The Myth of a Pro-Life Donald Trump

Posted by Caleb Coy on

With the election of Donald Trump, many conservative Christians are celebrating their vision of an America where abortions will occur less, and the possibility that one day soon abortion will be completely outlawed. In fact, the promise of stopping abortion was for many on-the-fence Christians the tipping point that led them to ultimately support Donald Trump and cast their vote for him. We’ll tolerate everything nasty and despicable about this horrible man, the idea goes, if we can use him to stop abortion.

Firstly, Donald Trump only recently “converted” to the anti-abortion cause, so America should be skeptical about both his commitment to the cause and his method of pursuing it. Did he become pro-life in order to gain votes? Does he know the best strategy? Will his speeches touch the hearts of pro-choice Americans to reconsider their views? Will he communicate well with the Supreme Court? These are important questions. Most of Trump’s statements on abortion since his anti-abortion “conversion” have been clumsy, illogical, myopic, narcissistic, and antagonistic toward women. The President Elect has spoken to pro-life voters promising them a turning of the tables.
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My “Protest Vote” for Gary Johnson

Posted by Caleb Coy on

In all honestly, I almost decided not to vote at all until his campaign kicked up more momentum after July 4th. I turned my attention to Gary Johnson. As an article from The Washington Post pointed out, what makes Gary Johnson unique is that he a) is very popular for a Libertarian, and b) is more willing to compromise on size of government than most Libertarians. In other words, he is a realistic and viable candidate from America’s big third party.
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In Memory of My Beautiful Aunt

Posted by Caleb Coy on

The past few months have been hard for my family. Just over a month ago we lost my grandmother, and this past Monday my aunt passed away after decades of battling cancer. Hers is a miracle of a story, but not in the way you’d expect. Hers is not a miracle of physical healing, but spiritual healing. When she was a little girl, her favorite movie was The Sound of Music. In one of the famous songs, Maria the governess sings of “whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,” and all her favorite things that she thinks of when times are bad, “when the dog bites, when the bee stings.” My Aunt Annie lived her life with the ability to “not feel so bad” through enormous trials, and to help others “not feel so bad” through the remembrance of favorite things. Throughout most of her life, her very soul radiated with the persistence of love and fondness for people and the good things they bring, despite a lifelong assault of pain and woe.
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The Trust Deficit: A Sign of Political Times

Posted by Caleb Coy on

You know it’s a sign of bad times when there is a trust deficit between the candidate and most of its party members in both major political parties. While most elections are obviously marked with distrust of opposing candidates, this one seems too frequently punctuated by embarrassing distrust of candidates from their own supporters. That should be alarming to anyone who normally expects a democratic election to pump out qualified leaders.
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“Keep Your Opinions To Yourself.” No.

Posted by Caleb Coy on

You don’t know what you’re talking about. Keep your opinion to yourself.

There is a thing we love to tell people when we strongly disagree with them, but wouldn’t dare tell someone who agrees with us completely. It generally goes that if you speak your mind often enough, you fill find people who will tell you to keep your opinion to yourself. They are literally requesting that you simply to not speak what you think at all on the matter. Find somebody you disagree with enough, and you might do the same.
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In Memory of My Grandmother, the Saint

Posted by Caleb Coy on

One of my earliest and most consistent memories of my grandmother is of her changing the flowers that would sit behind the pulpit above the baptismal pool. It may seem odd that such a mundane and routine memory stands out to me, but I think it epitomizes how she lived her life, in service of the small things that made life beautiful.
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