Marcellus Williams, Recycling Lies, How Abortion Bans Kill
Plus, Republicans Celebrating Raunch?
Hi everyone,
In case you missed it, we posted the recording of our September subscriber call we had on Tuesday. If you’re on the free list, check out the preview and consider becoming a paid subscriber to get the whole thing and join us next month!
Our highlights this week include:
- How criminalizing abortion kills people
- Forever chemicals spreading through farmlands
- California sues Exxon for its decades of lies about recycling plastic
- Republicans Celebrating Raunch
- And Sy keeps us grounded with reflections on God’s opposition to execution
Sy’s Recommendations
How Criminalizing Abortion Kills People
(content warning, pregnancy complications and suicide) ProPublica has been covering the deaths of women who do not seek necessary medical care out of fear of punishment under new state-law abortion banns. One recent story focused on Candi Miller, a Georgia woman who died, apparently by suicide, instead of going to a doctor when the aftereffects of her high-risk, self-managed abortion became excruciating. Her pregnancy was also high-risk, and potentially fatal given various medical conditions. But Georgia’s exception for the life of the mother only applies in acute emergencies. Chronic conditions don’t qualify. The article also provides some context for the post-Roe landscape where abortions have increased due to surges in both self-managed abortions and abortions in states that border states with bans. Abortions have always been around and are never going away. And as noted on our podcast episode about abortion with Mako Nagasawa, punishing people for obtaining or performing the procedure is not an effective approach for lowering abortions. By far the most effective strategy is building strong social safety nets. But American voters are generally allergic to those. We should pray and advocate for robust safety nets and against the criminalization of abortion because those measures will save lives and reflect the generosity and grace of God’s kingdom.
Forever Chemicals Spreading in Farm Fertilizer
In June, I wrote about the chemical manufacturer 3M and their decades-long efforts to hide the adverse health effects of PFAS, or “forever chemicals. Those effects are believed to include cancer, birth defects, and developmental delays in children. The New York Times is now reporting that farmers have unwittingly spread those chemicals throughout several regions of the country’s farmland, livestock, and crops. The government has encouraged the use of urban sewage “sludge” as fertilizer. But scientists say it contains high concentrations of PFAS. Farmers report cattle herds and other livestock becoming extremely ill and dying for no apparent reason. One farmer in Michigan lost his entire livelihood when a state regulator shut his farm down due to massive contamination. The regulator is not investigating more farms for fear of what it would do to the state’s economy. One cattle rancher in Texas has simply decided never to sell his herd, and his family now works other jobs just to continue raising the cows off of which they will never profit. But we cannot rely on the remarkable good will of individual ranchers to solve this problem. There are now lawsuits against the companies who sell the sludge, and against the EPA for its failure to meaningfully regulate PFAS. Pray these efforts would lead to a better understanding of the truth and to significant reform.
Jonathan’s Recommendations
California Sues Exxon for Decades of Lying about Plastics Recycling
The state of California is suing Exxon Mobile for decades of knowingly misleading the public into believing that mass recycling of plastics was feasible. Exxon is the world’s largest producer of the fossil fuel products used in manufacturing plastics, so they stood to gain economically from these lies. It costs more money to recycle plastic than the recycled material is actually worth. But Exxon and its allies intentionally obscure that reality from the public. The oceans, seas, waterways, landfills, and our bodies pay the price as plastic waste fills our society. I long for the day when we prioritize people over the profits of corporations. I will be praying that someone will resist the tide of greed in some way inside the companies ruthlessly committed to their own growth and preservation.
Republicans Celebrating Raunch
Republicans have been arguing that instances of something raunchy happening in pop culture, like the “hawk Tuah Girl” meme or Sydney Sweeney’s low-cut dress on SNL signal the death of wokeness. But simultaneously, the same people celebrate “trad wives” while baselessly deriding Kamala Harris for obtaining her political power through sexual relationships. Vox’s Constance Gradey explains how all this can be coherent. It makes sense if you understand that conservatives see sex as something fundamentally dirty which men can and should use to solidify their power over women. As a male follower of Jesus I reject the idea that women and girls exist for my pleasure, comfort, or service, though many people in the Church have tried to teach me the opposite. Jesus put women front and center in his church and I pray the Church today can show the world what feminism actually looks like.
Staying Grounded with Sy
Many of you I’m sure looked on in horror this week as the state of Missouri went forward with its execution of Marcellus Williams for a murder he almost certainly did not commit. Even the office that prosecuted Williams argued he was innocent and shouldn’t be killed. There was no evidence linking Williams to the crime other than the word of two eyewitnesses who stood to benefit in their own plea bargaining by testifying against him. The grounding thoughts for me in the midst of my anger about this case came from a writer I’ve mentioned here before,
. He powerfully reminds us in a recent post that “The cross is Jesus’ declaration that the Reign of God begins with those who are subject to the powers of execution. And the resurrection mocks the very idea that there is justice or righteousness to be found in that execution.” I don’t know why Williams wasn’t saved from this ultimate injustice. But I do find some small satisfaction in the fact that my God is just as angry as I am. He has said the world that produces this kind of evil will be done away with and replaced, as it should be. Let us take whatever comfort from those facts that we can in moments like these.- Read Pastor Tray’s reflections
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
Jonathan and Sy