I just returned from the March for Life which takes place right in my own neighborhood and had the opportunity to ponder once again the mystery and dignity of Human life. I spent the last 20 minutes of the march interacting with the “pro-Choice” demonstrators on the steps of the Supreme Court and I gave them the “come to Jesus” talk. đ More on that at the end. But for now, just a few thoughts on the mystery of our existence.
It is a true fact that from our point of view life begins at conception. That is when we can “measure” life’s existence and when we begin to interact with human life and must respect it. But, in a way I want to be more radical with you and say that life begins “before” conception. We are rather materialistic, mechanistic, and scientific at times and thus we miss the glorious fact that our lives cannot simply be assessed or measured in a test tube or “seen” with earthly eyes, or even measured by time.
Why do I say that life begins “before” conception and why do I use quotes around “before”? Well, first of all, the Scriptures attest to fact that God knew of us before he made us: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.”(Jer 1:4). And psalm 139 attests; “Every one of my days was written in your book before one of them ever  came to be.” (Psalm 139:16). What this means pure and simple is that no human person is an accident or a surprise to God. No one, even those born under less than ideal circumstances, is inconvenient or unwanted by God. Every human person is sacred for they are willed by God, loved by God, created intentionally by God not as a whim but as part of a plan stretching back before the foundation of the world. Every human person (even my enemy) is God’s “yes”  to the world.
When I say life begins “before” conception why do I put “before” in quotes? I do not mean to say that we existed in heaven or someplace else before we were conceived here. But what I mean is that there really is no “before” with God. God dwells outside time and transcends it. Past and future are equally present to God who lives in the fullness of time where everything is now, every thing, every age is present. For us, time unfolds in chronological sequence. For God everything just IS. God is not waiting for your tomorrow. your tomorrow has always been present to him. This is why God can say “Before I formed you I knew you.” This is why all our days are written in his book before they come to be for us.
Ah, the mystery of human life caught up in the mystery of God! We cannot grasp our dignity fully but only seem small facets of it. Too wonderful for us this knowledge, this mystery is too deep to express. As I saw thousands upon thousands at the march today I pondered that the mystery of their life is caught up in eternity and that God knows them each through and through, not a hair of their head was un-numbered. There too were the police guarding us and preserving good order. They too, known by God through and through, before they were ever formed in their mother’s womb.
I praise you Lord because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. …For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. .. your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Ps 139, selected verses).
And then I came to our opponents on the steps of the Supreme Court. They were small in number but with that distinctive blue and white sign: “Keep Abortion legal.” These too, I thouhgt are known and loved by God from before the foundation of the world. Sadly misled but loved.
And then it occurred to me that at  the heart of their dignity was to hear the truth, the truth that would set them free. “Why not?” I thought. “Am I not here to influence, to change hearts? At least plant seeds?”  One by one I went to each of them I could get to. I look them in the eye and appealed to their conscience. They were chanting “Ho, Ho! Hey, Hey! Roe v. Wade is Here to Stay!” I stood before each an looked in their eyes and said in a clear but low voice that they could hear: “But you know it’s wrong. Deep in your heart you know it is wrong. You know.” It was interesting. In years past I tried to debate the issue with them and all we did was argue. But this year the Lord said, “Speak only to their conscience.”
Some of the looks I got back were powerful. Some were troubled looks, some neutral, one gave me a knowing look as if I (no not I, the Lord) had connected. It was brief with each but powerful. I didn’t have to win. All I had to do was to respect their dignity to hear the truth and let God speak to their conscience. He made them to know the truth and  I pray that even one of them really heard the Lord. It was a moment in time that was written in God’s book before it ever came to be. Your prayers will make it fruitful.
Thankfully, Science is on our side:
http://www.princeton.edu/~prolife/articles/embryoquotes2.html
THanks for this helpful link
I wish my pro-life pilgramage was going as well as yours.
Hmm. Sorry it didn’t go so well. Any particulars?
