Another Article From My Pastor
It looks like my pastor, Paul Viggiano, is continuing to write opinion pieces for the Daily Breeze. Rather than linking to it and have the article archived, I decided to post it here:
Here's what the anti-abortion people think when they see the pro-abortion movement's bumper stickers.
By Paul Viggiano
Strolling Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade with my very expectant wife, the bumper-sticker merchants were amassing their armory in preparation for South Dakota's alleged siege on Roe v. Wade.
I don't recall ever having a bumper sticker. They seem incomplete -- and the more complete ones have led me into near accidents. I try to be a thorough reader.
Here is my effort to propitiate the pro-choice frustration and give the inside story of what pro-lifers see when they read pro-choice bumper-stickers. Since it is always helpful to accurately understand the thinking of those with whom you disagree, this should benefit everyone.
"Against Abortion? Don't Have One" is concise and clear. Keep your ethics to yourself! The libertarian in us all appreciates this. But does it always work? How would these slogans fly? "Against Clubbing Baby Seals? Turn In Your Bat." "Against The Tobacco Companies? Don't Smoke." "Against War? Don't Start One." The real question is what should be restricted to personal ethics and what should be a crime?
Hence the following.
"Keep Your Laws Off My Body." "No U.S. Intervention Into Women's Wombs." "U.S. Out Of My Uterus." These seek to paint the grotesque Orwellian picture of the Washington Monument surgically invading the woman's sanctum sanctorum. In my lectures to the underground church in China, I met one pastor who had been in a labor camp for voicing a similar sentiment -- but in a substantially different political landscape. In China, the government requires abortions for families that become too large. Now that's invasive.
Here's the watershed. If the unborn is a human being, then to terminate the unborn is to terminate a human being, which (I think all would agree) should be a crime. The question is, and always will be, when does life begin? I am not going to pursue that here, suffice it to say there is disagreement. Pro-lifers are unmoved by these bumper-stickers because their system of ethics is such that they believe life begins at conception. They are, therefore morally compelled to believe that abortion is not merely unethical but a crime.
It's not enough to tell pro-lifers to keep their ethics to themselves. A movement, for example, to allow parents to terminate 1-year-olds would (I pray) be resisted by all. For the members of this crazy movement to assert that, in their opinion, life doesn't begin until 13 months would be insane, even if they found a new word to describe the baby. Their bumper sticker might read "No U.S. Intervention In My Crib." Some sins are crimes.
The following bumper stickers, "Pro-Child, Pro-Family, Pro-Choice" and "I'm Pro-Choice And I Pray" attempt to demonstrate the higher moral ground the pro-choicers are seeking to take. When I first saw "I'm Pro-Choice And I Pray," my mind was swept to the baptism scene in "The Godfather." To whom is one praying that allows this system of ethics? The historic atrocities done in the name of religion were spearheaded by people who prayed.
"Be A Voice For Choice," "Every Child A Wanted Child" and "A World Of Wanted Children Would Make A World Of Difference" is what poker players call a "tell." Implicit in this message is the idea of unwanted children who must be done away with. This is a dangerous philosophy for 12- to 14-year-olds.
The confusion of "How Can You Be Both Pro-Life And Pro War?" and "Unless You Oppose The Death Penalty, Don't Tell Me You're Pro-Life" can be speedily untangled. Innocent babies should be protected, and convicted murderers should be put to death. Innocent babies should be protected, and hostile governments should not be tolerated.
"If You Can't Trust Me With A Choice, How Can You Trust Me With A Child?" was the most famous pro-choice sticker for a long time. To a pro-lifer's ears, this translates to "If You Won't Give Me The Right To Kill My Child, How Can You Trust Me With My Child?" One is inclined to respond, "Obviously, you can't be trusted with either."
Finally, I saw a bumper sticker with a drawing of a little girl about 8 or 9. It read, "My Parents Are Pro-Choice." I'm always suspicious when movements have 8-year-olds as spokespeople. How many children under 11 are savvy enough to stay on top of the war effort or principles involving constitutional law or Roe v. Wade?
I had never discussed the abortion issue with my 8-year-old daughter. But when my wife miscarried last year at about 8 weeks, we sat down to explain to our children why mommy was no longer going to have a baby. When it dawned on my little girl what we were trying to say, she summed it up the way any child would: "The baby died?" followed by tears.
The Rev. Paul Viggiano is pastor of the Branch of Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Torrance.
The sticky slope of abortion mottoes
Here's what the anti-abortion people think when they see the pro-abortion movement's bumper stickers.
