Condemning the Anti-Abortionists at U of C – A Church Leaders Voice
May 11, 2010 at 4:02 pm - By: Ro · About Community.**I want to publicly condemn the particular anti-abortionists that continue to put up grotesque signage at the U of C. At some point and at some level it's important for church leaders to step up to the plate and have a say. Here's mine. **
I've blogged about the anti-abortionists a few times before. They were back last month at the U of C for their once a semester feeble attempt to horrify people into becoming pro-life. You'll remember some of them were actually arrested back in November (2008) over their row with university administration.
You have to feel for the U of C students that take part in this propaganda machine. The American Christian-right fuel the morality debate and abortion is at the top of the 'no-no' list. The students caught in the cross-fire may be kicked out of school (2010 update) or worst, receive a criminal record. That's tough when one backs something that's so ineffective.
I for one welcome the dialogue and even cringe at the censorship especially when it happens in a pro-conversation place like the University campus. But from a pure communication perspective, this is a perfect example of fundamentalist Christians taking things way too far and using completely ineffective methods to get their baffling message across. The signs just don't work (unless you're trying to make people very angry).
Let me reiterate: THE MESSAGE IS TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE. Not only that, it has likely permanently hindered any future interaction regular students will have with any Christians in the future.
Have you noticed? The signs are barbaric, the violence rivals premodern times, it propagates a message of hatred, and totally alienates a generation of women that have had an abortion or who know someone who has (which is many more than we'd like to think).
Now before I'm lynched note I'm not condoning abortion. I've never met a single person who's had an abortion and does not bear some form of personal scar. But the last thing I'm going to do is fight to rescind abortion laws or compare women to Hitler.
If that was the Christian message then I suppose I would fight to lobby, but it's not. Rather the Christian message is one of love, justice, hope, joy, and life. All of that has been lost by a group hoping to terrorize and intimidate women. Sounds very anti-Christian, almost viscous....
I assume the organization, and the U of C students convinced to participate within, will be back next semester.
If they do, I want to ask, "please don't". Please don't for a variety of reasons, many already mentioned here, countless more I can think of.
What about you? Agree or disagree? Add your thoughts to the list below.
-Ro
Cindy Says:
Thank you.
May 11, 2010, 7:34 pmRicky Says:
I don't know what exactly they are trying to accomplish with this kind of demonstration. Are they attempting to humiliate and disgust women into becoming pro-choice? I agree with Ro - we need to act out of love, not bitterness and hatred. This whole display is attrocious, embarrassing, and ignorant.
May 12, 2010, 11:56 amFay Says:
Finally a church speaks out
May 12, 2010, 7:22 pmggalpin Says:
Ro,
I just have one major question to ask of you - did you engage in relationship with these students to discover their "ineffectiveness?" Have you engaged Jo Jo Ruba who leads these students - and speaks on University Campuses across Canada? Have you seen the multiplicity of articles in the National Post - who are agreeing with the primary point that it is time to reopen the discussion regarding abortion in this country - all because a group of students were willing to challenge the status quo?
I know Jo Jo - and no one speaks more graciously or boldly on this issue - and it is not about American style fundamentalist politics at all - its about reopening a closed discussion with students - and I receive regularly the hundreds of testimonies of students who are choosing to change their perspective on the issue of abortion because of this bold, but gracious stand by these students.
Given your church's aim and focus on relationships - (with which I agree) and your goal of being missional in the midst of society - I am very surprised at the "condemnation" statement you have made - and your completely unfounded statement that these students are "ineffective" for which you offered no evidence to base that statement on other than your impressions.
These students are not espousing hatred or bitterness - not one iota of it. They are not against women in any form - in fact it is almost entirely women students who are leading this. They are simply crying out for the unborn - 100,000 per year in Canada, without any discussion or debate happening in this country over these lost lives that never see the light of day.
As a fellow believer - and one who shares many of your emergent concepts - please follow through and meet these students first hand, and hear their testimonies of the many discussions they are having with their fellow students. You may be surprised - that they may be as loving, courageous, and as emergent as you are.
I look forward to your reply...
June 15, 2010, 8:52 pmRo Says:
ggalpin, thanks for your reply.
This response wasn't made against the person or persons behind the signage, but the signs themselves. It's irrelevant what your intentions are or how eloquent your speech is. If your message is communicated, and more importantly interpreted, through condemnation and guilt (equating abortions and thus women who have had abortions to nazis) then you have failed to establish any form of dialogue.
Is re-opening the debate on abortion the primary message communicated? No.
No make no mistake, from a censorship perspective I don't condone shutting down their attempts to share their message. From a communication perspective it boggles my mind how blood and gore are effective tools to woo people into reopening a highly contentious debate. Rather, it solidifies the stigma that Christians are backwards.
Also, share these links from the Post (although again, the debate question wasn't what I'm writing about).
The signs are not gracious, and for every 'hundred' of emails of students changing their perspectives there are 'thousands' who will remove all doubt that Christianity isn't for them.
I (not the church) have condemned the method of the message. My impressions are based on all the non-Christians who have chimed in on the issue.
I cry out for the unborn as well, but we extend (or would extend) our hand into the areas of supporting adoption, teen pregnancy, forms of counseling, etc., over the implicit correlation between nazis and women who've had abortion.