God has given you several incredible insights here; thank you for sharing them with us. I think that your words to our opponents / mistaken brothers and sisters were the words of the Holy Spirit. The first half of the article reminded me of something I heard once from an RCIA sponsor: “Every one of us was conceived in Love. Whether our physical conception was through rape, “accident,” or loving intention, God the Father created our souls with the words, ‘I Love you.'” Truth is beautiful.
Thanks. I am glad this was covered in RCIA
Science tells us that, from conception, an embryo is alive, and we know the species is human; an embryo, regardless of age, is a human life, period. So, our stand as being pro-life is 100% accurate, ergo the opposite (pro-choice) should be accurately charactorized as being pro-death, period. But, being pro-choice sounds much cleaner than what is truly being pro-death.
I applaud the courageous women who marched to say that they regretted aborting their children. Theirs are stories told with unique and tragic insight.
Yes, me too.
If you will allow me, I would like to say a few words concerning âmadnessâ, with respect to todayâs gospel (Mark 3.20-21). I say allow, for I feel it is not inconsistent with your message for today. It stems from the Gospel reading which appropriately is given on a day dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It concerns ‘madness’, which in today’s society also reduces one in dignity, by ascribing attributes of being less than human in many cases. Please understand, that for me, this activism is closely related to what you speak to today in this blog, and the condition itself may be a result of it. My interest in this subject, thus stems from the category I was given over 40 years ago, when, (and after reading this possibly those with the symptoms now, may be grateful) the âlabelâ schizophrenia was given more liberally, when such conditions as PTSD were not recognized.
When I first wrote my book, (now a draft copy) there was too much of a need to vindicate myself in writing the book to always give as generous an interpretation to others as I might today, in the portrayal of the situation. The âstigmaâ however, still exists, and possibly even those whose self-interest is at stake within the psychiatric âindustryâ can continue the defamation of those classified. This has not always been so. Often, in ancient times, and among certain members and period of history of Islam, for instance, people were much more generous with those whose manner and thinking was questionable. It was often considered Divine Madness, and people so regarded, were viewed with some sort of deference, and were not isolated in less severe case, as thankfully today, in less extreme cases, from society.
The point I want to make is that these people often have a truth that they feel the need to be told, indeed to find. For they do not, may not, explicitly have that truth, and they may be without the means to come to it. Their thoughts therefore may spin out into hypothesize (scientific term said in irony?) and imaginative speculations, and so they may let these images spin a context for happenings they canât explain, in which the reality they are living becomes as false as the long held belief that the earth was the center of the universe. Furthermore these ideas may be ideas out of control, as well as out of the grasp of the concrete realities of the social norms of their time. But as Nietzsche said: âMadness among individuals is a rarity; but among nations and epochs a normâ (Not exact quotation.)
Until modern times, (Foucault- Madness and Civilization) madness has often been associated more liberally with those who have been in quest of the/a truth, (their own personal truth about themselves and their lives, is not what I am considering here) and people have acknowledged their âweirdâ behavior, as a result/symptom for searching for such âHigher/higher truths. Socrates was amongst these. He was noted to stand out, all night, for instance, in some kind of âcatatonic tranceâ. Contemplation can take the mind into uncertain areas, but as I said, only the best of minds, can find a workable synthesis. It may be that Socrates did not, but only gave the example to Plato, for instance, who brought more rational argument and the solution in the synthesis we call the âthe Platonic formsâ which resolved the quest of his master, as was communicated by the dialogues which show the questioning irony known as the Socratic method. Socrates, like Jesus, was put to death! Great minds have therefore been considered and have indeed become mad; Schumann, and Nietzsche among them. As a student of both music and philosophy, for that reason these pioneers in thought have always been held in my mind, as personal exemplars in how to deal with my own personal situation.
