Faith column offensive, out of line

The only positive thing that can be said of Ron Hamman’s “What the Bible says about a modern controversy” is that it brings up the subject of rape, which has long been pushed under the carpet in Alaska.

That being said, it was one of the most offensive and out of place articles that I, as a rape victim, have ever read. The article literally contends that if a woman believes her body is solely her own and that her husband has no rights to it without her consent then she is part of a brand of Christians that are “ruining America.” The husbands who respect their wives’ bodies as her own or believe that their wives have no rights to his body without his consent are then part of this brand of Christians as well.

This is disgusting to assert. Last I checked, we were supposed to be moving out of the dark ages where the Bible was interpreted literally as this pastor is doing. Even the Vatican has made statements regarding how the Bible should not be interpreted in this way. People like him and his followers are exactly why spousal rape was not made illegal in all 50 states until Congress took action in 1986. Even then the Supreme Court did not uphold this law until 1993, thus confirming it as we are taught in school must be done for a law to be considered valid. It was totally legal for a husband to force himself upon anyone he was technically married to until less than 20 years ago.

Let us examine Hamman’s logic that says women lie so spousal rape could be a lie, or his line of logic that no one should be convicted of rape unless there are three witnesses. By the first line of logic every single rape victim could be lying no matter whether he or she is a spouse or not. By the second line of logic, then, I should never be able to contend I was raped because it occurred when we were alone and there were never witnesses, ever.

More than 70 percent of the time when a rape occurs there are not even any other individuals in the building, let alone ones who would be able witness the rape happen. These lines of logic actually cheapen the offense and attack victims. I know firsthand that victims experience enough pain; we do not need to be attacked any more than we already are.

I was informed of this column when some fellow victims contacted me regarding it because they were so offended and hurt. One of them was especially hurt that her faith was being attacked by believing that her husband does not have the right to make her have sex if she does not want to for any reason. There are cases that have occurred, in Alaska and other states, where a man who was still technically her husband raped a woman, due to the divorce papers not being completed. They are technically married, and by Hamman’s logic it would not be rape, even if they had been separated for more than a year.

If every single sentence of the Bible was interpreted at face value then it would also be against God’s commandments to have sex for any reason other than to produce children. Thus, the “sex drive” that Hamman references would have been created by God solely to produce children. Unless the raping spouse violated the other just to try to create a pregnancy, then he would still be out of line with God’s commandments.

No matter whether you are a Christian or not, rape is a crime. No matter if you are a Christian or not, rape is sexual intercourse in which one of the parties does not verbally consent. Period.

I was raised Catholic and attended Sunday school and Catechism classes for years. Until now I have never heard anything as offensive as Hamman asserting that “God will not bless America” because we have laws that protect a spouse’s choice to not partake in sex if she chooses not to.

Amber Sawyer is an advocate for rape victims and women’s rights.