World Views

Thoughts On Abortion Post Roe

Thursday I attended day 1 of a 2 day Faith and Freedom Seminar, with Tom O'Boyle, on Post Roe America. Held at Grove City College, the day was jammed packed with speakers from 9:30 am until 8:00 that evening. There were speakers at lunch and dinner as well, so no time was wasted and the presentations started and ended on time. The day seemed to fly by as, all the speakers were excellent and very informative. The weather could not have been nicer, in fact I was able to make some vitamin- D, as my bald head soaked up the sun like a solar panel. (Who says I can't multitask?) http://www.faithandfreedom.com

Here are some of takeaways from the Seminar:

1. Get involved. The worst thing you can do is nothing, when confronted with such a great evil. It is our Christian duty to do something. Not everyone is cut out to protest in front of Abortion Clinics. Violent confrontations are becoming more and more the norm and you may find an FBI swat team banging on your door at 5:00am. Did you know 7 out of 10 women who have had abortions identify themselves as having a Christian faith? Chances are some are sitting next to you in Church who are either contemplating an abortion or have already have had one. You don't need to step outside the church to find a mission field. Have you ever considered donating to or volunteering at your local Crisis Pregnancy center? 

2. We are engaged in spiritual warfare against demonic powers whose goal is to destroy the image of God through abortion.

3. This year in Pennsylvania we will be electing a Judge to sit on the State Supreme Court. Tactics similar to those used in Wisconsin to elect an abortion friendly judge are being used in our state. The Democrat party pours money into the campaign of the weakest candidate that they have a better chance of beating. This year Republicans have 2 judges running in the primary for the nomination. One of the judges is considered beatable because her husband was convicted of stealing money from an elderly client. Guess which judges campaign is being deluged with money? Do your homework before voting. All abortion litigation will now be adjudicated in the state court system. 

4. The presentation by Clarke Forsythe, JD was entitled, How Roe Happened. It was a look behind the scenes of how this decision was made. I have always heard from legal pundits throughout the years how poorly decided this case was. The details provided by Forsythe were written about in his book entitled, The Abuse of Discretion: The Inside Story of Roe v. Wade. It is shocking to hear how the law was manipulated and pushed through the court on ideological grounds making things up as they went along. Did you know one Justice destroyed his personal notes and papers after Roe was decided? Also Justice Berger sealed his notes until 2026. If you want to know just how poorly decided this case was Forsythe's book is a must read. This is a reminder to all that elections have consequences. In this case the consequences were the deaths of over 60 million babies during the 50 years that Roe was federal law. 

Killing Them Softly

 Above Dr. Jack Kevorkian pictured with his Thanatron (Greek, for Death Machine) 

The sixth leading cause of death in Canada is euthanasia, or as the Canadians like to call it MAID, an acronym for medical aid in dying. In 2015 the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that criminalizing euthanasia violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In response to the ruling, Parliament crafted a carefully laid out set of circumstances where euthanasia would be considered.  The person requesting it must have a, "grievous and irremediable medical condition,"that is incurable , irreversible, and involves unendurable suffering, in which "natural death has become reasonably foreseeable," Consent at the time of death was required as well as a 10 day waiting period. Children and those with mental illness were not eligible. The old adage proved true once again, when you allow the camel's nose into the tent, you will soon be bunking with fleas and the camel. Fast forward to 2021, Parliament passed a more liberal bill that took away the restraints of terminal illnesses, mental illness and children. A whole therapeutic network and language arose around this law. "Death doulas" counsel those who are about to die to dress warmly and hydrate themselves and families are encouraged to process the experience by grounding themselves in their bodies or expressing themselves through dance. The swan song has now become the swan dance. Enter the doctor who essentially kills the patient with a lethal dose of drugs. The whole experience is cloaked in an anesthetizing aura meant to make things seemingly more pleasant to those involved. The hard cold facts of it is that doctors are murdering people and calling it euthanasia. We euthanize animals to avoid suffering, not human beings. There is no dignity in this at all, it is evil. The implicit offer by medical professionals to patients through conversations about the costs of hospital stays including the disabled given the insufficient state of disability benefits in Canada, offer MAID as a solution to their poverty.

