Letters to the Editor
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it's not that shocking
You see, poor people had a chance to be godly, aka rich and conservative, and they blew it. Therefore, they are not deserving of God's love or the compassion of humanity. Unborn babies, on the other hand, only become moral (ie economic and political) failures *after* emergence from the womb. While they're in there, they get the benefit of the doubt.
It's not like Jesus went around hobnobbing with poor people or anything...
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I am pro-choice, but I won't excuse your lying, or feministe's.
Here is what the jackass at ALL said, "It is shameful that Christians would rally around the physical needs of the poor and ignore the deaths of untold millions of babies."
Here is what Jill Filopovic says, "Let me re-contextualize this statement",
and gave it the headline and spin of:
Pro-Life Group: “It is shameful that Christians would rally around the physical needs of the poor”
Now, Glenn Greenwald and Joan Walsh would call that a lie if some asshole on the right said that. But when your blogrollee, Jill Filopovic of Feministe says it, you reprint it, and hype it up, and you call it "re-contexualizing."
I am pro-choice. I am a proud feminist (2nd wave.)
I am not pro-lying. That does no one any good at all.
Shame on you Lynn Harris, a few days ago, I thought you understood how this journalism thing works, but I must've been mistaken.
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The Greatest Commandment
Let's get two things out of the way from the outset. I'm a Christian. I believe abortion is wrong.
But the fact that I believe abortion is wrong does not mean that I exclusively focus my identity as a follower of Christ on this issue.
In fact, if you read, the Pharisees once asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. Essentially wondering where He thought they should be focusing their energy. He responded that we're to love God with all we are (paraphrase) and then added that it's just as important that we love our neighbors as ourselves (another paraphrase).
So while I can appreciate and agree that unborn children are just as much my neighbor as the impoverished man down the street, I cringe when I read things about how Christian organizations just want to deal with the child, and not the adult.
And maybe I'm wrong in this, but it seems to me that there is a fairly strong case to be made that reducing the number of individuals living below the poverty line might also impact the number of individuals that choose to have an abortion.
So let's stop trying to be exclusive with how we handle the commandments of the gospel just because we feel holier fighting for someone that can't fight for themselves, than we do fighting for the poor.
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lying?
Broadsheet had the quotation correct. And here's more from the same press release (Chris Whittington again):
"Abortion ends the lives of more than 3,500 American babies a day. This bloodshed dwarfs any other issue, including poverty."
He is clearly saying that being anti-abortion is more important than bring anti-poverty. He also seems to think that more babies are aborted than die of poverty. (And of cousse he is neglecting the fact that some women abort their pregnancies because they are poor, but let's let that rest for a moment).
Anyone with a goodhead for math can see that poverty kills more babies (granted, worldwide, not just in America, but I am assuming the good Christian views non-American life as equally sacred as American life) in an hour (in 10 minutes? 5?) than legal abortions.
He is saying that whikle it's wonderful that Christians care about enfing poverty, they should be putting their energy, brain power, compassion and (most importantly?) money towards ending legal abortion in America. It's faulty logic, it's faulty Christianity, and it's politically motivated.
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it's actually a good sign that they are being forced to expose their true nature in this way
it means that somebody is calling them on it and they have to either give in or defend the indefensible. You can be sure they would have much preferred NOT to have to make the statement that they made, however much they are proudly standing on their principles now.
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ALL Protects the Patriarchy
As ALL and the rest of these Anti-Choice organizations have become more emboldened under this administration, they have started to show their true colors. And its all about re-enforcing the patriarchy by punishing women who try to take control of their own bodies and reproductive choices.
The fact that they could reduce the number of legal abortions by reducing poverty and empowering poor women does not interest them because, well, that would empower poor women. They are only interested in stopping women from making their own reproductive health choices because it keeps poor women subjugated under the dominant patriarchy.
Look at what they do, not what they say. It's all about punishment, not compassion.
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What a gross distortion of the life and words of Mother Teresa!
Show me one quote, one from Mother Teresa where she unequivocally states that the most important issue for a good Christian is to stop abortion. Did Mother Teresa think abortion was a tragedy? Of course. She said, “It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.” She also said,
Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.
Mother Teresa clearly placed a premium on helping the poor as the path to God.
Erik Whittington is an idiot. I blame him and those like him for leading a generation of Christian youths down the path of Regents University, Liberty University and insinuating the more divisive aspects of their faith into the public arena through aggressive and regressive legislation.
Meanwhile, people like Jim Wallis are evangelicals in the best sense of the word. They live the messages most highlighted by the Bible, working for social justice for the poor, the sick and the meek. The notion that Jesus or Mother Teresa would ever advocate casting aside anti-poverty work in favor of anti-abortion work and protesting against anti-poverty groups would be laughable if it weren’t so horribly, dangerously wrong.
By the way, Mother Teresa also said, “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
Are you listening, Erik Whittington?
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mother_teresa.html