By Paul Viggiano
Strolling Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade with my very expectant wife, the bumper-sticker merchants were amassing their armory in preparation for South Dakota's alleged siege on Roe v. Wade.
I don't recall ever having a bumper sticker. They seem incomplete -- and the more complete ones have led me into near accidents. I try to be a thorough reader.
Here is my effort to propitiate the pro-choice frustration and give the inside story of what pro-lifers see when they read pro-choice bumper-stickers. Since it is always helpful to accurately understand the thinking of those with whom you disagree, this should benefit everyone.
"Against Abortion? Don't Have One" is concise and clear. Keep your ethics to yourself! The libertarian in us all appreciates this. But does it always work? How would these slogans fly? "Against Clubbing Baby Seals? Turn In Your Bat." "Against The Tobacco Companies? Don't Smoke." "Against War? Don't Start One." The real question is what should be restricted to personal ethics and what should be a crime?
Hence the following.
"Keep Your Laws Off My Body." "No U.S. Intervention Into Women's Wombs." "U.S. Out Of My Uterus." These seek to paint the grotesque Orwellian picture of the Washington Monument surgically invading the woman's sanctum sanctorum. In my lectures to the underground church in China, I met one pastor who had been in a labor camp for voicing a similar sentiment -- but in a substantially different political landscape. In China, the government requires abortions for families that become too large. Now that's invasive.
Here's the watershed. If the unborn is a human being, then to terminate the unborn is to terminate a human being, which (I think all would agree) should be a crime. The question is, and always will be, when does life begin? I am not going to pursue that here, suffice it to say there is disagreement. Pro-lifers are unmoved by these bumper-stickers because their system of ethics is such that they believe life begins at conception. They are, therefore morally compelled to believe that abortion is not merely unethical but a crime.
It's not enough to tell pro-lifers to keep their ethics to themselves. A movement, for example, to allow parents to terminate 1-year-olds would (I pray) be resisted by all. For the members of this crazy movement to assert that, in their opinion, life doesn't begin until 13 months would be insane, even if they found a new word to describe the baby. Their bumper sticker might read "No U.S. Intervention In My Crib." Some sins are crimes.
The following bumper stickers, "Pro-Child, Pro-Family, Pro-Choice" and "I'm Pro-Choice And I Pray" attempt to demonstrate the higher moral ground the pro-choicers are seeking to take. When I first saw "I'm Pro-Choice And I Pray," my mind was swept to the baptism scene in "The Godfather." To whom is one praying that allows this system of ethics? The historic atrocities done in the name of religion were spearheaded by people who prayed.
"Be A Voice For Choice," "Every Child A Wanted Child" and "A World Of Wanted Children Would Make A World Of Difference" is what poker players call a "tell." Implicit in this message is the idea of unwanted children who must be done away with. This is a dangerous philosophy for 12- to 14-year-olds.
The confusion of "How Can You Be Both Pro-Life And Pro War?" and "Unless You Oppose The Death Penalty, Don't Tell Me You're Pro-Life" can be speedily untangled. Innocent babies should be protected, and convicted murderers should be put to death. Innocent babies should be protected, and hostile governments should not be tolerated.
"If You Can't Trust Me With A Choice, How Can You Trust Me With A Child?" was the most famous pro-choice sticker for a long time. To a pro-lifer's ears, this translates to "If You Won't Give Me The Right To Kill My Child, How Can You Trust Me With My Child?" One is inclined to respond, "Obviously, you can't be trusted with either."
Finally, I saw a bumper sticker with a drawing of a little girl about 8 or 9. It read, "My Parents Are Pro-Choice." I'm always suspicious when movements have 8-year-olds as spokespeople. How many children under 11 are savvy enough to stay on top of the war effort or principles involving constitutional law or Roe v. Wade?
I had never discussed the abortion issue with my 8-year-old daughter. But when my wife miscarried last year at about 8 weeks, we sat down to explain to our children why mommy was no longer going to have a baby. When it dawned on my little girl what we were trying to say, she summed it up the way any child would: "The baby died?" followed by tears.
The Rev. Paul Viggiano is pastor of the Branch of Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Torrance.
posted by Soli Deo Gloria | 3/19/2006 10:36:00 AM
3 Comments:
I think the good pastor was using an example, not as a spokes person. I hope that clears it up for you lefty.
Shut up left nut.
Sure, Pastor Paul. If you want, you can email it to me (let me know if you deleted it already) or you can post it here. I'll repost it so that it can be seen on the front page.
Post a Comment
<< Home