Perhaps the reason Christians get a bad name.
Today, I got this e-mail in my inbox. And I quote:
For those of you who do not know, the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is set to be signed if congress passes it on January 21-22 of 2009. The FOCA is the next sick chapter in the book of abortion. If made a law then all limitations on abortion will be lifted which will result in the following:
1) All hospitals, including Catholic hospitals will be
required to perform abortions upon request. If this happens Bishops vow to close down all Catholic hospitals, more then 30% of all hospitals in the United States.
2) Partial birth abortions would be legal and have no
limitations.
3) All U.S. tax payers would be funding abortions.
4) Parental notification will no longer be required.
5) The number of abortions will increase by a minimum of 100,000 annually.
Perhaps most importantly the government will now have control in the issue of abortion. This could result in a future amendment that would force women by law to have abortions in certain situations (rape, down syndrome babies, etc) and could even regulate
how many children women are allowed to have.
Needless to say this information is disturbing, but sadly true. As Catholics, as Christians, as anyone who is against the needless killing of innocent children, we must stand as one. We must stop this horrific act before it becomes a law.
The e-mail continues to list an idea for saying a novena.
Now, before I continue, please understand two things. I believe completely in the power of prayer. If nothing else can stop the monstrosity that is FOCA, prayer can. Also, FOCA is definitely an evil abuse of power that the constitution of the US does not allow. For both moral and logical reasons, this bill should not be passed.
That aside, the e-mail is riddled with factual errors.
"1) All hospitals, including Catholic hospitals will be
required to perform abortions upon request. If this happens Bishops vow to close down all Catholic hospitals, more then 30% of all hospitals in the United States.
In fact, the bill states that "...a government may not deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose..." (Section 4.b.1). [source 1] The bill nowhere says that all individual hospitals must offer abortion as a service.
"3) All U.S. tax payers would be funding abortions."
All US tax payers already fund abortion because US money goes directly to all state hospitals, which perform abortions, and Planned Parenthood.
"5) The number of abortions will increase by a minimum of 100,000 annually."
There are only one million abortions per year (study in 1996, I can't find anything more recent) [source 2]. The likelihood of it increasing by 10% after this bill passes is minimal. I'd like to know where this figure came from.
Now, why am I writing this? Shouldn't people pray to end FOCA?
Writing things like this gives Christians a bad name. The secular world thinks that we are ignorant people clinging for our life to a sinking ship, while the guns of science and facts hasten our doom. This e-mail is typical of what they think of us. We are simply ignorant fools who pray to a deaf God simply because we are too stupid to do anything else. Obviously, the idea is false, but a reader of this e-mail couldn't tell otherwise.
For the Church's sake, don't forward e-mails like this around. We are not ignorant, illogical fools who don't know better. Let's act like it.
~Ambrose
Sources:
1. The text of the bill can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.1964
2. http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.html
For those of you who do not know, the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is set to be signed if congress passes it on January 21-22 of 2009. The FOCA is the next sick chapter in the book of abortion. If made a law then all limitations on abortion will be lifted which will result in the following:
1) All hospitals, including Catholic hospitals will be
required to perform abortions upon request. If this happens Bishops vow to close down all Catholic hospitals, more then 30% of all hospitals in the United States.
2) Partial birth abortions would be legal and have no
limitations.
3) All U.S. tax payers would be funding abortions.
4) Parental notification will no longer be required.
5) The number of abortions will increase by a minimum of 100,000 annually.
Perhaps most importantly the government will now have control in the issue of abortion. This could result in a future amendment that would force women by law to have abortions in certain situations (rape, down syndrome babies, etc) and could even regulate
how many children women are allowed to have.
Needless to say this information is disturbing, but sadly true. As Catholics, as Christians, as anyone who is against the needless killing of innocent children, we must stand as one. We must stop this horrific act before it becomes a law.
The e-mail continues to list an idea for saying a novena.
Now, before I continue, please understand two things. I believe completely in the power of prayer. If nothing else can stop the monstrosity that is FOCA, prayer can. Also, FOCA is definitely an evil abuse of power that the constitution of the US does not allow. For both moral and logical reasons, this bill should not be passed.
That aside, the e-mail is riddled with factual errors.
"1) All hospitals, including Catholic hospitals will be
required to perform abortions upon request. If this happens Bishops vow to close down all Catholic hospitals, more then 30% of all hospitals in the United States.
In fact, the bill states that "...a government may not deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose..." (Section 4.b.1). [source 1] The bill nowhere says that all individual hospitals must offer abortion as a service.
"3) All U.S. tax payers would be funding abortions."
All US tax payers already fund abortion because US money goes directly to all state hospitals, which perform abortions, and Planned Parenthood.
"5) The number of abortions will increase by a minimum of 100,000 annually."
There are only one million abortions per year (study in 1996, I can't find anything more recent) [source 2]. The likelihood of it increasing by 10% after this bill passes is minimal. I'd like to know where this figure came from.
Now, why am I writing this? Shouldn't people pray to end FOCA?
Writing things like this gives Christians a bad name. The secular world thinks that we are ignorant people clinging for our life to a sinking ship, while the guns of science and facts hasten our doom. This e-mail is typical of what they think of us. We are simply ignorant fools who pray to a deaf God simply because we are too stupid to do anything else. Obviously, the idea is false, but a reader of this e-mail couldn't tell otherwise.
For the Church's sake, don't forward e-mails like this around. We are not ignorant, illogical fools who don't know better. Let's act like it.
~Ambrose
Sources:
1. The text of the bill can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.1964
2. http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.html
Labels: Christian Witness, Common Nonsense, Darkness be Gone, Pious Piffle, The Glorious Church, Threatening the Culture of Life
posted by Ambrose at 1/05/2009 04:40:00 PM
3 Comments:
I completely agree. It's too bad, really--we have the truth, so why don't we stick with it?
I think that discomfort we can get from reading Christian "talking points" comes because we realize there is more to the story, and in Truth a deeper intellection is required.
Deeper truth is often viewed as an impediment to political progress, because it is, but the "progress" is in reality just one of the moves of those who battle over power (the "culture war").
We lost a great voice this past week on our side in the culture war. I think you will find this text of his speech at a convention this past summer very inspiring, and fattened with that deeper truth which one longs for.
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=1288
Just A Dad.
Good points.
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