Wellspring andNature of the Anti-Life Mentality
ShareCHAPTER 2 — WELLSPRING AND NATURE OF THE ANTI-LIFE MENTALITY
American Life League
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe that they are free.
Goethe.[1]
Introduction: The Common Thread.
It is so stupid of modern civilization to have given up believing in the Devil when he is the only explanation of it.
British author and clergyman Ronald Knox.[2]
The Ultimate Issue.
Abortion "rights" and homosexual "rights;" atheism and infanticide; euthanasia and witchcraft; Communism and pornography.
We constantly hear about these issues in one form or another, particularly in our new and more tolerant society.
What can these issues have in common? Do they possess a lowest common denominator? How do they interact and intersect, if at all? What fundamental philosophies do they all share?
Many well-meaning Christians believe that all of these issues are separable, and that they have no particular relationship to each other. Indeed, upon casual inspection they seem to have no obvious interconnections. However, they are all part of a single phenomenon, a "meta-issue," whose central focus can be stated in a single sentence; WE THINK THAT WE CAN RELY ON OURSELVES INSTEAD OF ON GOD.
All of the anti-life philosophies that inflict themselves upon individuals, groups, and nations are intimately related. They are like a spiritual stew of rotten meat and decaying vegetables; the issues may be fished out and examined separately, but a person who understands the motivations and viewpoints of those who participate in the anti-life movements can understand the motivations and viewpoints of all of the movements and how they are related.
Basic Interconnections.
Figure 2-1 shows just a few of the connections among the major anti-life movements. Each anti-life practice is intimately related to each of the others, and they all have as their inspiration and motivator the ultimate engine of evil: The influence, leadership, and deceptive power of Satan himself, whose power no mere man can ever hope to match.
FIGURE 2-1
FUNDAMENTAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE PRIMARY ANTI-LIFE PHILOSOPHIES
ATHEISM
Atheism not only denies God, it attempts to destroy Him; atheists have no tolerance whatever for opposing viewpoints: CHAPTER 36
ATHEISM: ABORTION
Atheists believe that human beings are only soulless, rational animals, so they naturally strongly support abortion, euthanasia, contraception, and homosexuality.
ABORTION
Abortion is the conscious turning away from God's gifts and is the bridge between contraception and euthanasia: VOLUME II
ATHEISM: NEOFEMINISM
Atheists tend to support the entire Neoliberal agenda. In turn, even the 'mainstream' pseudo-religious aspects of Neofeminism, which include witchcraft, are anti-Christian.
NEOFEMINISM: ABORTION
Neofeminists despise not only men, but the 'patriarchal' Church and society. One logical tool of the Neofeminists, in their relentless drive to be just like men, is abortion.
NEOFEMINISM
Neofeminism is the conscious effort by disaffected and alienated women and men to destroy a system they see as 'woman-oppressive:' CHAPTER 129
ATHEISM: HOMOSEXUALITY
As stated in various of their documents, atheists/humanists believe that all 'expressions of sexuality' are valid, with particular emphasis on homosexuality.
ABORTION: HOMOSEXUALITY
Homosexuality is, by its very nature, sterile just like abortion. All homosexual groups (with the exception of a few small homosexual pro-life groups) strongly support abortion, and many act as abortion clinic escorts and administrators.
NEOFEMINISM: HOMOSEXUALITY
The natural result of the Neofeminist hate of men and their view of unlimited, consequence-free sex is homosexuality. All Neofeminist leaders either advocate or practice homosexuality.
HOMOSEXUALITY
Homosexuality is an [un]natural outgrowth of the humanistic idea that man must be totally in control of his own destiny (and destruction).
COMMUNISM
Communism is nothing less than atheism in control. Its central belief is 'Man as God.'
COMMUNISM: ATHEISM
According to its leaders, Communism is a subset of atheism. Both philosophies have as their core the belief that man is supreme and controls his own destiny absolutely.
COMMUNISM: ABORTION
The only nations in the world that practice forced abortions are Communist. They also routinely use mass euthanasia (genocide) as a tool to control dissident factions.
COMMUNISM: NEOFEMINISM
Leading Neofeminists have stated as their goal the total overhaul (or elimination) of society, Church, and even God. This is the identical objective of Communism.
COMMUNISM: HOMOSEXUALITY
The Communist Party vigorously supports homosexuality but only in free nations. Once the "Revolution" has occurred, homosexuals are ruthlessly hounded as 'undesirable elements.'
The 'enlightened man,' of course, will chuckle at the mention of Satan. But, as C.S. Lewis and others have correctly discerned, Satan's greatest triumph is that we no longer believe in him. Those who deny the existence of Satan therefore fall under his influence much more easily, and eventually come to view even the concepts of 'evil' and 'sin' as outmoded.
And if there is no evil or sin, who needs God for redemption?
A diagram, and even a book, can only hint at the true complexity of this "meta-issue;" there exists a pervasive web of evil so vast and with so many interconnections that it is truly impossible to completely define or describe.
The Great Perverter. All evil flows from Satan, who is a created being. As such, he cannot create as God can; he can only pervert what God has previously created. All evil acts are a result of these perversions.
Satan has perverted God's original gift of perfect love for Him into crimes against His name: Blasphemy, sacrilege, indifference, agnosticism, atheism, and Communism.
He has perverted God's original gift of love of life into crimes against life: Murder, infanticide, euthanasia, suicide, abortion, sterilization, and artificial birth control.
He has perverted God's original gift of love of self into "crimes against self:" Drug use, alcoholism, overeating, and sexual self-indulgence.
He has perverted God's original gift of love of neighbor into crimes against society: Theft, embezzlement, cheating, slander, and lies.
He has perverted God's original gift of love expressed through the natural sexual act into hateful crimes against our own God-given nature: Homosexuality, pedophilia, bestiality, pornography, adultery, masturbation, fornication, incest, and rape.
And he has perverted God's creation of man in His image into crimes against mankind: Genocide and the radical animal rights philosophy that holds man equal or inferior to lesser beings.
It seems that anyone can call himself a Christian these days; abortionists, radical homosexuals, and those who advocate the killing of useless eaters. These people say they believe in God, but they almost never believe in Satan.
Perhaps, in these confusing times, a more accurate description of a Christian is not someone who believes only in the existence of Christ but someone who also believes in the existence of Satan! For if we believe in Satan's presence, we realize that we are helpless before him without the power of God to protect us.
Conversely, if we do not believe in Satan, we do not feel that we need God.
Definitions.
All them that hate Me love death.
Proverbs 8:36.
"Anti-Life."
The term "anti-life," as used throughout The Pro-Life Activist's Encyclopedia, refers to individuals and organizations that have turned so far away from God that they feel free of all constraints. They do not believe in man's status as the supreme creation of God. They have become primarily self-centered, and are willing to commit virtually any act that will result in self-gratification. They are literally "consumed with freedom." In extreme cases, of course, other human beings may even be killed to satisfy this urge.
The anti-life philosophy views human life as less than sacred, or assumes that some classes of human life are more worthy of existence than others.
