gathered an army,
> and went to war.
>
>
>
> The funny thing was, she won. Battle after battle.
> Once, outside the famous walled city of Orleans,
> (from which New Orleans takes its name)  the fight
> was not going well. Again and again, with great loss
> of life, the French soldiers were turned back by
> English defenders, firing crossbows from the safety
> of the walls. Finally, Joan herself was shot in the
> shoulder, and knocked off her horse. She lay on the
> ground, seeming dead.
>
>
>
> Some of her soldiers, thinking the battle was lost,
> panicked and began to run.
>
>
>
> But Joan woke, and looked around, and had herself
> lifted back on her horse. Her battle flag was put in
> her hands again, and her voice rang out across the
> field.
>
>
>
> "When my flag touches the wall," she said, "We will
> take the city."
>
>
>
> A few hours, Joan rode into Orleans.
>
>
>
> The English hated her. An occupying army being
> defeated by a little girl?  Even great Shakespeare
> behaved disgracefully; in one of his plays, he
> called her a prostitute.
>
>
>
> When Joan was finally captured, the English wanted
> the French church to deal with her. They did not
> want her just dead, although that must be done; they
> wanted her discredited, so the people would not
> follow her example, and go back to being passive.
>
>
>
>
>
> So the Church obligingly held a "trial". On one side
> were sixty of the best lawyers money could buy.
>
>
=== message truncated ===


"Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid...Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a person." - Arthur Miller - Death of a Salesman

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