From Amy Welborn’s mail bag

I am curious as to why a woman would have such misogynist attitudes toward women and marriage. I speak of you. Do you consider yourself defiled? Would sexual union with you be a defiling act? You will of course deny that you have any such thoughts, feelings, or motives in writing what you have written. Yet, you were raised Catholic and have deeply imbibed the patriarchal anti-female bias and agenda of the Catholic church. You are so deeply steeped in it you are unable to see it. I know that when you were first confronted with the idea of Jesus being married and having sex with a woman your reaction was “Icky!”

I am developing a new theory – A person may feel strongly about some topic without having much knowledge about it. Such a person will feel free to let the ad hominems flow freely out of their mouth or off of their finger tips. Further, I think women do this more than men do, particularly to other women. We women are made to be sensitive to subtle dangers. Maybe we need that to protect our young. I think that sensitivity also makes us more vulnerable to hurt feelings and broken spirits. Unfortunately, being the owner of a feminine soul also gives us the ability to take advantage of that sensitivity in others. In other words, we know where the female Achilles heel is, and we know how to wound it with amazing accuracy 99% of the time. Within the past two weeks for example, one lady called me a “heinous hypocrite.” Another suggested that I was balking at paying my chldren’s way through college so that I could simply win a “‘who had the most babies’ contest on the internet.” One was an attack on faith, the other on family – two important parts of the Christian woman’s heart.

I do not know what the answer is. People who feel strongly but do not have a lot of information, or whose hearts have hardened to the point that they refuse to look at more information, will more than likely use some of the easiest logical fallacies available to them. I give Amy a lot of credit. I’ll bet she gets letters and e-mails like this almost daily, yet she keeps blogging and publishing. She is the epitome of grace under fire.