Using this definition, the following individuals and organizations are among those that would be classified as "anti-life;"
• Pro-abortion and pro-euthanasia activists;
• Radical Neofeminists ('gender feminists');
• Animal-rights activists who insist that animals are morally equal to human
beings, or even superior to them;
• Radical environmentalists who basically believe that human beings have
infected the Earth-God ('Gaia') and are inhibiting its progress towards
divinity (a process referred to as 'theagenesis');
• Radical homosexual-rights organizations;
• Pornographers;
• Those who view other human beings as objects, such as rapists and
pedophiles;
• Communists and most Socialists and Marxists;
• Population control organizations; and
• "Peace and justice" groups that support abortion and United States
"contraceptive imperialism."
The term "anti-life" may seem offensive or extreme to some pro-lifers. But those who object should pause for just a moment to consider the people and groups that are described by the words "anti-life."
Pro-abortionists love death; 30 million babies have died and they still are not satisfied; they want tens of millions more to die, and scream like animals when they cannot kill freely. Euthanasiasts have killed tens of thousands of handicapped newborns and thousands of crippled and ill elderly people, but it isn't enough; they crave more and more death. They want direct euthanasia fully legalized so they can kill and kill the 'useless' with impunity. Homosexuals have killed tens of thousands of innocent people with the AIDS virus and wallow in hate and every imaginable perversion; and still they will not alter their behavior. They lust after death and death-dealing behaviors. Pornographers degrade and kill their subjects in snuff and S&M films. Communists have slaughtered more than 100 million people in the last forty years and see nothing at all wrong with the carnage, because it is all in the name of "progress." Population control groups applaud and support Communist China's widespread infanticide, forced-birth control, and forced abortion programs.
Altogether, all of these movements have killed more than two billion people since the turn of the century and still it is not enough. There will not be enough death for these death-driven people until everyone is just like them.
Perhaps most importantly, all of these behaviors not only kill bodies by the tens of millions, they consume consciences and cripple the eternal soul as well.
"Neoliberals" and "Neofeminists." It is critically important to distinguish between the feminists and liberals who have and are fighting for the most oppressed human beings, and the 'new wave' of individuals who have co-opted these labels while ruthlessly eliminating the weakest or most inconvenient human beings. 'Old-style' feminist and liberal objectives are wholly or largely compatible with pro-life goals, and many pro-lifers accurately call themselves 'feminists' and/or 'liberals.'
The decisive break between 'traditional' liberalism and Neoliberalism was first noted in John Dewey's 1935 work Liberalism and Social Action. Dewey postulated that old-style liberals resist State intrusion into individual and societal affairs, while 'Neoliberals' welcome and even demand the State to solve every problem, with predictable disastrous results.
As far as social issues are concerned, the real difference between liberals and Neoliberals is frequently highlighted in public discussion or debate. A liberal may very well be pro-abortion, but has rigorously and rationally thought out his position. He will probably believe that abortion is evil, but that the alternatives are far worse. Many times, he is 'convertable' to the pro-life cause. Evidence of this is found in the fact that more than half of all pro-life activists have either had an abortion themselves or were previously pro-abortion.
By contrast, a Neoliberal will probably frame the issue in terms of 'rights,' and nothing a pro-life activist can do or say will shift him from this position. He is completely immune to logic, and will ignore mountains of evidence presented to him. In fact, he will often become extremely angry merely because a pro-lifer opposes his views.
Another glaring difference between a liberal and Neoliberal is that a liberal and a pro-lifer can part as friends, whereas the Neoliberal will usually respond to logic by attacking the character and motivations of the pro-lifer (ad hominem attacks).
It is entirely possible to be both liberal and pro-life, but the terms 'Neoliberal' and 'pro-life' are mutually exclusive and utterly antithetical.
Although each individual is unique, there are certain characteristics that help to distinguish Neoliberals from liberals and Neofeminists from feminists. These differences are shown in Figure 2-2. Although these distinguishing characteristics may not all apply to specific individuals, the presence of several of them usually indicates the inclination of the particular person quite accurately.
FIGURE 2-2
THE OLD AND NEW WORLDVIEWS
[A medium text size on your computer's 'view' setting is recommended, otherwise, the tables may be discombobulated.]
LIBERALS AND FEMINISTS NEOLIBERALS AND NEOFEMINISTS
Primary objective: For Christians, Primary objective: To attain total freedom,
to "make disciples of all nations" by shedding all responsibility and duty to
(Matthew 28:19). For non-theists, others.
to maximize human potential and
quality of life for all.
Theistic, agnostic, or atheistic; Anti-theistic; attacks religion actively. Is
either believes in God or does. commonly a pagan or apostate from a
not care about God at all. If conservative church.
atheistic, does not attack
religion.
Sees self as fallible. Sees self as infallible.
Independent; functions well in Institutionalized; sees self as the eternal victim;
society. has difficulty functioning in society; eternal
outsider, constantly dissatisfied and feels
under attack.
Open-minded; willing to 'Psychosclerosis' (frozen thinking process):
discuss other viewpoints and refuses to even consider any information
consider new information; that may conflict with current worldview;
capable of compromise. mentally unable to compromise.
Other-centered; willing to sacrifice. Self-centered; all motivation is selfish and
concerned primarily with avoiding pain and
discomfort.
Optimistic; believes either Pessimistic; eternally dissatisfied; driven to
in God's goodness (Christian) change the world purely for the sake of
or in own goodness (atheist). change.
Sees man as man; Sees man as god (New Age religions) or man
nothing more or less. as animal or less (radical
environmentalists).
Realistic viewpoints; capable of Unrealistic viewpoints; seeks to make world
seeing world as it is and world over by forcing it into an unworkable mold.
as it should be.
Use of plain language. Pervasive Newspeak to assuage guilt and for
rationalization.
Not plagued by guilt. Guilty as Hell; driven by corrosive and
merciless guilt.
High self-esteem brought by Low self-esteem; continual searching for
having confidence in God elusive answers and resulting pervasive
or confidence in self. feeling of helplessness. Must band together
with like 'thinkers' for mutual support.
Compromise or conversion Compromise or conversion difficult or
possible due to ability to think impossible due to ossified thinking processes.
freely.
Calm and thoughtful. Bitter, envious, and hateful; driven to attack
those who are different or those who disagree
with them.
Lives by guidelines (either God's or Ruled by situational ethics (Hegelian
nature's). worldview); anything goes if the individual can
justify it.
For the sake of simplicity and clarity, we will generally refer to those who consider human life expendable as "Neoliberals." A particularly virulent substrain of Neoliberalism is Neofeminism, whose adherents could be loosely referred to as man-hating female Fascists. A detailed description of the Neofeminist worldview is contained in Chapter 129 of Volume III, "Neofeminism."
Chapter 5 contains a more detailed description of anti-life organizations and their range of philosophies.
The Ultimate Goal: Freedom from God.
Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress requires them are not really progress at all, but just terrible things.
American philosopher Russell Baker.[2]
The Evolution of Evil.
The irrational urge to separate ourselves from God or to actually make ourselves into gods has been present since the beginning of the human race.
Everyone knows why Adam and Eve fell from grace, and why Lucifer and the angels who followed him were thrown out of Heaven. Only a few Christians recognize that this mutually exclusive division between good and evil still exists and that it is the cause of a continuing massive world-wide conflict.
