Archive for the 'Culture Wars' Category

I just finished watching MTV’s No Easy Decision, about teen mom Markai Durham’s second pregnancy and her decision to have an abortion.

The best response I’ve read so far is one co-written by Bryan Kemper of Stand True and Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life of America, who start off by saying:

We know that MTV is no bastion of decency or truth, but we did not think the show would actually go as far as it did. We were wrong.

Read the whole thing.

One other thing to point out: the show originally aired on December 28 — the feast of the Slaughter of the Innocents.

I wrote yesterday about my trip earlier this month to the Viva la Vida youth conference put on by Irish pro-life leaders Youth Defence.

While I was there for the conference, I joined Stand True Ministries‘ Bryan Kemper in leading a group of students from across Europe in some American-style pro-life activism outside the Marie Stopes abortion referral center in Dublin.

I took some video of the protest that I’m happy to share with you here. I was especially excited to meet the vibrant, motivated young people from Belgium, Germany, France, Ireland and elsewhere you’ll see in the video who were so energized to fight abortion in their homelands.

Two undergraduate students at MIT, Colin McSwiggen and Fatima Hussain, recently wrote an opinion piece titled “A Fundamental Right for Women” in the school’s newspaper. The opening paragraph reads:

For as long as the United States government has existed, it has been shirking a critical moral obligation. We are talking, of course, about our nation’s failure to protect the right of every woman to receive an affordable abortion on demand.

It’s pretty clear from the opening paragraph that the column is absurd.

But I do have to give the students credit on one thing: If you want to get your head around the “pro-choice” mindset and really understand what it is that makes them tick, McSwiggen and Hussain’s fairly concise (887 word) opinion piece is as good an introduction as any you’ll find. (more…)

Sneaking up on us, is our country’s midterm election! As a college student, this is my first ‘meaningful’ election, and you better believe I’ve requested an absentee ballot so I can vote while I’m away at school.

While we won’t be able to get rid of Obama, this is a swing election that could end up changing the balance of power in the Senate and House. So, to be honest, I’ll tell you that it’s stupid not to vote this election.

There, I said it. Now throw your best argument at me. (more…)

Have you ever been in a situation when a friend shares with you the fact that they performed a less-than-honorable action? And instead of pointing out that what they did was wrong, and that they have an obligation to get right with God, you laugh it off?

Yes, that happened to me. Recently, in fact. I was merely trying to be non-judgmental, but I ended up condoning that action. I didn’t speak the truth, instead I remained silent.

In our society, silence implies consent. By saying nothing, we indicate that we have no objections. We affirm the speaker as correct, and give them permission to proceed.
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On July 13th, the nation will watch as Major League Baseball’s elite players gather for the 81st All-Star Game at Angel Stadium, Anaheim. Hours before the game is scheduled to begin, the streets will be lined with fans waiting for the All-Stars to drive by in the red carpet parade to the stadium.

But, amidst the multi-million dollar salaries, interviews, sponsors, and celebrities, Major League Baseball will honor 30 “All Stars Among Us” – ordinary people who have made a difference through volunteering, founding organizations, or through other charitable work.
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While doing some reading over the past few days, I came across this passage that inspired me enough to share it. It is taken from a series of private revelations from Christ to “Anne”, a lay apostle, in 2005.

While the messages have not yet received the imprimatur (official approval of the Catholic Church), the bishop of Kilmore – Anne’s diocese – has given permission for their publication on the basis that there is nothing in them that is contrary to faith or morals, and much that is positive and nourishing for the faith. (more…)

There was an entry posted this week on The Abortioneers — a group blog whose contributors work in the abortion industry — that provides an interesting glimpse into their mindset.

As with most other entries on The Abortioneers blog, apparently its purpose is to reaffirm the belief that providing abortions is right, good, and noble. This particular post also aims to make “antis” (i.e., pro-lifers) feel as if all of our efforts are worthless:

Despite the hatred flowing out of your mouths, they have their abortions anyway. What you say, though it may upset, does not stop them from getting abortions.

“Hatred”? Please.

“…does not stop them from getting abortions”?