Someone mentioned that writers like Dawkins like to make a jest of faith, equating it with madness. Well, letâs admit it! Sometimes our faith can indeed lead us into a form of madness, particularly when we assume that we have a divine grasp of the mysteries in a way that gives evidence to those who berate such ideas/behavior; i.e. usually by those who isolate themselves within the limitations of empirical evidence and collaborated theory. But faith need not be madness. Faith, unlike that interpretation which I objected to in Kant that would keep our reasoning within the rational limits of empirical, (sense-based) thought, cannot be an idea. It may involve the need to synthesize (put together) many ideas, but according to the Catholic tradition it is fundamentally one of the three Theological virtues, is it not? Thus it is not, as against Kant, only an idea, but, as with Heidegger implies, a state of being; i.e. it is ontological, or metaphysical; and not purely epistemological. We therefore cannot assume, as the atheists, that we have it âall figured outâ, nor like those who, with unclean spirit, shouted out âYou are the Son of Godâ, also believing they have it âall figured outâ. (Mark 3. 7-12) For, perhaps, we should sometimes follow the propitious advice Jesus made to those with unclean spirit and not always, especially when we do not feel certain, of ourselves or othersâ belief, attempt, with unwarranted audacity to âmake his Presenceâ known. (The subject matter here, to be specific, is miracles based on false or unclear perceptions or superstitious beliefs, for instance). Only the pure of heart, the Gospel says will see God, and this I know I cannot assume for myself. May I always then proceed, as Msgr Pope states with cautionary awareness of the dangers in exegesis; that is with self-awareness of my finitude. In this instance, may I posit a bit of my irony, with a comment that hopes to offer a fruitful comparison; that unlike the âunclean spiritsâ who felt a certainty that they saw their Savior, those who considered themselves sane, saw in the Christ, (was it perhaps a projection of their own state of mind â the Stoics for instance have always held that only the Stoic Sage is sane, and yet they could not find one) and his miracles, what could only be explained to them, by the conclusion and reference to Him that is stated in todayâs scripture.
I find it interesting that those close to Jesus felt the need to restrain Him, presumably, (I can think of no other explanation) out of fear for His safety. We do not have it in scripture how this situation was resolved, except, that of course Jesus continued in His Ministry. But that He was mistaken, by some to be âout of sortsâ, is a commentary on our possible perceptions not only of Eternal truths, but as well of those who we meet casually within our daily life who also appear to be âout of sortsâ, for it is very easy to say of someone with dismissal and contempt that âHe has gone out of his mind.â
Yes, I was thinking of blogging on the concept of being a “fool for Christ.”
The martyrs in Christ may and have been described as Fools. It is interesting that points of view are like crystals in that they glimmer and shine, in the revelations of light, with hidden as well as revealed moments of truth.
It is amazing that, in this scientific age, where we have all sorts of answers for all sorts of scientific/biological questions, some continue to insist that science cannot answer the question of the beginning of life.
The fact is, science can answer it, science has answered it, and it is only because some do not want to hear the answer that they insist that this is some unknowable and unanswerable question. Were it not for the politics, which have become a quasi-religious belief on the part of pro-abortionists, then it would be acknowledged by all that, as a matter of scientific fact, the life of an individual human being begins at conception, that is, when a living human sperm unites with a living human ovum.
It is not a matter of opinion, it is not a matter of wishful thinking, it is not a matter of faith that the entity existing at the time a human sperm penetrates a human ovum is itself (a) human, that is, genetically a member of the species homo sapiens, (b) animate and living, with continued growth, and (c) distinct from either the woman who contributed the ovum or from the man who contributed the sperm cell. In short, a human being, however nascent. This is true whether that human being is floating along the fallopian tube or hitching him- or herself onto the uterine wall or sitting in an IVF petri dish or frozen in liquid nitrogen or about to be harvested by stem-cell ghouls. The abortion industry and lobby knows this. The abortion lawyers know this. The “emergency contraception” pushers know this. The embryonic stem cell scammers know this. The United States Supreme Court knows this. The abortionist sucking that human life into a jar or jamming a pair of scissors into his or her skull before ripping him or her from the womb knows this. It is simple, basic scientific fact.
A human being does not begin as something other than human, and only later convert or change into a human state. It is and always has been human.