On the other hand, most Humanists know that there is a war on, and act accordingly. This gives them a tremendous advantage in confrontations with Christians.
Hard-rock musician Frank Zappa demonstrated that he knew this fundamental fact when he snarled at a 1990 Los Angeles pro-abortion rally, "When you see that [Christian] fish symbol on the bumper sticker of the car in front of you, know that that is the enemy."[3]
Pope John Paul II clearly identified the very core of the conflict in his encyclical Familiaris Consortio;
... history is not simply a fixed progression towards what is better, but rather an event of freedom, and even a struggle between freedoms that are in mutual conflict, that is according to the well-known expression of St. Augustine, a conflict between two loves: The love of God to the point of disregarding self, and the love of self to the point of disregarding God.[4]
Throughout the ages, Christians have faced the temptation to turn their backs on God. This evil is so well known and pervasive that specific labels have been attached to it as it has evolved through time. Some of these labels are listed below, and show that, even though there are different names for a lack of belief in God, they are all basically the same in nature.
•Pelagianism (5th Century) humans are sufficient unto themselves. God is not
necessary for salvation.
•Naturalism (17th Century) a denial of the miraculous and supernatural, and
a denial of all positive religions and their tenets.
•Humanism (18th century) man is his own God, and is guided solely by his own conscience.
•Modernism (early 20th Century) the "synthesis of all heresies." God is
irrelevant to man's existence; alternatively, God is dead.
Modernists attempt to change or subvert the truth of the Church by advancing "modern" ideas and concepts. One example of this is 'Catholic' 'priests' Charlie Curran and Dan McGuire justifying artificial contraception and abortion.
The concept of attempting to emancipate one's self entirely from moral guidelines was condemned by the Syllabus of Pope Pius IX. Modernism has also been condemned by two of the Encyclical Letters of Pope St. Pius X: Lamentabili Sane ["Syllabus Condemning the Errors of the Modernists"], dated July 3, 1907, and Pascendi Dominici Gregis ["On the Doctrines of the Modernists"], dated September 8, 1907.
Modernism has also been repudiated by Pope Pius XII's encyclical Humani Generis, dated August 12, 1950. These documents are recommended reading for anyone who wants to research the roots of the Christian objections to Modernism.
Secularism (mid-20th Century) a refinement of Modernism. The United States Bishops described the role of secularism in their November 14, 1947 pastoral letter: "Secularism, or the practical exclusion of God from human thinking and living, is at the root of the world's travail today."
The Deepest Root of Evil. It is obvious that these attitudes edge inexorably towards the outright denial of God's existence. They culminate in the twentieth-century phenomenon of Modernism, which Pope St. Pius X labeled "the synthesis of all heresies."
Prominent Humanist Edwin Wilson summarized the roots of latter-day Modernism (Humanism) thus;
The modern humanist movement emerged from liberal religious change. The influence of the Enlightenment, Darwin, and biblical criticism encouraged liberal trends in Unitarianism, Universalism, the Ethical Societies, and Reformed Judaism. A growing literature reflected the influence of evolutionary thought, especially in the rejection of the Bible as the source of 'revealed' truth.[5]
However, there is one critical and glaring difference between Modernism and all of the previous heresies we have never before experienced a mass movement of evil that publicly calls itself good, and refers to good as evil.
Modernist Declarations: Spelling It Out. The Modernists/Humanists themselves state their case in their arrogant and rather pitiful Humanist Manifesto II (1973), which is ultimately a statement of sheer emptiness and hopelessness. This Manifesto neatly encapsulates all of the salient points of the modern anti-life movements.
Excerpts from Humanist Manifesto II
Humanists still believe that traditional theism, especially faith in the prayer-hearing God, assumed to live and care for persons, to hear and understand their prayers, and to be able to do something about them, is an unproved and outmoded faith.
As non-theists, we begin with humans, not God; nature, not deity ... We can discover no divine purpose or providence for the human species. No deity will save us; we must save ourselves. We affirm that moral values derive their source from human experience. Promises of immortal salvation or fear of immortal damnation are both illusory and harmful ... They distract humans from present concerns, from self-actualization, and from rectifying social injustices ... There is no credible evidence that life survives the death of the body.
In the area of sexuality, we believe that intolerant attitudes, often cultivated by orthodox religions and puritanical cultures, unduly repress sexual conduct. The right to birth control, abortion, and divorce should be recognized ... The many varieties of sexual exploration should not in themselves be considered 'evil.' A civilized society should be a tolerant one. Individuals should be permitted to express their sexual proclivities and pursue their life-styles as they desire ...
[Civil liberties] include an individual's right to die with dignity, euthanasia, and the right to suicide ...
This is obviously not a statement of freedom, but of terminal and utter despair.
The Secular Humanist Declaration of 1980 stated in even plainer language that "Secular humanists reject the idea that God intervened miraculously in history or revealed himself to a chosen few, or that he can save or redeem sinners. We reject the divinity of Jesus ... We strive for the good life, here and now. "
These, then, are the motivations of the individuals that belong to all of the anti-life movements in the United States and around the world. As Bette Chambers, Executive Director of the American Humanist Association, the largest group of its kind in the world, acknowledges; "In simplest terms, Humanism is that view of life which undergirds every progressive movement in the world today."[6]
The Psychology of the Anti-Life Worldview at the Individual Level.
Our world is beginning to divide very rapidly into two classes of people: the biophiles and the necrophiles. The biophilic people are those who love life. The other class of people are the necrophiles ... the lovers of death.
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.[7]
Introduction.
Life is always hopelessly complicated to those who have no moral standards. Such people have a direction, but no destination; a 'morality,' but no limits or standards; a dream, but no practical means by which to fulfill it.
In this Modernistic world, freedom and tolerance are the only intrinsic goods; not even human life itself falls into this exalted category. Modernists are compelled to throw off all limits, which they see as 'shackles,' and emancipate themselves entirely from God. They have 'devolved' to the extent that they act in direct polar opposition to Christians, both on an individual and mass scale.
The Process. Those who fall away from the Church generally do so by violating and then repudiating the Ten Commandments in reverse order.
They begin with private sins of thought against the Ninth and Tenth Commandments, such as covetousness and envy. Then they progress to private sins of deed against the Seventh and Eighth Commandments, like theft, lying, cheating, and slander.
The turning point seems to come when a person consciously violates the Fifth and Sixth Commandments with grave sins like adultery, fornication, abortion, and sterilization. The derivative sins of alcohol and drug abuse inhibit physical and mental body functions and foster physical and mental disease. This type of idolatry leads directly to numerous other sins.
If the person is capable of justifying these sins in his own mind, he can justify anything. It is only a matter of time before he leaves the Church.
Finally, the person progresses to public sins against the First through Fourth Commandments. His 'god' becomes money, power, science or possessions; he shows disrespect towards his parents; is liable to swearing and making false oaths; and eventually, he leans towards atheism or agnosticism and leaves the Church.
The primary mechanism at work in this moral disintegration is moral relativism, where the person decides for himself what is right and wrong and therefore rejects concrete ethical standards.