Watch No Greater Joy and hear interviews with three of the thousands of women who went to an abortion clinic planning to have an abortion, but then freely chose to change their minds and give birth to their babies instead. (Notice also the lack of hatred flowing out of the mouths of the sidewalk counselors.)

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The Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health is at it again.

In 2006, ICAH held its annual fundraiser at Playboy‘s executive offices.

That event—view the invitation here [PDF]—included a VIP reception with Playboy CEO Christie Hefner, the daughter of Hugh Hefner, who founded the magazine in 1953. Several years ago, Christie decided that the company could make more money by producing increasingly harder-core pornography — something that even her father was reluctant to do for a long time.

The next year, their annual fundraiser featured a stripper.

At this year’s event on June 15, ICAH will be honoring sex advice columnist Dan Savage with the group’s “Sexuality Activist Award.”

The fact that Savage is being honored tells us everything we need to know about ICAH’s values and the advice they believe should be given to kids. (more…)

An elementary school employee in Norfolk, VA who gave students models of a 12-week fetus accompanied by a card that says, “Some people think that my life began at birth; but my life’s journey began long before I was born…” was placed on administrative leave last week:

A news article about the matter quotes lots of people reacting with breathless outrage. (more…)

Planned Parenthood has proved, once again, that they’ve only got one play in their miserable little play book. They can’t defend corrupting youth, destroying families and killing 305,310 unborn babies they kill every year. So they always resort to demonizing pro-lifers.

The latest attack comes from Planned Parenthood of East Central Iowa CEO Joe Lock. In a report from KCRG news today he raises the possibility of violence over the Pro-Life Action League’s protest of his big abortion gala this evening where Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards will speak.

Lock’s Desperate Ploy

Lock claims to have been working with police, local businesses and even the FBI to prevent any violence from disrupting his big abortion party. He says they’ve been calling attendees to assure them of their safety. (more…)

One of GFL’s readers recently raised a question about the Pro-Life view on the issue of the death penalty.

While the Pro-Life movement includes issues such as abortion, euthanasia, and embryonic stem cell research, it does not specifically address the death penalty.

In reality, the issues of abortion and the death penalty operate on completely different grounds. Abortion takes the life of an innocent human being under the belief that they are valueless and have no personhood. The death penalty punishes a criminal by taking the most valuable and important thing they have – their life.
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For most people, the term “Pro-Life” immediately brings to mind opposition to abortion. In fact, the Pro-Life movement is globally defined as the movement focused on ending abortion and helping women in crisis pregnancies.

However, I’ve met people who argue that the Pro-Life movement should treat all “life issues” equally. They claim that if we are really pro-life, we should address issues such as homelessness, hunger, the environment, war, the elderly and child labor as well as abortion. So why is it that the Pro-Life movement places so much importance on fighting against abortion?
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An article by Sarah Kliff in the current edition of Newsweek has some sobering news for the country’s largest “pro-choice” organizations.

They’re worried about what the future holds, because they don’t see young people stepping up and rallying to their cause — and yet, that’s exactly what they do see happening on our side.

Citing new NARAL research from earlier this year, the article notes:

A survey of 700 young Americans showed there was a stark “intensity gap” on abortion. More than half (51 percent) of young voters (under 30) who opposed abortion rights considered it a “very important” voting issue, compared with just 26 percent of abortion-rights supporters; a similar but smaller gap existed among older voters, too.

After pointing out that “Millennials are more likely than their boomer parents to see abortion as a moral issue,” Kliff writes:

Millennials also came of age as ultrasounds provided increasingly clear pictures of fetal development. “The technology has clearly helped to define how people think about a fetus as a full, breathing human being,” admits former NARAL president Kate Michelman. [emphasis added]

Yes, because once you see a baby on ultrasound, it’s rather hard to be convinced that it’s anything other than, well, a baby.

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I was listening to the radio the other day, and heard a brief news report about college students protesting a budget cut, the story ending with, “fifteen people were arrested”. I wasn’t surprised. In fact it seems like in any protest there are always rowdy protestors or damage of property that goes along with it.

It seem that I hear stories like these a lot: “Anti-gun rally in Chicago, six people arrested”, “Police break up anti-war protest, take demonstrators away in handcuffs”, or “Environmental protest ends with fights, multiple arrests”.
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