A Letter to Bristol Palin

Last updated on: June 26, 2015 at 2:28 pm by Jason Mankey

A Letter to Bristol Palin 2015-06-26T14:28:26-06:00 Jason Mankey

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Dear Bristol,

I know you don’t know me, but we are kind of peers in a way. I write at Patheos, you write at Patheos, I read your Mom’s book about Christmas, you were in your Mom’s book about Christmas, and I wrote a review of it. This does not make us friends or anything, but we aren’t complete strangers. (You can read my blog for awhile to catch up with me if you want, I’ll wait.)

First of all, congratulations. I just read that you are going to be a mother for the second time. I think that’s wonderful. You’ve always struck me as someone who loves being a Mom. I hope the experience is just as good the second time.

In your announcement you made this comment: “I do not want any lectures and I do not want any sympathy.” I would never lecture you about getting pregnant. Sex is natural and sex is fun. (There are of course ways to prevent unwanted pregnancy, in the future you might want to look into them.) I’m not worried about you being pregnant, I’m worried about the people you are hanging out with.

Certainly there are some liberals out there who are going to yell at you for being a hypocrite. You are an abstinence ambassador after all, I think those people are probably justified, abstinence education doesn’t work after all. So you deserve a little bit of ribbing for that, but getting pregnant? . . . .nah.

Anyone who would lecture you for getting pregnant is not a friend, and not someone you need to have around in your life. I know that you hang out with a lot of those type of folks, and I’m thinking maybe it’s time for a change. I know a lot of those people talk about Jesus but it seems like a different Jesus than the one I grew up with. There’s this cool verse in the Gospel of John that paints Christianity in a positive light, and I think a lot of Tea Party-types have been overlooking it (including, sadly enough, your Mom). Here it is as a reminder:

“When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.'” John 8:7 (Jesus)

When these people come at you with their pitchforks and venom (and some of them will) try to remind them of this phrase.

There’s a part of me that would love to tell you to convert to Paganism. We have cool stuff that I think you’d like. We praise the midwife, offer lots of transition-type rituals for kids as they grow up, and are very earthy in the sense that we love the Earth. I know your family loves the beauty of Alaska, we do too! We also think (safe) sex is pretty awesome and don’t vilify it. I think we’d accept you unconditionally, though we’d probably make fun of you for some of the things you’ve written on your blog, but we can just chalk that up to being young and ignorant.

Here’s another idea for you. Did you know that 40% of all births in the United States involve single mothers? What if you used this second go around as a single mom to fight for your peers in motherhood? You could help spread the news about dead-beat-dads, and fight for childcare for working single moms! (I know your situation is a little unique with all of that abstinence ambassador money, but I’m sure being a single mom still presents challenges, even with a comfortable income, you were able to pay cash for your house after all.)

This is pretty exciting to think about. You have a huge readership on your blog, a lot of political connections, you could really make a difference in people’s lives! As a nation we don’t do nearly enough to help single mothers, this could be your thing and a chance to leave a lasting legacy. At the very least you could use your big news to remind some of your mom’s supporters about Jesus and that “first stone” thing. If you want less lectures going forward, the people loudest about Jesus need to get a better idea about what he actually said (and he never mentions gays or abortion, make a note of that).

Anyways Bristol, just thought I’d reach out and offer some congratulations. If you find yourself interested in life-affirming Paganism let me know (though I doubt that will be the case, and that’s cool), but seriously, think about some of the other stuff I’ve mentioned.

Bright Blessings,

Jason Mankey

PS-I know some of my liberal friends are going to think that I’m being nice to you. I’m just like that. I do try to see the good in everyone. Not to get all Star Wars on you “but there’s good in you, I feel it!”

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