Pilate asked Jesus "What is truth?" The 'bioethicists' are asking the identical question today. Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan 'suicide doctor' who seems to have a penchant for killing women, asked in a Humanist magazine, "What is morality? It is doing and thinking right. And that changes with time. So in rule ethics vs. situation ethics, I go by situation ethics. You try to solve the situation at that time. You can't use some idea two thousand years old!" [emphasis in original].[8]
Under relativism, the sharp line dividing truth and untruth becomes blurred and uneven. So, once relativism has been accepted, individuals cannot actually know what truth is, because all measuring devices have been obliterated. Therefore, they have no logical defense against groups selling untruth, especially when it is wrapped in an attractive package.
As G.K. Chesterton has said, "When a man ceases to believe in God, he does not believe in nothing. He believes in anything."
Werner Erhardt, the founder of the 'est movement,' has boiled moral relativism down to its essential essence;[9]
RULES ABOUT LIFE
by Werner Erhardt
1. Life has no rules
2.
To Humanists, life itself is TEGWAR, or "The Exciting Game Without Any Rules."
Figure 2-3 shows how the "slippery slope" concept operates at the individual level, and how a person's morality and standards gradually disintegrate as they become lax and get dragged into Humanism.
FIGURE 2-3
THE 'SLIPPERY SLOPE' AT THE PERSONAL LEVEL
Enjoy! If it feels good, do it!
I did it my way
I'm as good as you are
All religions are the same
I accept alternative lifestyles (adultery,
sodomy, shacking up, abortion, pornography, etc.)
We mustn't be judgmental or intolerant
Live and let live
We're all just the same as any other animal,
after all
The Ten Commandments and other vindictive
regulations only inhibit our personal
development, and as such, should be
discarded
Society is to blame for all of our
troubles; the individual Is blameless
The only true virtues are tolerance
and compassion
Agnosticism: who needs God?
God is irrelevant!
Atheism: God is dead or nonexistent
The concepts of 'sin' and 'guilt'
are outmoded
Individual's conscience fades;
anything goes!
Personal anarchy; life revolves
around obtaining immediate
gratification
Avoid discomfort and
responsibility at any
cost
And finally:
DESTRUCTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL'S CONSCIENCE
Contrasts with Christianity.
Figure 2-4 contrasts the ancient Christian and orthodox Jewish way of life with the current Modernist way of life, which has existed in its most virulent form for only about sixty years.
It is easy to see that the Modernist truly sees himself as an island, needing no other humans to survive. The Modernist sets his own limits and expectations. Usually, he will accept no limits whatever, and will constantly strive for impossibly high standards. When he fails to meet his self-imposed standards, severe psychological damage can result, because he has no outlet (none of the other 'beautiful people,' all similarly pursuing perfection on earth, want to be bothered with a 'failure' witness the recent advances in pro-euthanasia rhetoric).
FIGURE 2-4
CHRISTIAN VS. MODERNIST LIVING
THE CHRISTIAN WAY OF LIFE THE MODERNIST WAY OF LIFE
Dependence upon God, parents, Independence, self-sufficiency, "every man is
husband, wife, family, and fellow an island."
Christians.
Guidance from God in Scripture; No moral absolutes; solve problems on a
certain behaviors are never case-by-case basis; situational ethics and
justified. moral relativism.
Guided by Christian ethics and Guided by utilitarianism; what's good for the
morals; what's good for a person's body, society, or the planet.
soul.
Spirituality; what one is. Materialism; what one has.
Sees persons as fellow journeymen to Sees persons as objects to be used or
be helped or shared with. exploited.
Acknowledgement and acceptance Immediate gratification; avoidance of suffering
of necessary trials and suffering. at all costs.
Service to God and to others. Service to self only.
Focus on Christ; deep and Built-in dissatisfaction; there is always
imperturbable inner contentment. something more to possess or achieve.
Modernism has evolved into the exact opposite of Christianity. The flesh has become the Word. We lay up treasures on earth for our temporal bliss; those who love their lives in this world will be young forever (so say all the glossy magazines).
Malcolm Muggeridge has beautifully summarized this Godless pursuit of happiness;
The quest for hope in this spiritual vacuum can only lead to hopelessness; the seeking of happiness leads inevitably to the deepest despair; the yearning for life experience only to death; total affluence to spiritual poverty; total peace to total war; total education to complete illiteracy; total sex to complete sterility; total freedom to complete slavery. In great wealth we find total poverty; in health, sickness; in numbers, deception.
Gorging, we are left hungry; sedated, left restless; telling all, hiding all; in flesh united, forever separate.[10]
By stark contrast, Christians have a natural safety valve. We are capable of serenely accepting the limits and expectations imposed upon us by God. We realize that we are not perfect and, in fact, that it is impossible for a human being to be perfect. Therefore, we can accept failure, even if it is painful. We do not have inhumanly (and inhumanely) high standards to strive for. We can (and will) be forgiven by God and by fellow Christians who understand us and the human frailty that is common to us all.
Christians possess a subtle but very profound comfort in the knowledge that we, as human beings, are flawed to a certain extent. The Modernist cannot accept this; he is his own flawed and fallible god. In times of trouble and stress, he can only fall back on himself. The Modernist world, even more than nature itself, is terribly unforgiving of even the slightest mistake.
SELF As God.
Pro-life activists must understand why the anti-life movements will never compromise, and why pro-lifers can never accept compromise themselves.
The goal of the Modernist is self-fulfillment, self-gratification, self-indulgence, self-actualization, self-construction, self-orientation, self-empowerment, SELF and only and always SELF.
The only SELFS that the anti-lifers cannot deal with are self-discipline and self-denial. Therefore, they simply cannot communicate with those who disagree with them, because any compromise, no matter how trivial, will detract in some manner from their broad universe of freedoms and rights.
One excellent example of this anti-life "no exceptions" approach occurred in 1985, when California pro-lifers discovered a storage container with 16,500 aborted babies inside behind a pathologist's house. Some of these babies were larger than four pounds.
Pro-lifers wanted to give their sad little bodies a decent burial, but pro-abortionists fought fanatically to deny even this last dignity to them. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Feminist Womens Health Centers filed suit against the burial because, as they alleged, the babies were only "unwanted biological tissue," and such burial would "violate the separation of Church and State."[11]
Why would the abortophiles care about what happened to the babies after they were so callously slaughtered? Quite simply, they were concerned because any action that acknowledged the babies as human beings even their burial might cause a tiny crack in the mighty abortion "right."
If only the pro-life movement were so implacable!
Tear It Down!
The appetite of the Modernists for power is literally insatiable. No amount of concessions to their cause will satisfy them. Only total subjection or elimination of the Christian church and all 'traditional' morality that opposes their worldview will suffice. As Neofeminist 'theologian' Rosemary Ruether has told us, "No token accommodations will satisfy us. What is required is the total reconstruction of God, Christ, human nature, and society."[12]
Nobody has summarized this destructive, hopelessly unguided philosophy better than Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party of the United States; "The whole system we live under is completely worthless, and no basic change for the better can come about until this system is overthrown."[13]
Trying to reason with a person who is totally wrapped up in himself is like trying to discuss issues with a totally self-oriented six-month old infant. As Father Benedict Groeschel wrote in his book Passages; "Perhaps the terrible quality of evil is its banality, its tapering off into nothingness. To know someone who has surrendered to evil and who lives entirely by and for self, is to witness how utterly evil is not, to what dreadful nonbeing it leads."
