Mark Scolforo, Associated Press: How would you tell a daughter or a granddaughter who, God forbid, would be the victim of a rape, to keep the child against her own will? Do you have a way to explain that?
Tom Smith: I lived something similar to that with my own family. She chose life, and I commend her for that. She knew my views. But, fortunately for me, I didn’t have to.. she chose they way I thought. No don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t rape.
Scolforo: Similar how?
Smith: Uh, having a baby out of wedlock.
Scolforo: That’s similar to rape?
Smith: No, no, no, but… put yourself in a father’s situation, yes. (here and here)
Wait… what?
Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).
Website: → Unsettled Christianity
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One of the first things that ran me out of the GOP was sitting with the chairman of a county Republican Party in North Carolina while they were debating whether to redefine rape in the state to include the rape of a wife by a husband.
The guy said that it as an attempt by the radical feminists to interfere in marriage. If he thinks of rape as part of marriage, then maybe you’re right.
If they can’t tell rape from out-of-wedlock pregnancy … or compulsory probe ultrasounds from consensual intercourse … you know, maybe the GOP’s defining characteristic right now is unhealthy concepts of sex.