Thanks to the Weekly Standard (2/4/08) for this one . . .How should one celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision? The Planned Parenthood chapter in Schenectady invited clergy to "bless" its new 18,000 square-foot "clinic."
The Times Union reports that "Rev. Larry Phillips of Schedectady's Emmanuel-Friedens Church . . . declared the ground 'sacred and holy . . . where women's voices and stories are welcomed, valued, and affirmed; sacred ground where women are treated with dignity, supported in their role as moral decision-makers . . . sacred ground where the violent voices of hatred and oppression are quelled.'"
Anthony Sacramone, over at First Things blog, proffered his own idea of what a blessing of a Planned Parenthood establishment might sound like.
O Ba'al, God of Thunder:
We beseech Ye in the name of science
In the name of self-actualization and personal autonomy
That the procedures and terminations wrought on this choice piece of real estate
Permit no hope
Silence all screams
And leave no child behind.
"O Ba'al" indeed.
4 comments:
Dennis,
Larry is a close friend of mine and it is pretty far off base to imply that he is worshipping Baal. I do think the quote you have shared would sum up his thoughts regarding being pro-choice, that women should be supported in their role as moral decision-makers, especially in difficult & life altering decisions such as those faced by a woman regarding a pregnancy
Roy,
This is just one of those places where good friends like you and me disagree. You can wax rather eloquent defending core moral beliefs and excoriating the violations of the values (and have done so in your blog).
In my value system, aborting 50 million unborn children in America is as bad a moral "choice" as anything ever perpetrated in world history: materialism, militarism, sexism, genocide, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Hiroshima, etc. That is MY hot-button. So, declaring the ground of a Planned Parenthood facility anything but a Molech affirming bastion of life-denying immorality strikes me as a pretty fair comparison to Sacramone's blog.
The quote spoke of the ground as "sacred and holy" where the core concerns of women are "welcomed, valued, and affirmed," "sacred ground" 2 more times, etc. I don't know your friend and was only quoting a clever reaction in a blog to his prayer. Regardless of how great a guy he is, his words cut to the core of my values.
Frankly, Roy, my biblical allusion is more to Habakkuk. After 50 million bloody babies on our hands, I would not be surprised if a just Judge would use the "Babylonians" to discipline the haughty U.S.
If, as it now seems likely, Obama will be the Democrat nominee, then he will almost certainly be our next president (if Hillary, she might lose to McCain). 4-8 years and likely 6 Supreme Court justices appointed who believe in a constitutional right to abortion . . . all I can say is Habakkuk.
I think we probably disagree less than is obvious at first. I agree that abortion is a horrible thing and that everything possible - short of making it illegal - should be done to stop it. The question is, given the current law (regardless of whether one agrees with it or not), what can we do to reduce or eliminate abortion? I think that is a common ground where the vast majority of pro-choice and anti-choice folk can stand together.
I guess the other issue that I would raise is that Planned Parenthood is not only about abortion. Indeed, my wife and I confirmed the pregnancy that resulted in our daughter at a Planned Parenthood clinic.
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