SELF as God, of course, clashes with the basic fact that we are all sinners. Every human being, no matter how vehemently he protests to the contrary, knows deep down inside that he is imperfect. After all, God 'hard-wired' us to instinctively know what is right and what is wrong.
The only people who claim that they are perfect are either liars or fools.
This impossible conflict sets up a terrible tension inside a person;
• I am a god
• Gods are perfect and cannot sin
• But if I am a god, why am I still sinning?
There is no resolution to this impossibility, of course. The person must either repent and find peace, or carry on and get wound up tighter and tighter until he snaps, as shown in Figure 2-5.
FIGURE 2-5
THE CROSSROADS: SALVATION OR SELF-DESTRUCTION
DESIRE FOR FREEDOM
INDULGE DESIRES BY
TURNING FROM GOD
GUILT AND RATIONALIZATION
EXPERIMENT WITH
IMMORAL BEHAVIOR
MORE GUILT AND
RATIONALIZATION
THE CROSSROADS
REINFORCEMENT OF SIN REPENTANCE
A LIFETIME OF SIN, PERSONAL RESURRECTION
GUILT, AND UNHAPPINESS AND FREEDOM
The Infection of the Churches.
If man becomes indifferent to life, there is no longer any hope that he can choose the good.
Humanist psychologist Erich Fromm.[14]
Tirades of the Ex-Believers.
Many Neoliberals loudly proclaim themselves to be former members of a specific religious sect. Christian activists must endure the constant grumbling of a glittering army of embittered ex-Catholics and ex-fundamentalists.
Such people generally took their religion seriously at one time, but simply could not live up to the high standards set for them (or could not stand failing to reach them). So they 'dropped out.' Of course, some try to force their former religion to conform to their standards of immorality; witness 'Catholics' for a Free Choice (who try to force the Church to accept abortion) and Dignity (unrepentant homosexuals who try to obtain Catholic Church approval of sodomy).
However, we never hear about embittered former Unitarians or former members of the United Church of Christ.
Why?
Because these churches, and others like them, give their members every freedom they desire. Eventually, people have no reason to pay any attention to an organization that has essentially devolved into a social action committee. They have no reason to belong to a group that gives them permission to do things that society has already given them permission to do. Therefore, the 'church' has made no lasting impression on them at all. Its members are placid and content, having been drugged with freedom and the 'feel-good' philosophy.
These Neoliberal 'Christian' churches do not preach against divorce, adultery, homosexuality, or abortion, because these sins are committed by specific individuals who are aware that they are guilty. The Neoliberal 'churches' are not in the business of saving souls, because such business necessarily teaches that all are sinful, and this makes people uncomfortable. There is no hiding. Either you are guilty or you are not.
Let Sleeping Consciences Lie.
This is why the pro-life movement is hated with such passion. Pro-lifers make Modernists and indifferent people uncomfortable by forcing them to examine their own consciences, which they are trying to keep anesthetized.
Neoliberal ministers thunder from the pulpit about 'social sins' such as apartheid, institutionalized 'homophobia' and 'sexism,' crimes against peace and justice, and hunger. These pastors direct their evangelistic fervor not towards individuals, but against an indefinable, amorphous, guilty-as-sin 'society.'
Granted, the members of their congregations are also members of this 'society.' But it is far easier and more comfortable to confess sins that everyone else is guilty of. Since all are guilty, nobody is really guilty or called to take any action. The guilt for social sins has been successfully and painlessly diluted to the point of meaninglessness.
Obviously, from the Neoliberal point of view, the more 'advanced' a church is, the fewer limits it sets for its members, until it devolves into spiritual nothingness, a community of apostate 'Christians' and cookie pushers.
So fundamentalists and conservative Catholics and any other persons who live by a moral religious code are pigeonholed and stereotyped as "backwards," "dogmatic," "rigid," "patriarchal," and "hierarchical."
The practical result of this process of attrition is that the Neoliberal 'churches' are dying, as described in Chapter 42 of Volume II, "Church Positions on Abortion."
The Psychology of the Anti-Life Worldview at the Organizational Level.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever!
George Orwell.[15]
Introduction.
When Modernists meet and act together towards some common goal, they appear to think in the same general manner. However, there are added aspects to the psychology of mass Modernist action that pro-life activists should understand. These additional facets are described below.
The Root of Modernism: Guilt!
The ignoble emotion that drives the Modernist movement is good old-fashioned guilt on a scale never before experienced by mankind.
The Modernist sets out on the road to moral disintegration by summarily dismissing God in pursuit of some more convenient and 'desirable' goal. This goes against his very human nature, and therefore causes tension, self-doubt and guilt. Finding himself free of any objective moral standard, he necessarily falls into all types of behavior that are condemned by an authentically Christian society: Adultery, homosexuality, theft, cheating, abortion, gluttony, alcohol and drug abuse, child abuse, and so on. What is left of the Modernist's decency objects to this type of behavior at a subconscious level, which of course generates even more guilt.
After the person begins to sin, of course, he has to rationalize his own behavior in order to live with himself. What better way to do this than to band together with those of like mind? In this manner, Modernists can all stroke one another, soothe one another, denounce God together, and make plans to entice (or coerce) everyone else into being just like them.
Once again, this type of conflict has only two possible solutions; repentance or destruction, as shown in Figure 2-5.
Transference.
Transference is the linchpin of anti-life thought. After all, if everyone is the same, then there is no right or wrong, because "right" and "wrong" are merely relative concepts.
One curious aspect of the anti-life yearning for this universal moral sameness is its tendency to attribute its own undesirable tendencies to those who oppose it. This is called 'transference' by psychologists, and it is pervasive especially in pro-abortionists and sodomites. Chapter 13 describes the root causes and character of the tactic of transference.
Destructive Enabling.
One of the most damaging effects of the anti-life movements is that they act as very efficient "enablers" they validate self-destructive behaviors such as abortion, sodomy, pornography and child abuse, and give these acts a veneer of legitimacy that can be used by anti-lifers to rationalize their actions.
When participating in such anti-life activities with others, the individual merely sinks deeper into the morass of self-indulgence and self-destructive behavior.
Eventually, however, such a person must face his load of guilt. Honest guilt, which alerts a person with a healthy personality that he has done wrong, serves a healthy purpose and dissipates when the wrong has been rectified. But suppressed guilt, of all the emotions, is the most corrosive to the personality. If it is repressed, it acts like a powerful psychic acid, eating away at the entire personality. It will never heal of its own accord. It must eventually be either resolved or repressed, or the person will ultimately lose his sanity and, ultimately, his soul.
People can only dispose of guilt in one of two ways: They can alter their behavior to suit their morality (resolving it the Christian way), or they can alter their morality to suit their behavior (repressing it the secular way). As Pascal once said, "those who reject God have only two recourses to happiness; to create themselves gods, or to wallow in the pleasures of the senses."