I refer you to an article published in Plough Magazine by Benjamin Crosby a priest in the Episcopal Church, serving in the Anglican Church of Canada. entitled "Where are the Churches in Canada's Euthanasia Experiment?", February 27, 2023. In the article he highlights the lack of the largest Protestant denomination from speaking out against these atrocities. Instead the church sees its roll as ministering to those who choose or are coerced into surrendering their fate into the hands of stone cold killers. He also highlights case histories of the abuses taking place that have rocketed MAIDS into the sixth leading cause of death in Canada. One such instance he cites is that of a Dr. Ellen Wiebe who calls her 400  euthanasia procedures she performed the most rewarding part of her work as a doctor. The good doctor clandestinely penetrated a Jewish care home to kill one of the residents. This was done despite the objections of the home staff who warned that it would traumatize Holocaust survivors. A complaint was issued with the provinces College of Physicians and Surgeons, who exonerated Wiebe of any wrongdoing. I guess Canada has their own version of "Jack the Dripper," the difference being Kevorkian was convicted and sent to jail for his handiwork.

Fortunately there are a smattering of Catholics, Protestants and other  religious communities that have banded together along with disability advocacy groups to fight against the ideology that you must be independant to have dignity and worth in society. Being dependant is an inevitable part of life from birth to old age, it is not a curse, it is what makes us human, made in the image of God.

Thoughts On Tragedy

This morning while having my coffee I turned on the news and was greeted with another tragedy. Three students were killed and dozens wounded on the MSU, Lansing, Michigan campus last night. Wounded students were rushed to a nearby Trauma Center for treatment. I tuned in just as a press conference from the hospital was taking place, and the head doctor of the emergency trauma  center was speaking, overcome with emotion from treating these young people's grevious  wounds, he couldn't hold back his tears. What bolstered him, he relayed to the reporters, during the chaos were the many text messages from colleagues. "On my way," they dropped everything to respond, helping to save lives. It was the medical community that rallied around to help and the community at large that provided the information to law  enforcement to apprehend the perpetrator. Needless to say, our hearts and prayers go out to the victims, their families and friends, that have to endure the aftermath of such senseless and evil violence.

We are not strangers to this type of violence in our own community. The shootings at the Squirrel Hill Synagogue come to mind as does the shooting rampage of Richard Baumhammer that started here in Mt. Lebanon. We can never forget September 11th. whose tragedy touched even members of our own congregation at Beverly Heights. In each case a similar community response happened. After the 9-11 tragedy, national and international response was overwhelming.  Tragedy happens and people come together to help. America is always at the forefront with monetary help, relief supplies and boots on the ground, when natural disasters occur around the world. It's in our DNA as Americans. 

Why does it take a tragedy involving multiple deaths, for a community to come together? These events are "sensationalized" by media coverage and with social media platforms we learn of it as it is happening or shortly thereafter. What about the everyday tragedies that aren't  deemed newsworthy? I'm talking about children and senior citizens going hungry, homelessness, battered women, widows needing help, elderly abandoned in nursing homes, this list could go on and on. Every day we are witnesses to these tragedies taking place under our very noses but we tend to ignore them.  Where is the national and local outrage over the drive by shootings of children and young men and women in Chicago? We report the statistics and cluck our tongues only to forget about it, as it is so commonplace.

Perhaps we should do some soul searching of ourselves,  in our churches, as well as the community leaders we elect. Think of the impact we could have if we harnessed that same "DNA" into coming together as a community to help those in need around us. The Church needs to take the lead in doing so. One congregation can't come the aid of every tragedy but perhaps we can pick one or two that we are gifted to handle and some other churches pitch in looking to care in other ways. There are lots of churches we could network with, to get things done for the betterment of our communities and for the love of our fellow neighbors. Mt. Lebanon High School use to require community service hours for graduation. Elderly and handicapped residents could send in requests for help with  raking leaves, lawn mowing , snow removal, etc. and post requests on a bulletin board for the kids to take and get the hours they needed to meet their requirements. What a wonderful way to introduce young people to community service. Sadly this is no longer being done in our community and our senior citizens and handicapped are worse off for it. There are plenty of opportunities to love our neighbors, we need just to open our eyes to find them. "If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'Love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing well." (James 2:8)  Let us do well together.