What's Wrong with the Pro-Life Movement: Exhibit A [Jay]

The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and are not reflective of any organization with which I work. As my mouth is getting me into trouble more and more lately, please direct any irritation over my opinions to me. THX, Jay.

Scott Klusendorf, our fearless leader at LTI Blog, debated Nadine Strossen, the president of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), at California Polytechnic State University (CalPoly) on Wednesday night in front of hundreds of students and faculty members as described here in the CalPoly school paper write up. In reference to the title of my post, this is not a bad thing but a good thing.

The day of the debate the MustangDaily.net ran this story in preparation for the event. In it they discuss that the student body was polled on what topic they would most like to see addressed in this format. Abortion was the overwhelming winner receiving 29% of all votes versus a mere 9% represented by the topic that came in second. That means with the choices of gun control or the Middle East peace process or others not mentioned the student body of CalPoly overwhelmingly wanted to address the issue of abortion through a civil and intellectual debate. This is not a bad thing but also a good thing.

So what is the bad thing promised? Where is the “Exhibit A” mentioned in the blog post title? Well for that we must go to Jamey Pappas, campus director of Campus Crusade at CalPoly. That’s right, our Christian brother and head of the organization committed to bringing Christ and to the student body of CalPoly is quoted as saying the following:

"I think it's a great thing to come to campus," … However, he said most of Cal Poly's Crusaders probably won't make it to the debate because the group's weekly meeting coincides with the event.

What?!! Let me get this straight. You are the leader of a group that wants to reach your campus for Christ and presumably help transform the culture of the college life for the students. Abortion is most often sought by women who fall into the age demographics of college students. (On Average 45% of all abortions are performed on women 18 – 24 Years of age per Guttmacher) Your campus has overwhelmingly spoken out that this is the topic they are most interested in discussing and has brought in a passionate and articulate Christian man to defend the pro-life position versus the president of the ACLU. Your response to this is that you have a WEEKLY MEETING and you cannot go?!!

I have no way of knowing whether or not Jamey and his friends did or did not attend the debate, but this is the type of truly missing the point that makes this fight so much harder. Lets keep our eye on the ball people. And if you are planning on muffing this badly as an organization, whatever you do, please don’t tell the local reporter about it before hand.

Lest you think that I am picking on this one chapter of Crusade and Jamey Pappas let me be very clear. They may have changed their mind and gone to support the event. But this type of inability to engage in real concrete terms by the body of Christ on the most important moral issue of our age, what it means to be a human being, is indicative of a larger problem. On behalf of people that are fighting to see the end government endorsed abortion in the United States in our lifetime I want to say the following to some of our brothers and sisters who are sympathetically pro-life. Sometimes supporting the effort means you actually NEED to show up.