|
Great video. Very well done. This issue drives me crazy also because it is the excuse (or reason) so many otherwise sane people blindly vote republican.
So let's put together a guide on how to destroy the idea that the Republicans are "pro-life".
1. When someone from the religious right says that they are Republican tell them you are surprised because you thought they'd be pro-life. Republicans don't want to end abortion, the only want to make it illegal. As she mentions in the video, republicans are ALWAY against EVERY program shown to decrease the need for abortion. Including, sex education, after school programs, funding for higher education, programs to end poverty, funding for education in general including head start programs. Furthermore, making something illegal (alcohol and drugs come to mind) has worked SO well in the past. So if there is a profit motive in abortion maybe these republicans are behind it. If it was illegal, it would be very expensive and only the rich would have access. Then they can continue their campaign to build a permanent underclass in this society.
2. Similarly, as it says in the movie Sicko, we could save 3000 babies per year if our healthcare system was as good as the one in Cuba (based on infant mortality). This number wouldn't even include the number of stillborn (a rising number also), and the fact that the U.S. has the highest rate of post-partum maternal deaths and the fact that so many mothers lack access to adequate pre-natal care (which I'm sure leads to more use of social services to care for handicapped or premature births).
3. The religious right has no problem cheerleading for the wars in Iraq, Afganistan, and Libya. So they don't care when a baby is blown up in it's mother's womb. To me this has always been the underlying racism in their arguements.
4. The bible says in Matthew 25:23"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' The "few" things we have been given now include all the children who are sitting in foster care, or are living in poverty (14 million), or are homeless. They include all the children who lack access to healthcare (in know they are eligible, but many still aren't enrolled in federal programs and states like TX make it hard to enroll). They include the children in failing schools. Yet we have plenty of money to continue to blow up huts in Afganistan.
5. 20,000 babies die per day around the world from unclean water, hunger, and preventable disease, while we spend more money on the military than the rest of the world combined. Maybe if we helped these countries, there wouldn't be so much to fight over, but oh I'm sorry, John McCain might have to give up one of his 5 homes around the world and that would be too much to ask.
6. Here's a dirty little secret you can share about the churches who are against abortion. If they truly believe in God and Jesus, they should understand that maybe he wants them to reach out to the mothers before it becomes an issue: The churches that scream about abortion the loudest are doing the least to prevent it. My wife and I (in the past before we learned of their political focus) have occasionally attended the church that was portrayed in the movie “Jesus Camp”. They hold rallies to teach the children how to protest abortion. Yet this same church does nothing to reach out to the teens in the community. If you go there this afternoon or this weekend, when many kids are home by themselves and have time to get into trouble with their boyfriend/girlfriend the doors of the church are locked. If they happen to be open, there is nothing or no one there for a teen looking for somewhere to go.
7. What they really want to do is vote Republican and believe that they have done their “Godly duty” then wash their hands of God’s work the rest of the time. There is nothing in the bible that says that our job here as Christians is the condemn sinners. That is not what Jesus did. The church is not supposed to be a center for condemnation, but of healing. Not a courtroom or political rally, but a spiritual hospital. They should be doing something to help those in need, something to impact the lives of children, and teenagers. If they believe in the bible that they carry around, they should know that they have been given the power to end abortion, but not by making it illegal. They will have to get their hands dirty and care for "the least of these".
Long rant, but again we go to church with these people and it builds up.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