This last point is the most important. If the guilt-laden Modernist can force society to reject God with him and accept his perverted and immoral behavior, then he is just like everyone else, and the guilt that drives him so mercilessly will eventually disappear. After all, it is the contrast between his behavior and generally-accepted standards that generates guilt. If there is no contrast (caused by the disintegration of moral standards), there is no guilt.
Guilt As An Anti-Life Weapon.
Since their members constantly experience it, anti-life organizations know how powerful a weapon guilt is, and therefore try to use it on a mass scale against the pro-life movement. They do this by assuming a self-imposed 'victim status,' portraying themselves as weak and bullied by those larger and less tolerant than themselves.
Two obvious examples are the Neofeminists with the abortion issue (i.e., "The Right-to-Lifers always target poor, young women of color") and the homosexuals ("End gay-bashing and discrimination! All we want is to be able to live our lives without fear!"). Even the organized child molesters like the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) and prostitutes complain about how "oppressed by society" they are!
The pro-life movement can avoid this insidious 'guilt trap' simply by refusing to feel guilty about fighting murder and other evil activities. Anyone who refuses to play the 'victimizer' for the anti-lifers is absolutely loathed by them. This is why the pro-abortionists scream at pro-lifers, call them names, and take out full-page newspaper ads labeling them "Nazis," "stormtroopers," and "religious fanatics." If a person is sensitive to emotions, he can actually feel the force of their raw and irrational hate!
The pro-life movement has been called "the conscience of our nation." The anti-lifers have destroyed their own consciences, and want to destroy the nation's collective conscience as well. Then nobody will be able to tell them that they are doing wrong.
Who is Right on a Moral Issue?
Introduction.
There is no question that abortion and the other moral issues facing our nation today are each extremely broad in scope. They all encompass vast areas in the fields of moral, scientific, and social theory, and each issue has many subissues and is attached in many ways to all of the other moral issues.
However, the sheer dimensions of the vast galaxy of moral issues do not mean that the questions these issues pose are proportionately complicated. It is entirely possible to boil each of them down into one or two simple yes-or-no core questions, as shown below.
•Abortion: Are preborn babies human persons, and, if so, do they deserve
the same rights as other people?
•Euthanasia: Do people have the fundamental right to end their lives before
the 'appointed time?'
•Pornography: Is literature showing sexual acts in explicit detail protected
speech? Is such material harmful enough to society to warrant certain
restrictions?
•Homosexuality: Are sodomy and other associated sexual activities harmless
to society? Are such activities to be treated as moral and legal equivalents
to what are often called 'normal' sexual acts? Where should the line be
drawn between 'normal' and 'perverted' sexual activity?
Every activist who has fought abortion, euthanasia, pornography, and homosexual aggression has experienced moments of self-doubt. How do we know that we are right? What are our standards? What about our Lord's admonition to "judge not, lest ye be judged?" Should we support the maximum amount of personal freedom under the theory that every person must make their own decisions and answer to God for them?
The secret to answering these questions lies in a two-pronged analysis that relies upon both the Word of God and the word of man. It must be so; our society is split deeply between Christian and secular value systems, and any assessment of the 'rightness' and 'wrongness' of an issue must include elements of both if we are to win over both segments of our society.
We must rely on the word of God and must also be able to present a secular rationale for our positions in order to convert those who do not believe in God.
Who's Got the (Moral) Goods?
The apparent focus of the people in any battle over a moral issue like euthanasia, abortion, pornography or homosexuality is the simple question "Who is right?"
For those who participate in immoral activities, of course, this question is the reddest of red herrings. Most Neoliberals don't really care who is 'right,' just so long as the debate continues to rage. This distracts attention from immoral people and allows them to abort, euthanize, sodomize, and exploit others in peace and privacy. The sole purpose of the vaunted 'right to privacy,' of course, is to cloak the activities of immoral people in a pall of secrecy, so the troublesome question "Who is morally correct?" can be avoided altogether or left to those who really care.
But the issue of moral correctness is very important to that segment of the public that cares about adhering to some kind of standard. These people may be Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or non-theistic, but they all realize that man is a creature that needs some kind of moral framework within which to exist as a human being. Without such a framework, he wanders aimlessly in the featureless grey landscape of situational ethics and devolves into an entity with a system of 'morals' that is precisely equivalent to those of an animal. Man becomes a creature driven purely by instinct.
We're Both Right!
So what does an uninvolved person do when he decides to research a hot moral issue to decide which 'side' is 'right?' Depending upon whether or not the person believes in God, he might begin by asking the following questions;
• Who possesses the moral high ground i.e.,
• For theists: Whose 'side' is God on?
• For both theists and non-theists: Which 'side' adheres to society's
standards? Which 'side' obeys the law?
If the person does his research in depth, the answers to these questions are likely to be unenlightening. In the abortion, euthanasia and homosexuality issues, both sides claim that God is with them, both sides say that they act in the best interests of society, and, in the case of abortion, both sides have broken the law on a large scale (i.e., millions of illegal abortions in the years before Roe v. Wade vs. Operation Rescue's tens of thousands of arrests).
How to Decide?
If it is impossible to decide who has the moral high ground, how does a person decide which side is 'right' on a particular issue?
There are two ways of making this determination. The first is by examining the arguments set forth by both sides, and the second is to examine the actions of the activists on both sides.
The first method examining the logic of each side's arguments may take months. In the case of abortion, there are at least thirty major issues that must be addressed beyond the basic question of whether or not life and humanity is endowed at conception. This, of course, is the preferred method of determining the 'rightness' or 'wrongness' of any particular position.
However, the second method has two great advantages over in-depth research of the arguments. To begin with, it takes much less time. Perhaps more importantly, it is a yardstick by which an ordinary person may research and decide his position on any or all of the moral issues, because it is founded on common sense.
The actions of the participants in any social issue can be analyzed by applying a set of seven 'tests' that are entirely neutral in their judgment. These common-sense indicators are free of any issue-or religion-oriented standards. In other words, they are versatile enough to be used equally well by the most committed Christian or the most dedicated secular humanist to accurately determine which 'side' really believes its own rhetoric.
These 'neutral indicators' are described below. Due to the very nature of the struggle between good and evil, all of these indicators will be present in each of the moral battles between the 'wrong' and the 'right' sides, to include abortion, euthanasia, infanticide, pornography and homosexuality.
Too Simplistic?
Some people might argue that applying a set of 'neutral indicators' to a complex issue in order to determine which side is 'right' is too simplistic a notion.
However, experience tells us that groups of immoral people invariably attempt to make life artificially complex. They engage in 'mystagoguery,' which is the practice of trying to make every moral issue so complex that nobody can really understand it and therefore cannot make any moral judgment about it. This, of course, is just what immoral people want: Not to be told that what they are doing is wrong. To the immoral person, every act, no matter how disgusting or outrageous, lies somewhere in a vast 'grey area' that conveniently expands to cover whatever act he happens to be committing.