Similarly, life does not begin magically during the prenatal period. Indeed, it does not even begin at conception. “Life,” as life, is a continuum which began millions of years ago. Yet so many abortion advocates argue with a straight face that we don’t know and can never know “when life begins” or that an entity is not fully “human” if it is not “viable” (however they decide to define “viability” today or next week or next year). They would apparently have you believe in the spontaneous generation of life, that matter goes from inanimate to animate in some unknowable, mysterious fashion. Absurd? Of course. It is also the law of the land under Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of S.E. Pa. v. Casey.
As a matter of scientific fact, the last case of spontaneous generation of life from inanimate matter happened millions of years ago. Since then, life has been a continuum. âLifeâ does not spontaneously begin ex nihilo. (Even the Incarnate Jesus was formed out of pre-existing life.) It is only because the entity within the womb is alive at the moment of sperm-ovum union that it begins the process of cellular division and reproduction and taking in nourishment and giving off waste and developing more recognizable organs and features, growing and growing and growing for the next 70-80 years.
Now that, is fact. Scientific fact, scientific truth. But here again, we see that it is the Church that is the true guardian of reason and truth, while it is secular society that has rejected reason and embraced absurd fantasy.
Yes, in the end what we have here among the pro-abortion types is a suppression of the truth which Paul speaks of in Rom 1:16ff. The scince and the truth are clear but they are suppressed. Deep down they know we are right and this also explains a lot of the anger directed at the Church.
There is a reason why I came back to the faith, and listen with hope to all the words spoken in this blog today. I would like to take note, however, of another scientific finding. I found this out on another site in New Advent; that is, that the mother carries within her self, for the rest of her life, the fruit (if I may use a metaphorical term) of her issue. In this respect, I have personal hope that the child, is not completely, in scientific terms, killed, and like those children we talked about in the blog concerning possible genocide, awaits, or exists in a state of eternal bliss and glory.
Hmm I had not heard of this finfing. I’ll have to check Newadvent.org
I attempted to find it but could not. It was within an article concerning The Blessed Virgin with some questioning into her nature, because of this ‘scientific fact’. (Thus probably, with the article in my mind, the reason why I referred to the issue generally as ‘fruit’. I do this sort of thing.) The focus of the article was an examination of her relation to Christ. Hope this helps. I too, will continue the search, but this clue might be more meaningful to you, considering they post often on relevant days to the issue discussed. Thank you, Msgr. Pope for your comments.
I put this in wrong place. It’s late. But I’m sure it’s OK.
Did Christ’s Precious Blood Mix with Mary’s Blood in utero? Tuesday, December 15th. Also re my obsession with miracles. I spoke out about the need to await the judgment of Council on a few matters a few months ago. Irish happening, in one case. My background is Irish, and early in my life I wished to escape what I considered but could not name as the superstitious element in my background. A priest, however, took the opportunity, to make a weekly sermon on the matter, distinguishing between natural and theological faith. This by inference would contribute to the need of many to illusion and/or perceive miracle-happenings in their lives, without the condolence or authority of Vatican council. Confusions, of course, can exist in interpretations here also. I have much to do in learning how to clarify without offending.
I was in error. Error comes perhaps from my own need for self-justification. Thank you for making me re-check this. Here is the article, mentioned in e-mail below.
Christ’s blood is the price of salvation, the very life of the New and Everlasting Covenant. As we approach Christmas, it is worth asking whether Christ’s precious blood ever mixed with Mary’s or coursed through her veins.
First, let’s examine an unborn baby’s circulatory system.
In the way that God designed things, the blood of an unborn infant and that of the mother do not typically mix in utero. The baby’s heart pushes his or her blood through his or her body, through the umbilical cord and to the placenta, but not beyond that. There is a membrane that separates the baby’s blood from the mother’s blood. Nutrients, oxygen, and waste are transferred through this membrane.
All that being said, the baby’s blood and mother’s blood does typically mix during birth. Usually, it’s the child blood that enters the mother’s blood. This is why couples with RH incompatibility are at risk since a mother’s body can learn to attack incompatible blood.
