Praying for different things

Four years ago this month, my then eight year-old daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Since then, we have lived with the daily struggle of trying to live with this condition, trying to keep her blood sugars in balance yet allow her to continue the activities of an ordinary twelve year old. It isn’t easy, and there’s never a vacation from the needles, the testing, the constant worry about both her short-term health and the long-term complications.

One of the most promising avenues of research for curing diabetes is stem cell research.
So when I read a previous post on this site which spoke of the “sins inherent in…human-embryo research” I found myself angry as I haven’t been in a very long time.

I am a person of strong religious faith, but I have found my faith challenged over the last eight years as I have seen the ways in which religion has been an instrument of intolerance instead of understanding and how the religious right is trying to impose its beliefs onto the laws of this country.

How is it possible, in a land where we were guaranteed freedom of religion, that I should be told there is a “sin inherent” in human-embryo research, when the laws of my faith say that is not the case? Are we saying that the Catholic Church is the ultimate arbiter of what is “right” in the United States of America? I don’t see that written anywhere in the Constitution – in fact the First Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

I try very hard to respect the religious beliefs of others. It was a matter of great pride to me that my first book, CONFESSIONS OF A CLOSET CATHOLIC not only won the Sydney Taylor Book Award, from the Association of Jewish Libraries, but was also named one of “Ten Books Suitable for Christmas Gift Giving” by the Catholic News Service. I wonder then, why others cannot extend the same respect to my beliefs; why they feel compelled to try to impose their beliefs on me and others like me, why they want to legislate their beliefs into the laws of the land so that even though my religion allows for research that could help cure my daughter, they seek to prevent that because to them it is a “SIN” – because to them a group of cells is more important than my beautiful, living, breathing child.

I shall be praying too, on Election Eve. I’ll be praying that we will be freed from the forces of intolerance. I’ll be praying that people will learn that different faiths believe different things, and that living in a pluralistic society we need to learn to respect other’s beliefs. I’ll be praying for the election victories of candidates who understand those things. And I’ll be praying for a cure for diabetes, may we find it soon, please G-d.