However, the best solutions to any problem have always been the simplest ones. These 'neutral indicators' are easy to understand, easy to apply, and are grounded purely on detecting which side sincerely believes that it is right and which side instinctively knows that it is wrong. Because of this inherent simplicity, and because the indicators are rooted in common sense, this method of moral determination is extremely accurate and applies to every moral issue. The indicators cut through the cloud of mystique and misdirection and get right to the heart of the matter: Which position is truly supported by its adherents, and which position is being propped up as a convenient facade for the pure convenience of its followers?
The neutral indicators are listed below and are described in the following paragraphs.
THE SEVEN NEUTRAL INDICATORS
#1: Standards vs. situational ethics.
#2: Altruism vs. self-interest.
#3: Logic vs. emotionalism.
#4: Focusing vs. diversion.
#5: Revealing vs. concealing.
#6: Attacks on behavior vs. attacks on persons.
#7: The 'check valve' effect.
Neutral Indicator #1. Standards vs. situational ethics.
As described elsewhere in this chapter, Neoliberals and other immoral people feel that they must be completely free of constraints on their behavior regardless of whether these constraints originate with God or with man.
All moral people live by a set of standards. After all, what is morality but simply trying to adhere to a set of guidelines set down by God or by man? Christians, Jews, Hindus and Moslems have their versions of the Word of God, and secular humanists live by some version of the Golden Rule.
However, those who are practicing or advocating immoral activities will invariably adhere to the concept of 'situational ethics.' They claim that there are really no unbreakable rules, and that the situation that is unfolding at any point in time dictates the 'proper' course of action. No behavior whatever, even if it is killing, is strictly prohibited.
Christians (and practicing secular humanists, for that matter) know that situational ethics (or 'moral relativism') will never work because of man's fallen nature. If we are free to do anything, we generally will do anything if it increases our level of comfort and/or decreases our level of responsibility to others.
This first 'neutral indicator' is the most certain clue as to whether or not a person believes his own rhetoric about a moral issue. If a person claims that euthanasia or abortion or sodomy are justified in certain cases, what he means is that these behaviors are justified in all cases if the person(s) involved feel like it.
There is no such thing as a true moral relativist. If a person claims unlimited personal freedom, he must also grant others the same right, or he will be exposed as a hypocrite. If a pro-abortionist indicates that he is a moral relativist, pro-lifers can tie him in knots simply by claiming that their 'thing' just happens to be rescuing babies from abortion, and such an activity is justified in certain cases such as whenever they feel like it. And who is the pro-abortionist to judge what standards others live by, when he has no standards himself?
This tactic, of course, can be employed against any Neoliberal who considers himself to be a moral relativist.
Neutral Indicator #2. Altruism vs. self-interest.
The right side will be fighting for others, while the wrong side will be trying to protect its own interests.
The pro-abortionists, if they are female, are obviously fighting for the right to kill their own children in order to cover up their fornication and adultery (which accounts for more than 90 percent of all abortions, as described in Chapter 87 of Volume II, "Statistics on Abortion"). Pro-abortion men, of course, are in the battle to preserve their own right to fornicate with whomever they please without the consequences of 'unwanted children.'
By contrast, pro-lifers are fighting for a class of people they cannot even see. Pro-aborts might argue that pro-life women are brainwashed and pro-life men in general are acting in their own self-interest by trying to 'subjugate women,' but such statements are mere sloganeering and such 'logic' disintegrates under examination. After all, who subjugates women more men who accept women just as they are, or men who force women into sterility?
In the battle over so-called 'gay rights,' sodomites are obviously fighting for the right to commit perverted sexual acts with anyone they want without any type of restrictions. Sodomites are literally sexual addicts who will literally do anything to be able to continue with their habit.
Those who battle the militant homosexual agenda cannot possibly have any self-interest in mind; they are fighting for the good of society even as they endure incredible abuse and violence at the hands of the sodomites and the press. They know that if the homosexuals get what they want, the perversions and diseases that will be unleashed upon our country will fatally cripple whatever is left of its moral fabric.
In the case of euthanasia, those who support 'death with dignity' say with straight faces that their only interest is for their loved ones to be able to die in peace if their 'quality of life' falls below a certain point. What the euthanasiasts really want, of course, is to preserve their own quality of life. After all, the euthanasia mentality says that you can't have a good time if you have to take care of your drooling Grandma or some crippled kid, or burn up a lot of money paying someone else to care for them.
By contrast, those who fight euthanasia are once again considering the best interests of society. They cannot have any self-interest in mind; they adhere to the Christian and Jewish standard that all human life is a gift from God, and only God can take it away.
And pornography, of course, has made a lot of people rich. Thousands of people in this country peddle filth and accumulate millions of dollars while shouting that they are champions of the First Amendment.
Those who oppose pornography are fighting to rid society of a poison that exploits, cheapens, and even kills men, women, and children.
Neutral Indicator #3.
Logic and hard facts are used by the 'right' side, while emotions and unconfirmable anecdotes are generally used by the 'wrong' side.
This contrast holds true in all moral battles. Pro-abortionists, pornographers, sodomites, and euthanasiasts all use generally fabricated anecdotal evidence and heavy doses of emotionalism, unsupported slogans, and personal attacks to make their 'cases,' while proclaiming loudly that they are confronted by "the forces of ignorance, bigotry and hatred."
Those who oppose the anti-life agendas will counter this kind of drivel with hard evidence in the form of historical trends, statistics, and damaging quotes by the anti-lifers themselves.
There is no logical defense that the anti-lifers can offer against such material except diversionary tactics. So the pornographers, euthanasiasts, sodomites, and pro-abortionists will attempt to shift the discussion to diffuse moral questions like 'freedom' and 'rights,' as described below.
Neutral Indicator #4.
Focusing on the issue vs. attempting to divert attention away from it. Diversion is accomplished by employing one or more tactics. The most common diversionary ploys are 'mystagoguery,' Newspeak, and slogans.
In the first of these tactics, the 'wrong' side will strive to needlessly complicate the arguments, and the 'right' side will attempt to simplify them. As described earlier in this chapter, this is referred to as 'mystagoguery,' or the deliberate act of complicating an issue to the point where no moral judgment is possible. Using such tactics, the anti-lifer can avoid responsibility for his actions.
Meanwhile, the pro-life activist will strive to get to the heart of the issue: Killing of human life or the immoral commission of unnatural sexual acts. All pro-life and pro-family people have heard anti-family spokespersons claim that "The issue here is not abortion (homosexuality, pornography, euthanasia); it is freedom (trust, justice), anything except what we are really talking about."
As a second tactic, the 'wrong' side will constantly use Newspeak (fuzzy language) in an attempt to avoid describing the act(s) in question; the 'right' side will not flinch in getting to the heart of the matter.
In other words, pro-abortionists will employ genocidal Newspeak ("underspeak") to dehumanize their opposition and their victims (i.e., "feto-placental unit" for the preborn baby). Pornographers will use "feel-good," fluffy words to describe depictions of perversions (i.e., "sexually explicit material depicting intergenerational relationships" for books showing acts of pedophilia). And homosexuals use diversionary language when they describe perverted sexual acts that ordinary people find unimaginable (i.e., "interspecies love" for bestiality).