So all that being said, it is almost certain that Christ’s redemptive blood coursed through the veins of the Blessed Mother. Just in case you weren’t 100% convinced of our Lady’s prerogatives, here is one more subtle way in which Christ “honored his mother” in fulfillment of the Law.
You may also like: in error, as I often am: Here is the article.
Christ’s blood is the price of salvation, the very life of the New and Everlasting Covenant. As we approach Christmas, it is worth asking whether Christ’s precious blood ever mixed with Mary’s or coursed through her veins.
First, let’s examine an unborn baby’s circulatory system.
In the way that God designed things, the blood of an unborn infant and that of the mother do not typically mix in utero. The baby’s heart pushes his or her blood through his or her body, through the umbilical cord and to the placenta, but not beyond that. There is a membrane that separates the baby’s blood from the mother’s blood. Nutrients, oxygen, and waste are transferred through this membrane.
All that being said, the baby’s blood and mother’s blood does typically mix during birth. Usually, it’s the child blood that enters the mother’s blood. This is why couples with RH incompatibility are at risk since a mother’s body can learn to attack incompatible blood.
So all that being said, it is almost certain that Christ’s redemptive blood coursed through the veins of the Blessed Mother. Just in case you weren’t 100% convinced of our Lady’s prerogatives, here is one more subtle way in which Christ “honored his mother” in fulfillment of the Law.
You may also like:
St. Thomas Aquinas in his thesis on Predestination (Summa Theologica; Vol. 1; Q. 23) teaches that predestination is a benefit from God. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. . . . Whom he predestined, them He also called.” Rom 8: 29, 30. Men are directed toward their end, and this end is life eternal which consists in the seeing of God (where the soul attains perfect happiness) which is above the nature of every creature. It is said, “The arrow is directed by the archer toward a mark.” Hence, properly speaking, a rational creature, capable of eternal life is lead toward it, directed as it were, by God. Hence, the type of aforesaid direction of a rational creature towards the end of life is called predestination. “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. . . . Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will . . . . In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. ” Ephes: 1: 4, 5, 11. Predestination is closely related to the concept of the Book of Life.
Thank you grandpa. This helps me tremendously with the concept. Destination, and goal in progress, rather than as something accomplished or not accomplished. God inclines us towards the good. This helps clarify a lot of its uses, and misuses, which according to this explanation do not imply an inclusion/exclusion polarity. ‘Destination’ not ‘Destiny’. Correct?
Destination not destiny. Again an opportunity for faulty interpretation. Better, perhaps to say, the journey, or the Way, rather than the goal, or the end. Catholicism seems to be-coming to a more ‘gentle’ hermeneutic in it’s interpretation; a gentleness and a recognition of the individual’s ‘dignity of conscience’ (‘ marks because of possible misinterpretation) which I especially admired in Buddhist thought. (Hermeneutics – the theory or ‘over-riding’ approach, i.e. method taken with respect to individual exegesis, is my understanding).
Thanks for the connection. It’s always nice to have Thomas in our discussion!
This is a topic I spent 6 hours writing on for my B.Th Exam and came out with 1st Class. I was exposed to the rudiments of the arguments between prolife and prochoice. I so much like debating on Abortion issue. I not only talk to people’s conscience. I argue with them thanks to my intense study of the issue. Given the fact that life is a continuum, abortion is nothing but a culture of death. Viva Pro-Life.
Msgr.
The picture you choose to post with this writing shows much of what the marchers look like. Where are the African Americans? With the writing of Margaret Sanger and the professed eugenics (with a real wish to terminate blacks), why are the numbers so very meager?
It is my hope that your parish and other neighboring DC parishes with a large number of African Americans really make a showing in these upcoming years, especially now with a black president who is so pro-abortion. I was happy to note over the last several years a large increase in the Hispanic population present at the March for Life.
