I’m referring to this tweet: “Porter Schedules Fetus To Testify in Favor of Heartbeat Billhttp://bit.ly/eWtfu6 BEHOLD: “Bible College” Science.”
Some background. TB is referring to Janet Folger Porter. She’s the president of Faith 2 Action and is in fact crazy. How crazy? Well, aside from being a Tea Party enthusiast (strike one!), a birther (strike 2!) and the president of an anti-gay, anti-choice organization (aaand 3!), she just had two fetuses “testify” in defense of the Heartbeat Bill, a flagrantly unconstitutional piece of legislation designed to forbid all terminations after the detection of a heartbeat. Proposed by Ohio Representative Lynn Wachtmann, the bill is so unlikely to survive a legal challenge that Ohio Right to Life has refused to support it. Yes, dear readers. You read that correctly: Right to Life considers Wachtmann and Porter too extreme.
So, crazy. We can agree here.
What bothers me about TB’s tweet is the dig at Bible colleges. I realize that America’s Christian colleges and universities do leave themselves open for this sort of derision. The majority promote policies that are vehemently discriminatory against the GLBT community. They deny a woman’s right to choose, they severely limit the rights of an individual to, well, be an individual. If you choose to attend one of these schools you’re aware that you’re signing on for this, though the impact of these rules is difficult to anticipate until you’re actually on campus. That was my experience at Cedarville, at least.
But despite those rules, despite the discrimination and the blatant hatred so many of the students and faculty possess for anything they consider “liberal,” Cedarville is where I came into my own as a feminist. It’s where I became pro-choice. It’s where I met my first openly gay man, and my first transman. It’s where I learned to accept the woman I saw in the mirror, and truly love myself, even if my university wanted to deny that I existed. It’s where I exchanged religion for faith.
And I am not as much of an anomaly as you might believe. As I’ve said before on this very blog I did not operate in a void. I have very dear mentors, and dear friends, that consider themselves Christians. And went to Bible colleges, and teach there, too.
I went to Bible college, Tiger Beatdown, and I’m a feminist. I’ve got a minor in Bible and I’ll argue with a Calvinist until one or both of us snaps. And I’m pro-choice. I took those Bible college science classes and you know what? I am not Janet Folger Porter, I am doing just fine. So are my friends.
So don’t erase me, Tiger Beatdown. Show me the same respect you show the rest of the feminist community. People read that blog, they read your tweets. How many of your followers have retweeted your attempt at humor? Feminists of faith are already too often disenfranchised by both their religions and their movement. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t join in the fun. Especially since I actually live in Ohio and will be directly affected by the Heartbeat Bill. My activism will contribute to the activism of others, and by our powers combined I really do believe we can defeat Porter, and Wachtmann, and whoever else tries to strip us of our rights.
Clear?
anthonybsusan 
So, you’re complaining that TB made a dig at Bible colleges by using ableist language (describing Janet Folger Porter as “crazy”). The difference being that Bible college’s are institutions that teach and promote hatred of women, GLBT folks, and others, and the mentally ill…don’t. Good job!
Debbie, I have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. I don’t publicize it on the blog because I feel it’s irrelevant. But I’ve had that diagnosis since the age of fifteen, and I have certainly faced stigma because of it. Because of that, I believe that no one has the right tell me whether or not I can use a term that is traditionally considered insulting to the mentally ill. You can agree with it or not, and I respect your right to do so. But as a mental health consumer, I am not offended by the word, and therefore I use it on occasion. What I do consider ableist, however, is chiding an individual for the way she speaks about her own diagnosis. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t do it again.
Also, there’s a lot more to Bible colleges than what you mentioned, and the fact that you can only focus on the negative instead of appreciating the positives I mentioned in my post really only proves my point about the disrespect secular feminists often show religious ones.
Waaaah, xtians are so oppressed and misunderstood, internets!
Some are, some aren’t. It’s incredibly ignorant to stereotype an entire religion.
While socially opposed to abortion as a concept, I am generally against outlawing it due to a wide variety of reasons.
However, this goes far further than my general passive opposition to outlawing abortion. This particular law is not even sane, as the termination of several types of 100% completely non-viable pregnancies some of which are fatal to the mother if not terminated. This bill expects the mother to just die in these cases.