Responding to Female Foeticide: the Gospel and the value of Women
-Neeru Vaid Eicher
Six months ago, when we were expecting our first baby, my English speaking Christian neighbour noticed me and shouted from a distance to us, exclaiming: “It is going to be a boy...” We were shocked-shocked by his perception shaped by the “popular” pattern of the world; shocked by what could be beneath this one lined, seemingly innocuous statement. Could it be that like many of our fellow countrymen he also views bearing boys superior to bearing girls and is influenced by the various layers of lies embedded beneath that understanding. He may have personal reasons in not allowing the power of the gospel to shape him Sunday after Sunday. But the question remains to be asked if the Church has got the grip over the power of this misplaced perception falling squarely in the realm of sin. A perception which is outrageously in contradiction to the Word of God. And whether the Church has been that “light on the hill” which is dispelling the darkness of this baneful and catastrophic notion.
We hear stories which make rounds in our neighborhood and elsewhere as to how so-and-so “aborted girls” as they pursued conceiving boys. Such people do not appear to be harsh and evil people. But the evil they become party to never gets confronted and nor do they. The evil is weaved into the lies of the culture and falsehood stemming from false religious beliefs which do not view bearing girls an equal blessing as bearing boys. What tugs the heart is to see a Christian brother or sister coming under the spell of the same perception. The same misconception also lies at the root of the degradation and mistreatment meted out to precious and sacred lives of girls and women in general. Ranging from stark instances of dowry demands to subtle and intangible ways of treating them inferior within the four corners of the house, this is not an uncommon phenomenon. The question that needs to be raised is whether the Church is discipling the nation on this issue or she is getting discipled by the various web of lies which cause girls and women to not be treated equal to boys and men.
 The church is the key cornerstone in the lives of active Christians. The Word of God is unequivocally clear that men and women were created in the image of God and that they were created equal. Genesis 1:27 tells us: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Further God created the woman to be the helper of man. The value that God puts to being a helper can be seen in the fact that He describes himself as a helper of man, as in Psalm 115:9-11, where the Hebrew word for “helpmeet” is the same as the one used in Genesis to describe Eve. And in that sense the distortion which treats women inferior to men is not according to the spirit and theme of the Word of Life.What is most awful is to see mankind distorting the original design of God by slaughtering helpless infants in the womb of the mother which is meant to be the safest place for the baby in the world. A recent study states that 10 million female fetuses were aborted over the last two decades. And then we have heard about the recent reports where fetuses were found in a drain in Punjab. In 10 years there has been only one conviction under the law concerning this.
Recently God gave a vision to a leader in the Salt Project of blood spilled out on the land of our nation from the killing of thousands of girl infants. God is showing His concern to his people about the loss of such precious lives and we need to get hold of this concern and forge forward to be a prophetic voice and proactively cause the nation to confront its sin. Isaiah 1:15-16 says: “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”
The Church needs to participate in the cause for the dying innocent girl children as well as the potential victims. Christians need to be part of campaigns for giving more teeth to the law, for assisting in the prosecutions, and to make sure that the actors in this crime are held accountable for an effective implementation of the law. Besides, the Church also needs to join in the cause against other injustices meted out to the girls and women. The church is in the strategic position to influence its congregations to make sure that not only the congregation is not party to such crime or hold similar perceptions, but the members of its congregation are also the prophetic voices of truth within their neighborhoods and spheres of influence. And that will be possible when there are explicit and creative teachings in the Church about this crucial area of life.
The other significant mandate that can be seen for the Church is in bringing a unique transcending and faith-oriented understanding to the issue. Even though several well-meaning civil rights and women's groups have been consistently campaigning in the public sphere as well as the court systems against female infanticide and foeticide, the fact is that they also perceive religion as the main contributor to the problem and thus reject religion. In one sense their campaign to break the lies, which are within the framework of religion, particularly the dominant religions in our society, which perpetrates the false understanding of inequality of women and men, is correct. But because these groups see religion with much contempt and disgust and normally distance themselves totally from the religion, their campaign in that sense assumes a negativity, which tends only to alienate. Thus there lies the marvellous opportunity for Christians to stand in the gap. In a country that values religion, we can speak with authority from the reference point of faith and religion, which has greater authority in the hearts and minds of people. To share truth that the Bible teaches on all aspects of life can impact this nation in a formidable way. As we share truth and seek redemption in this area, the profound need of evangelism is organically met.
(The writer is an advocate on record in the Supreme Court of India and focuses on human rights issues in much of her work and writings.)
Source : Namkeen Newsletter.
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