Enjoy your day
Yes, we have a lot of work to do with bringing more to the march. I know that it is difficult for many African Americans to go to the march due to the political nature they perceive in it. Truth be told that is not whooly absent. The rally on the Mall often features politicians who say some pretty partisan stuff. There are also signs against the president and meme=bers of congress. This cannot be wholly absent in a march of this kind but it remains true that it is easy to march in the march for life iff you’re a republican or conservative. It is a lot harder to feel at home if you’re a liberal or democrat. I think we just have to admit that the march is wha it is and we cannot willy deny that there are some (surely not most or all) who make quite a political moment of it all. Most of my parishioners with whom I have talked express a pro-life position but feel awkward about the march since it says things that they don’t wholly agree with. Some years ago we got about fifty of us together from the city parishes that were predominately African American and we marched together singing the Civil Rights songs and applying them to the abortion issue. It made the march more comfortable. Nect year we will try the same.
Now all these things I say may elicit a response in you and others. I don’t say that I agree with all these perceptions of the march or that they are all fair. I am simply reporting what I am told. and explaining that many feel that to go down to the march is like walking into a foregin land, politically speaking. The fact is most blacks are Democrats and it’s harder for a Democrat to feel comfortable at the march. I know that there are some democrats there but the climate is conservative. It should not be with this issue but the fact is that politics is just a clear part of the picture. So what we have to do is provide a way fro others who agree but feel like outsiders to feel more comfortably included. We” work on re-establishing at next years march.
sounds like your making alot of excuses for people who ought to be there. Who totally agrees with those there who bring many political statements to the March? Does one allow that to stop them? If there is a waiting on that to change then many more babies, especially African Americans will die and woman continue to buy into a lie…all because their own didn’t want to be seen with the “likes” of some others? What about the thousands that do hold and express democratic and even liberal tendencies in other things but hold true to life principles. I have known many to walk their… speaking out for Life and the vulnerable is more important than not feeling comfortable or maybe being perceived as radical, crazy or the like. Surely that too is part of the misunderstandings one comes in contact with in order to stand for Christ and the most vulnerable. Lots of people have lots of reasons not to be there, but they become the “fool for Christ”. They go into the “foreign land” (much like Christ himself) What about the brave women who are now present who say they regret their abortion. Read some of Margaret Sanger or watch Maafa 21. Check Life Dynamics website.
I hear from friends that there was a much stronger contingent of African Americans there this year….based on your comments, these men and woman are real heroes. They are not worried about how they might be perceived, nor consumed with if they feel welcomed, comfortable or the like. They are simply concerned with those who are led to slaughter.
Yes, I understand your frustration and I share it. I was explaining, not excusing the absence
To: Loreen Lee. You’re welcome. You can find St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica at http://www.NewAdvent.org, at the tabs on the top. His Summa is a great source for research and study. Your Question concerning admixture of the Virgin’s blood is explained in Part III in the Treatise on the Incarnation of Christ. Q. 31 Explains that the Son of God, from the Virgin’s purest blood, formed Himself flesh, animated with a rational soul. That Christ’s body is said to be formed of the most chaste and purest bood of the Virgin. Generation power came from the Holy Ghost who purified the Virgin, then bestowed upon Her active Generation. She provided passive generation. In the law of nature the female supplies the matter. The development of Christ’s body was the effect of the augmentive power in Christ’s (human) soul; and since this was the same species as ours, it behooved His body to develop in the same was as the bodies of other men, so as to prove the reality of His human nature. True God and True man, one and the same person with two natures, one human, and the other Divine. Hope this helps you in your Catholic Faith.
Thanks Grandpa. Just checked back on the possibility of finding important updates. Am so glad I did! The abortion issue I would rather not discuss for personal reasons, but I believe the Sisters for Life are doing the best kind of work possible; i.e. helping young girls who are vulnerable to make such a choice, and effecting change through spreading hope, confidence, and self-esteem.
