The Feast of the Immaculate Conception

For John, BLUF:  The people of Minnesota must be pretty tolerant.  In Paris the Professor might well have been knifed, by an irate student.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Prof:  Virgin Mary didn’t give consent

Here is the sub-headline:

Eric Sprankle, a Minnesota State University associate professor, says “there is no definition of consent” that constitutes God impregnating the Virgin Mary.

From Campus Reform, by Intern Kenneth Nelson, 6 December 2018.

Here is the lede plus five:

A Minnesota professor suggested in a series of tweets that the Virgin Mary did not consent to the conception of Jesus Christ and suggested that God may have acted in a “predatory" manner.

Minnesota State University, Mankato psychology professor and sex therapist Dr. Eric Sprankle critiqued the story of the Virgin Mary in a tweet Monday, suggesting that the Virgin Mary did not consent to being impregnated by God.

“The virgin birth story is about an all-knowing, all-powerful deity impregnating a human teen.  There is no definition of consent that would include that scenario.

“The virgin birth story is about an all-knowing, all-powerful deity impregnating a human teen.  There is no definition of consent that would include that scenario.  Happy Holidays,” Sprankle said.

Another Twitter user called the professor’s claim into question, noting that the Bible states that the Virgin Mary did, indeed, agree to God’s plan for her.

“The biblical god regularly punished disobedience,” Sprankle rebutted.  “The power difference (deity vs mortal) and the potential for violence for saying ‘no’ negates her ‘yes.’  To put someone in this position is an unethical abuse of power at best and grossly predatory at worst.”

And maybe this is why Professor Eric Sprankle is an atheist and destined for eternal damnation.  He can't come up with a way for God to become Man and thus sacrifice himself for the redemption of mankind.

On the other hand, in this uneven power relationship the Good Professor has managed to deny the very existence of God, which seems a lot more defiant than just saying, rather than "let it be done to me as you say," "you don't exist and I am not going to play your silly games."  I think that his (the Professor's) assertion is pretty well self-cancelled.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff