EDITORIAL
Abuse law abuses
constitutional rights
Innocent until proven guilty is on its way to becoming
a meaningless term in Oregon. In a blow to individual
rights. Gov. Barbara Roberts last Thursday signed into
law House Bill 2144. which allows juvenile court judges
to remove alleged child abusers from their homes.
The law states that. “If the petition that the child has
been physically or sexually abused, the court, at the
hearing, may enter an order reouiring the alleged per
petrator of the abuse to move from the household in
which the child resides."
However, it must bo
romomborod that (hosts peo
ple ,iro innocent. They
have been convicted oi
nothing. In fact, in many
casos they will have not
been charged with any
crime The more allegation
of child abuse to tins court,
without having pressed
t riminal charges, is suffi
t ient to have a person
evicted from his or her
house.
A parent need
merely accuse
the other of child
abuse and,
presto, the
accused parent
must leave the
house. How
convenient.
If allowed, this will be a powerful new weapon in
mossy divan es. A parent need merely accuse the other
of child itbuso and. presto, the accused parent must leave
the house How convenient.
The Fourth Amendment to the U S. Constitution pro
tects. "Thcf right of the people to be secure in their per
sons, houses, papers, and effor ts, against unreasonable
searches and seizures." If being forcibly removed from
your house without having been convicted of any crime
is not "unreasonable." then what is?
Both the Fifth and 14th amendments protect citizens
from being "deprived of life, liberty, or property, with
out due process of law " While certainly people can l>e
held in custody for a period of time without being
i barged with a crime, they cannot be hold Indefinitely.
However, the eviction of people from their homos is
not temporary, at least not in the sense that they can go
home in two or three days. Rather, they will he forced to
find other living arrangements until a trial occurs and
they are either acquitted or convicted.
The flaw with that is that vory few of these cases ever
actually go to trial, so the decision as to whether an inno
cent person may go home will be loft to children services
authorities and the (uvonilo court system.
This law is just one more step toward a totalitarian
government that is working daily, at both the state and
federal levels, to control the everyday lives of its citi
zens.
Enormous controversy has surrounded the authority
of children services divisions around the country to
remove children from their homes on a more, unsub
stantiated accusation of abuse, to place thoso children in
foster homes and then require the parents to prove their
innocence.
That is not the way the justice system is supposed to
work, or have we chosen to accept such trouncing of
basic rights as the price we must pay for a safer society?
How many other rights are we willing to give up for a
false sense of socurity?
Oregon Daily
Emerald
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OPINION
Christianity fails to honor women
In the UruIt'd States, the dom
inant religion is Christianity.
AImjuI 200 million Americans
pray daily to God the Creator,
the Be-All, End-All Himself
Himself being the key phrase
here And when all is said and
done about God's relationship
with Man. it comes down to
this One-half of humanity is
ignored, discounted and vilified.
Women
A friend of mine told me
about a book he was reading,
titled. What Color is Your God'
He said it was a great book, the
theme being that the true God
transcends earthly distinctions
such as rat*.
I asked my friend if the author
referred to God as He. "Yes,"
said my friend "I guess this guy
thinks that God is a he."
"If God is so all-encompassing
as to have no color.” 1 said,
"then why does it have a gen
der?"
"You’ve got a point," he said.
From Genesis to Revelations,
the Bible refers to God as He
Persons more biblical than
myself may tell you that He is
just a convenient pronoun, per
haps a trifle more dignified than
It Religious people would have
you think that all are equally
loved in the eyes of the Lord —
hey, just look at the Virgin Mary,
she was a woman and managed
to make it to the Holy Clique.
Look at all of the woman saints.
.Saint Joan, for instance.
That's all fine and dandy,
except that the pronoun "Ho"
implies a lot more than a gen
derless deity. The Virgin Mary
supposedly never got to experi
ence her sexuality, and Saint
loan was burned at the stake as a
witch.
And if we urn all equal in I he
hi", of die lumi, explain the sio
rv of Adam and Ki n Here is my
own inlerprutation God i reales
Man, and I quote, "in his
image " Man has no idea how to
entertain himself in the Garden,
grows horny and bored God
finds sorry for Man and decides
to give him a companion
God conserves resources and
makes Woman from one of
Adam's ribs Woman takes on
role of Childbearer. Woman
becomes bored with Adam and
decides to explore Garden by
herself. Woman meets Serpent,
who offers her Knowledge.
Woman eats apple of Knowl
edge. thereby infuriating Man
and («od. who think that Woman
shouldn't know anything
Woman, her Knowledge and
her sexuality become archetype
for evil, gets the whole family
kicked out of the Garden
Church conducts smear cam
paign against Woman that still
lasts today
Knd of story? Not quite.
Church, next to government, is
the largest sexist institution in
the country. Yet without
women, the Church would fall
apart. The questions I'd ask
these women are these: Do they
enjoy following a religion gov
erned by a book that says they
are inferior? Do Catholic women
care that they cannot be priests?
When these women pray to God.
is it a man's face that they see?
At least our sexist government
gives us the concession of Free
dom of Religion under the First
Amendment. That means Amer
icans are free to create, destroy
or follow the deities they
choose.
If I can choose my own deity.
I am not going to choose one
that is vengeful, male and who
endorses killing in his name. I
will choose one I can relate to.
one which is reflected by all liv
ing things, including my very
female self.
My God is a Goddess, and she
is the Mother of all living things,
including the God. her horned
Man has no idea
how to entertain
himself in the
Garden, grows
homy and bored.
God feels sorry for
Man and decides
to give him a
companion.
consort who frolics within the
curves of the Earth that are Her
body, drinking wine with Her,
his Mother and Lover. The God
dess reflects Woman, her curves
are my curves, her moon cycles
regulate my cycles.
Blasphemy? Not quite. She's
been around a lot longer than
God the Creator has. One might
say He was jealous of Her power
and ordered his followers to kill
hers. The Inquisition lasted from
the 13D0s to the 1800s. spanned
across Europe and the New
World, and killed nearly nine
million Goddess followers Only
they were called "witches," and
some of them were probably just
Christians who happened to be
powerful women.
If that isn't blasphemous, I
don't know what is.
1 can't convince all Christian
women that they are being sexu
ally harassed by their religion. I
can only chart my own spiritual
path. On this path I shall not
blindly worship a God whose
followers refer to humanity as
Man. I shall not follow the men
who follow this God. for
although they make arguments
filled with love and pronouns,
they consider me inferior. I shall
find the answers within myself
and be slave to no person or
faith.
I am nobody's rib.
Lio Solciccin is a columnist
for the Emerald.