Msgr Pope — I disagree with your assessment that many blacks don’t go to the pro-life march because of political reasons. Hogwash! That maybe what they tell you, but as my dad would say, don’t try to make sense out of non-sense. Blacks marched amongst conservative whites in the south for their freedom and equal rights. You can’t get anymore uncomfortable than that. I could name oodles of examples, but I’m already upset.
Why were blacks 30 years ago willing to face their fears and be uncomfortable in an environment that clearly was racist and political. I’ll tell you why, because they believed in the cause. If anyone gives you that kind of answer, they really don’t believe in the cause.
So, there you have it.
Alright JJ as an African American you’re more qualified than me (I’ve been white all my Life) to say!
JJ — it wasn’t conservatives who were against freedom or equal rights.
Youre right it was SOuthern Democrats who were the biggest opponents of Civil Rights. Were it not for the votes of a good number of republicans the Civil RIghts Bill would not have passed.
Who were the conservatives that supported civil rights legislation? William F. Buckey opposed it. Barry Goldwater opposed. Strom Thurmond opposed. Harry Flood Byrd opposed it.
Every last liberal in both the Senate and the House voted for the civil rights act and the voting rights act.
Yeah I guess I can’t speak for Bender but viz you and me I can say I think you’re using different distinctions than I. I mentioned Southern Democrats and also (largely northern) Republican supporters of the CRA The liberal/conservative is a bit of a different animal and what was liberal or conservative and how it played out across party lines was different than today’s mix. It is a simple mathematical fact that had not a significant number of Republican votes cancelled out Southern Democrat “No” votes the CRA would not have passed.
Oopsy! Clarification needed. Conservative meaning in their thinking not necessarily political. The fact still remains. Amongst all kinds of adversity weather it was Southern Democrats or Northern Republicans, blacks fought for what they really believed in. If you really believe in something you don’t make up excuses not to do it. These excuses that African-Americans give for not Marching for Pro-Life are just that excuses. I go back to my original statement – The just don’t believe in it. And if you ask any of them have they ever been to a pro-life March the answer would be no. Sorry guys, I just can’t make sense out of non-sense.
so true! Have you checked out Mark Crutcher’s Life Dynamics.?
This is awesome. Where can I get a copy of this video?
This is awesome. Where can I get a copy of the video?
JJ I agree with you many don’t march because the haven’t been taught so therefore maybe don’t “believe in the issue” I think, if asked, people would say they believe abortion is wrong. But they haven’t been convicted of the truth of the eugenics that are clearly involved. Msgr. I am surprised that with the way you preach at ’em, fire an brimestone you shy from this with the African American community. With an African American leader holding the torch for abortion, there is no better time than now for folks to step up and protect life!
Mike, you have to know there are still some “trust” issues out there that have to be handled sensitively. White politicians have had a tendency to use African Americans as “poster children” for their various hobby horses, while at the same time treating them with a patronizing indulgence–especially by the liberals who are supposedly working “for them”. There’s still a strong tendency to view things in terms of a “white system” organically structured to the disadvantage of black people, although the election of Pres. Obama may help in the final dismantling of that perception. I think, because of the “trust” issue, African Americans will continue to hold off on coming over to the pro-life side until the movement throws up an African American leader or group of leaders whom they can trust, and who can “light them up” in the manner of a Martin Luther King, Jr. or a Malcolm X.
While their own children and their women continue to be hurt (killed physically i.e. the child and spiritually the women), we wait for a more sensitive climate. Unfortunately the other’s can’t wait for the trust issues to work themselves out and for the sensitivity issue to come, or the otherside to “throw up an African American leader or group of leaders whom they can trust.” In the meantime, we will stand in any group, in any political climate, in any weather to speak for those who do have an oppotunity to begin a trust relationship because they do not have an opportunity to come to term and begin life. I wish we would be joined by a more substantial showing of the African American community. Though my skin tone doesn’t give the witness, I none-the-less stand up for life and equality for the African American who stands to lose so much. Our nation loses such great potentiality, such gifts and treasure with every passing moment that people refuse to go so they can work out these other issues. Stand up and be counted, work out the other stuff later.
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