ABSTRACT
In the Christian Scriptures, tradition holds that humanity God becomes human and walks the path of love by risking betrayal and death to show that true love must embrace the utter integrity of the other who is being loved, even if that one is an enemy. The local Christian bookstores are filled with tapes and books from fundamentalist right-wing presses in the United States. But it is no surprise that love can be used to justify abuse, for part of the Christian tradition has used the need to share “gospel love” with unbelievers to justify ethnic extermination, racism, slavery, misogyny, colonialism, heterosexism, and forced conversions. Such was her passion, and, reflecting on our own mothers, we wrote essays about the greatness of mother’s love, wei-da de mu-ai. Mother’s love may be the greatest, but it need not be life-giving. The devastating spiritual corollary is once loved, not always beloved.
