{"id":24,"date":"2010-05-12T08:56:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-12T08:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/where-does-unconditional-love-come-from.html"},"modified":"2010-05-12T08:56:00","modified_gmt":"2010-05-12T08:56:00","slug":"where-does-unconditional-love-come-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/where-does-unconditional-love-come-from.html","title":{"rendered":"Where Does Unconditional Love Come From?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have a new post at her.meneutics about the spiritual significance of Williams Syndrome. It is called &#8220;The Anti-Racist, Anti-Fear Gene.&#8221; Incidentally, the title is somewhat misleading as Williams Syndrome involves the absence of certain genes, but that&#8217;s somewhat beside the point. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The post begins: <\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 15px;font-family:Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px\"><\/p>\n<p>Over the past month, <span class=\"caps\">NPR <\/span>has addressed various aspects of Williams syndrome, a rare chromosomal condition in which a series of genes on one chromosome has been deleted.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.williams-syndrome.org\/what-is-williams-syndrome\">Williams syndrome<\/a> (also Williams\u2013Beuren syndrome, or <span class=\"caps\">WBS<\/span>) is characterized by learning disabilities and cognitive delays, small physical stature and features, a love for music, and a high degree of sociability and trust of other people, including strangers. One <span class=\"caps\">NPR <\/span>report, &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/story\/story.php?storyId=126136775\">Is There an Anti-Racism Gene?<\/a>&#8221; highlighted the fact that people with Williams Syndrome do not share most people&#8217;s tendency to discriminate against others of different racial backgrounds. A second report, &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/story\/story.php?storyId=126224885\">A Life without Fear,<\/a>&#8221; focused on a family in California with a daughter with Williams, Isabelle. It mentioned that Isabelle is \u201cpathologically trusting\u201d and that it is \u201cbiologically impossible for her to distrust\u201d other people. A third <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/story\/story.php?storyId=126396171\">explored<\/a> the social alienation experienced, sadly and ironically, by many persons with Williams in spite of their innately deep love for other people.<\/p>\n<div style=\"float: right;padding-left: 10px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.christianitytoday.com\/women\/upload\/2010\/05\/94812484_c02c3ee2e3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.christianitytoday.com\/women\/upload\/2010\/05\/94812484_c02c3ee2e3-thumb.jpg\" width=\"357\" height=\"268\" alt=\"94812484_c02c3ee2e3.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<div><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 15px;font-family:Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px\">It\u2019s a puzzling condition. Positive and even desirable traits of love, trust, and acceptance bump up against the biological fact that we need social fear in order to survive. To cite one example of the problems that arise with this loving, trusting nature, Isabelle cannot go to the bathroom alone at school because of the many stories of children with Williams who have been sexually abused. Isabelle herself has climbed into the backseat of a stranger\u2019s car, ready to join the unknown family for a trip to Dairy Queen. Her mother says it is her job to teach Isabelle not to trust people.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 15px;font-family:Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px\"><\/span>To keep reading, click <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.christianitytoday.com\/women\/2010\/05\/the_antiracist_antifear_gene.html\">here<\/a>.  <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have a new post at her.meneutics about the spiritual significance of Williams Syndrome. It is called &#8220;The Anti-Racist, Anti-Fear Gene.&#8221; Incidentally, the title is somewhat misleading as Williams Syndrome involves the absence of certain genes, but that&#8217;s somewhat beside the point. The post begins: Over the past month, NPR has addressed various aspects of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disability"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Where Does Unconditional Love Come From? - Thin Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/where-does-unconditional-love-come-from.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Where Does Unconditional Love Come From? - Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have a new post at her.meneutics about the spiritual significance of Williams Syndrome. It is called &#8220;The Anti-Racist, Anti-Fear Gene.&#8221; Incidentally, the title is somewhat misleading as Williams Syndrome involves the absence of certain genes, but that&#8217;s somewhat beside the point. The post begins: Over the past month, NPR has addressed various aspects of&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/where-does-unconditional-love-come-from.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-05-12T08:56:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.christianitytoday.com\/women\/upload\/2010\/05\/94812484_c02c3ee2e3-thumb.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"amyjuliabecker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Where Does Unconditional Love Come From? - Thin Places","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/where-does-unconditional-love-come-from.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Where Does Unconditional Love Come From? - Thin Places","og_description":"I have a new post at her.meneutics about the spiritual significance of Williams Syndrome. It is called &#8220;The Anti-Racist, Anti-Fear Gene.&#8221; Incidentally, the title is somewhat misleading as Williams Syndrome involves the absence of certain genes, but that&#8217;s somewhat beside the point. The post begins: Over the past month, NPR has addressed various aspects of&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/where-does-unconditional-love-come-from.html","og_site_name":"Thin Places","article_published_time":"2010-05-12T08:56:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.christianitytoday.com\/women\/upload\/2010\/05\/94812484_c02c3ee2e3-thumb.jpg"}],"author":"amyjuliabecker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/where-does-unconditional-love-come-from.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/where-does-unconditional-love-come-from.html","name":"Where Does Unconditional Love Come From? - Thin Places","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/where-does-unconditional-love-come-from.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/where-does-unconditional-love-come-from.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.christianitytoday.com\/women\/upload\/2010\/05\/94812484_c02c3ee2e3-thumb.jpg","datePublished":"2010-05-12T08:56:00+00:00","dateModified":"2010-05-12T08:56:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/4dde10eee38770361dc9b46a9413776b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/where-does-unconditional-love-come-from.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/where-does-unconditional-love-come-from.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/where-does-unconditional-love-come-from.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.christianitytoday.com\/women\/upload\/2010\/05\/94812484_c02c3ee2e3-thumb.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.christianitytoday.com\/women\/upload\/2010\/05\/94812484_c02c3ee2e3-thumb.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/where-does-unconditional-love-come-from.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Where Does Unconditional Love Come From?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/","name":"Thin Places","description":"Amy Julia Becker on Faith, Family, and Disability","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/4dde10eee38770361dc9b46a9413776b","name":"amyjuliabecker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/222\/2222023dcae76abe6e896a3cf80e9836x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/222\/2222023dcae76abe6e896a3cf80e9836x96.jpg","caption":"amyjuliabecker"},"description":"Amy Julia Becker writes about theology, disability, family, and culture. Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}