March for Life – 2010

Comments

9 responses to “March for Life – 2010”

1. George Michalopulos

   January 23, 2010

   We had our first March for Life in Tulsa last nite. Out of three Orthodox churches in our town, only one showed up. The OCA parish. I wonder why was that?

   Reply
2. Magdalena

   January 23, 2010

   I was there. While most of the “thousands*” of Orthodox who attended were the angels and saints with us, it was a good group there. The opening Divine Liturgy at the cathedral and their fine meal for us was the highlight of the trip.

   Met. Jonah in particular was inspiring during his sermon.

   Bless God for this opportunity for the Orthodox to show unity with each other and with Americans who are fighting abortion!

   *During the rally, one speaker mentioned the thousands of Orthodox in attendance. Perhaps he knew of another group there that I didn’t know about.

   Reply
3. John Panos

   January 23, 2010

   Saw Met. Jonah’s speech on CSPAN. I liked it, but I think preaching is not his forte. That’s okay, no one is great at everything.

   Perhaps he could designate a speaker to represent the Orthodox?

   Fr. Patrick Reardon comes to mind.

   I’m sure there are others.

   Reply
4. Harry

   January 24, 2010

   The March for Life is an honest attempt to pressure the government to outlaw abortion. The problem is that marchers are being used as pawns to get votes because neither political party will outlaw abortion and the Supreme Court appointees will not do so either. Our society is too secular for that. The whole situatuion is just sad and it is sad that Metropolitan Jonah joined this struggle.

   Reply
   1. Fr. Johannes Jacobse

      January 24, 2010

      You are right Harry, abortion won’t be outlawed by Congress until there is a moral reorientation in the larger culture, just like segregation in the US continued until there was a moral awakening, and just like slavery in England prevailed until the full moral dimensions of the crime was comprehended by the larger society.

      But are you correct when you assert that the protesters are just “pawns”?

      If you are right, then Martin Luther King should never have marched in Selma, or William Wilberforce should never have challenged slavery in the English Parliament. Rosa Parks should have taken her seat in the back of the bus. Didn’t they realize that society was too secular to grant black people the same dignity it granted whites, and that they were nothing more than political pawns?

      Harry, you sound like one of those old white racists who justified segregation because protecting the status-quo was more important than doing what was right.

      Reply
5. cynthia curran

   January 24, 2010

   Well, agree that government laws will not stop abortion. On the other hand, Greek Orthodox in paricular like to talk of the richness of the Byzantine empire and we should copy some of the Byzantines. The Justinian Code outlaw abortion and abortion in the anicent world was dangerious.

   Reply
6. George Michalopulos

   January 25, 2010

   Harry, you are engaging in defeatist talk. And your statement that it is “sad” that Metropolitan Jonah was involved is silly beyond words. Was it “silly” for the EP to travel hither and yon talking about global wa– oops, I meant “climate change”? It would be using your reasoning. Actually, it would be sillier since we now know that climate change was probably the biggest scientific hoax since the dawn of man.

   Reply
7. Michael Bauman

   January 28, 2010

   No law wipes out sinful behavior precisely because the behavior is sinful. Only repentance/forgiveness wipes out sinful behavior. If we follow Harry’s example, we’d not have laws against robbery, assualt, murder, indeed we’d have no laws at all.

   Law is a societal statement on what sorts of behavior the society considers damaging to the social fabric and to the citizens of that society. Good law is the framework that allows for a vibrant, growing society in which most people are able to prosper.

   When law is misapplied, ignored or specifically designed to reward, encourage and normalize destructive behavior, it leads to societal disintegration.

   The trouble with the law and courts today is that more and more they reward the evil-doer and punish the righteous. With the rise of indiviudalistic realitivism in an atmosphere of hedonism, everthing but righteousness is premitted. No moral, philosophical or existential distinctions are allowed to exist. The only absolute is that there is absolutely no truth or norm of virtue to which anyone can or should be held accountable. There is more legal penalties applied to folks defending themselves against robbery and mayhem than against those who kill innocent children. Whether the motive for the killing is out of ignorance, despair, convenience or money, it is still the killing of an innocent human being.

   Not only is the purpose of law disregarded and destructive behavior allowed to flourish, but the way of healing and correction is discouraged. We are not to ‘judge’ anyone’s actions so there is no necessity for repentance or even God.

   Prayer, fasting, worship and almsgiving too are seen as archaic and unnecessary even when the idea of a God is allowed.

   Abortion is the murder of innocents. We have exceeded the brutality of Herod by magnitudes. Legal abortion is incompatible with a just, loving and well ordered society. It can only occur in a culutre that hates itself and wants to destroy.

   Of course, as Christians we need to offer positive alternatives to abortion not just condemn the act itself. Even here, however, there are many legal obstacles imposed on Christians not to act in specifically Christian ways, such as the requiring Christian adoption agencies to allow homosexual couples to adopt.

   I live in Wichita, KS. My home parish is directly across the street from the church in which George Tiller was murdered. I have no doubt that Scott Roeder will be put in prison for a long time because he killed Tiller. He should be. At the same time, his crime would not have occured in a society which was ordered toward righteousness rather than hedonistic self-gratification. The act of killing Tiller is simply another piece of evidence that we encourage the individual to construct, adopt and act upon one’s own set of principals and laws without to any societal or cultural norm.

   The killing did stop the daily murders of children at $5000 a pop in Tiller’s clinic (which included abortions done on minors who were the victims of incest paid for by the abuser).

   Neither must be forget that the original philosophy behind abortion was to kill the children of undesirables,i.e, the poor, the non-white and those deemed otherwise sub-standard human beings. Abortion is still fueled by a nihilistic rage against all that is genuinely human.

   Even if no laws are changed, the Church and her members must, MUST, refuse to participate in or support in any way such beliefs and actions.

   Reply
8. George Michalopulos

   January 30, 2010

   Michael, I totally agree with your analysis. If I may offer this small point: the hypocrisy of the argument that +Jonah was “used as a pawn” by the GOP is immediately exposed if we answer it this way: “Yes, I believe he was used, just like the EP was used by the global warming crowd.” +Jonah’s critics (and pro-choicers in general) just don’t get the irony. Regardless, it is obvious to clear-thinking people that the issue is not whether religious people are being used, but whether their conscience calls them to offer a Christian witness. That is the first consideration.

   Reply