This just in:  A reporter, Lucas Hagios, with our affiliate station MMLJ in the Middle East, has uncovered another incident in the ongoing saga of the oppressive war on women.  Apparently, a man, representing himself as an angel sent from God, went to the home of a family in a remote village in northern Israel to speak with one of the residents of the home, a young woman.  Claiming to have a message from God, this man, with the use of manipulative language and guilt-generating religious ideology, spoke with the young woman about her pregnancy, and brazenly and coercively attempted to interfere with her right to choose.  The family is considering what their legal options are in dealing with this latest example of abuse within a dominant patriarchal system. [We note here that, evidently, in this nation’s history, there has been a pattern of these supposedly “angelic” announcements to pregnant or about-to-be pregnant women.]

While support for the family has been overwhelming, a minority of religious fundamentalists have been irresponsibly throwing around incendiary terms like “infanticide,” and even “deicide.”  Meanwhile, officials with the DOJ have been investigating the possibility of charging both the angel-impersonating man, if he can be identified and located, as well as the fundamentalist ideologues, with possible hate-crime and human rights violations. We will continue to keep you informed of developments as they unfold.

[Incidentally, we also need to note that we are not entirely sure of the objectivity of the reporter who alerted us to this story.  It appears that he might actually be sympathetic with, and even affirming of, the actions of the angel-impersonator and his supporters.  We will be checking with less biased reporters and affiliate stations in the area for independent verification of the details.]

Jerry Shepherd
December 7, 2015