Again, the issue at hand is that the message (the signs) DO espouse hatred and bitterness. Whether the communicator knows it or not is irrelevant, the message has been received as such.
We're not emergent.
Again, I have no doubt these students are passionate about what they believe in but their completely misguided in their attempts to communicate their message. The issue is the medium. I can't make this anymore clear. Regardless of what you've heard from wherever, treat my words as sobering second thought to what you're trying to accomplish.
Even from a basic marketers perspective the methods to create a movement are damaging to their cause. For every 1 you 'save' 100 others in fact develop impetus to work against what you're doing. Not great odds.
Abortion is heinous, but this movement won't multiply through its current method. Furthermore, it's a detriment to Christianity itself because it proves we are unable to communicate in a language people can understand and can converse with.
June 15, 2010, 9:26 pmggalpin Says:
Thanks for the quick response Ro - but I continue to disagree.
The message is shocking - admittedly so. But so were the signs against the Irag war or any number of other protests out there. By necessity at times - a message must be shocking.
Nor are the signs particularly identified as Christian...simply a protest against the many lives lost through abortion in our country in our day and without the ideology of abortion being discussed or debated in our parliment - which continues to be the only country without a law on abortion of any kind.
Absolutely we should help those struggling with pregnancies and provide them with education on alternative choices, etc. Caring support is the primary work of the church. But a church must also at times confront its culture in a challenging way. 100,000 abortions every year is a profound tragedy in this country - and those voices will cry out to us - in the same way the voices of thousands of Jews cry out to the German church which did not protest Hitler in his day, save Dietrich Bonhoeffer and a very small few.
The message is shocking and so it should be. Did William Wilberforce "shock" the England & the southern USA with his message on slavery? You bet he did.
As one who leads grassroots community initiatives, I agree that it cannot only be shock marketing. But that is why I challenged you to engage those who are leading this charge - and you will discover that they are involved in this issue far more than just holding up shocking signs. I applaud them - and believe that they will stand honourably alongside many others in history in the long term.
You may disagree with them - but then show me your theology by your actions - and I hope you are just as actively involved in the issue in some way. Cheers.
June 15, 2010, 10:05 pmRo Says:
Thank you for your reply.
Sounds very American to me. In Canada we rarely see a protest against the Iraq war, in fact, we rarely see a protest. And the ones we do see aren't nearly as offensive. Maybe this points to a uniquely Canadian populous that responds in different ways than propagating fear and shock?
Are you unaware of the backlash that's happened to your cause? Does this point that 'shocking' banners are the most effective method of pointing out an exceptionally emotional topic?
Jesus opted for love and respect. The signs are gruesome and full of despair.
Nobody else protests abortion so vehemently thus the connection is made. Are all the supporters of this cause Christian?
The abortion issue is closed because it already has debated. That doesn't mean I would have disdain for anybody who reopened it, but as a nation we've moved beyond 'should we legalize or have abortions'.
This implies, which goes back to the signs, that we have to be far more creative in our approaches to a very difficult topic. Scaring the pants off of people and/or developing a disdain against your cause isn't the most effective way.
Source? Where are your Post links from before?
Ergo since I don't support your signs I'm a Nazi. And if I support abortion (which I don't) then I'm worse than a Nazi. Do you see the connection others have made?
But he never succeeded until he was creative and used an economic sanction to cripple the slave trade. Slavery and abortion are not the same thing either.
It doesn't matter what they are doing outside, nobody cares about that, everyone only hears about the 'bad' the signs do. The only 'good' the signs have created to the masses is raise a debate on censorship. Otherwise it's held in scorn.
June 16, 2010, 8:01 amPolitik Says:
Is this the same group that is now camped out downtown? Not a single person is even remotely going to support whoever it is that keeps cropping up like snakes from under a rock. How stupid do you have to be to believe that 'shock and awe' is the way to start a dialogue?
June 18, 2010, 12:44 pmChris Says:
I'm curious. If the issue were infanticide, would you be opposing it more strenously? If so, then the real issue is that you are not yet convinced that human life begins in the womb. I agree that women are being scarred by abortion - a tragedy - but you're forgetting the other human being in the equation - the baby.
John the Baptist recognized Jesus when they were both still in the womb! Many little John and Joan the Baptist's are being killed by so called "doctors" every day in our city, our nation and our world.
Our culture has embraced a lie and a holocaust far greater than anything Nazi Germany ever engaged in. Time to wake up to the justice, love and life components of this issue.
Bravo for the U of C protestors. They might not be doing it the best way possible, but they are at least doing something. How about you?
July 25, 2010, 9:39 amPolitik Says:
Chris you missed the point. Stop acting blind to your pro-life stance. The way I read this article there's no condemnation for pro-lifers, but pointing out with great clarity how backwards the message is.
The U of C fear mongers do not promote justice, love or life. They highlight gruesome death, fuel hatred, and offer only condemnation.
Don't you get it? The MEDIUM isn't working. STOP embracing hatred. Support the 'protesters' to come up with creative ways to communicate their messages instead of using right-wing American ideals and materials.
August 3, 2010, 10:25 am