Their pro-life opposition will use words that cut to the heart of the matter: "Killing babies;" "sodomy" and "hard-core porn." These words, of course, are labeled "insensitive" by the anti-lifers.
The anti-life Newspeak tactic is described in detail in Chapter 15.
Finally, the side that does not really believe in its own position will lean heavily on slogans. These are ready-made phrases that summarize an appealing aspect of some philosophy and allow the listener to accept the entire philosophy without thinking about it.
Some examples of Neoliberal slogans are shown below.
•"Not the church, not the state ... !"
•"Equal rights are not special rights!"
•"Death with dignity: The 'last right.'"
•"Defend the First Amendment against censors!"
•"Who decides?"
•"Silence = death!"
It is inherently difficult to defend against slogans. All the 'wrong' side has to do is mouth a few words. The opposition has to explain in detail why the slogan is false or misleading. This can be a very touchy job unless the pro-life activist knows his subject.
The most popular pro-abortion slogans, and reasoned responses to each, are contained in Chapter 16.
Neutral Indicator #5.
The 'wrong' side will diligently try to cover up the behavior(s) in question; the 'right' side knows that it can cause a lot of damage by showing the reality of abortion, homosexuality, porn, and euthanasia.
This is why most pro-abortionists commonly refuse to debate pro-lifers under any circumstances. Additionally, they will universally refuse to debate if they know that the opposition will employ pictures of aborted late-term babies. Homosexuals simply will not debate the issue period. When their opposition quotes leaders of the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), or describes in lurid detail such sodomite practices as S&M, 'mudding,' fisting, and rimming, and then tosses out a few examples of sodomite violence (such as their continuing vandalism and invasions of churches all over the country), the homosexuals know that they will look foolish.
Anyone who has had the pleasure of debating a pornographer knows that all he has to do is wave around a couple of examples of kiddie porn and he has won the crowd over.
And an anti-euthanasia activist can make his case by describing in excruciating detail the agony that a person suffers as he dies of thirst and starvation. He can follow this with quotes from Derek Humphry and Jack ("The Dripper") Kevorkian describing their dreams of lethal injection for anyone who wants it in a nationwide chain of "obitoriums."
Neutral Indicator #6.
The 'wrong' side will engage in frequent attacks against individuals and organizations (ad hominem attacks) instead of addressing the issue(s); the 'right' side will attack the behavior in question.
Pro-abortionists will slander and stereotype their pro-life opponents with every imaginable type of propaganda, as described in Chapter 17. Some of the printable names applied to pro-life activists include "Bible-beating fanatics," "misogynists," and "Ayatollah Khomeini clones."
Homosexuals will beat their chests and whine about how terribly they are being oppressed by "homophobes" and "right-wing nuts who want everyone to be just like them."
Porn pushers will paint their opposition as "censors" and "narrow-minded, rigid puritans" while trying to come across as pure and holy champions of the First Amendment.
And euthanasiasts will call pro-lifers "uncaring" and "judgmental" and will try to depict them as callous brutes who completely disregard human suffering.
Meanwhile, the 'right' side will attempt to "hate the sin while loving the sinner." Christians and other pro-lifers will usually attack abortion, euthanasia, sodomy, and pornography in general and will not direct their comments against specific individuals.
Neutral Indicator #7. The "check valve" effect.
This means that the 'right' side will recruit from the 'wrong' side more heavily than the 'wrong' side will gain adherents from the 'right' side. Syndicated columnist William Raspberry coined this term when he noted that many more 'pro-choice' people became pro-life than vice-versa.
This rule generally applies only to the more well-informed persons on both 'sides' of an issue. If a person declares that he has a particular stand on a moral issue but knows little or nothing about it, he will be easily converted if he is confronted by a knowledgeable activist who takes the opposing position.
The 'check valve' effect therefore refers to those people who are knowledgeable on an issue when they change their minds and join the other 'side.' This phenomenon is particularly prevalent in the abortion fight, where a very large percentage of pro-life activists were formerly pro-abortion, or even had or performed abortions themselves. Meanwhile, there are virtually no pro-abortionists who can claim that they were formerly pro-life activists.
The most notable exceptions to this rule are politicians, many of whom seem to change alliances as quickly as a wind sock changes directions in a variable breeze. Two examples of this principle are Jesse Jackson (who, believe it or not, endorsed Ronald Reagan for President in 1980) and Congressman Ron Wyden (D.-Oregon), who won office on a pro-life platform, immediately betrayed his supporters, and held sham Congressional hearings in early 1992 which persecuted Crisis Pregnancy Centers.
Does Humanism Work?
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest ...
Simon & Garfunkel, "The Boxer."
Pro-life activists know from long experience that a self-centered, guilt-ridden, destructive worldview cannot possibly lead to anything but utter chaos and, eventually, anarchy.
Even the Humanists know this. However, they are so addicted to their god of freedom, and have spent so much time "doing it their way," that their thinking processes have become ossified and frozen. They cannot turn off the wide, smooth highway to Hell without a supreme effort.
The Brookings Institute is the largest and most prestigious liberal 'think-tank' in America. Recently one of its leading researchers, A. James Reichley, in a 389-page study entitled Religion in American Public Life, summarized the failure of Humanism quite succinctly; "In a democratic society, persons subscribing to a classical humanist ethic are driven to a hypocrisy or cynicism either pretending admiration or fellow-feeling for the masses that their value system does not sustain or scorning the political forms under which they live. In either case, social bitterness between humanist elites and the mass of working-class and middle-class citizens is bound to follow."
The report concludes that the representative form of government "... depends for its health on values that, over the not-so-long run, must come from religion." Through religion, "Human rights are rooted in the moral worth with which a loving Creator has endowed each human soul, and social authority is legitimized by making it answerable to a transcendent moral law."
The Non-Seeds of Modernist Destruction.
The Ten Commandments are not the laws. They are THE LAW. In the final analysis, we do not break the Commandments. They break us if we disregard them. How we follow the Commandments will determine whether tomorrow's children will die in bondage or live in liberty.
Hollywood film director Cecil B. DeMille.[16]
There is a great solace for those faithful Christians and Jews still remaining: The Modernist movement is like a mule. It is totally sterile. Modernists are either physically sterile or beget not Modernist children, but indifferent non-Christian children. After all, what is inspiring or noble about the fuzzy, 'feel-good' New-Age religions? Nobody in their right mind would die for Modernism; but many have died for the concrete principles of Christianity and Judaism.
Since the Modernist churches are sterile in belief and philosophy, it is inevitable that they are rapidly dying out; Modernist churches, which number about 12 percent of the regularly churchgoing population in this country, have been losing an average of five percent of their membership each year.
By happy contrast, Christian churches and Jewish temples that have been true to the Word of God have been expanding their memberships at a rate of about six percent per year.
For further information and data on this phenomenon, see Chapter 42 of Volume II, "Church Positions on Abortion."
The Strength and Weakness of the Anti-Life Movements.
What men value in this world is not rights, but privileges.
H.L. Mencken.[2]
The Anti-Life Advantage.
There is one great advantage that the anti-life movements have over pro-life: Their adherents generally think in a similar manner, use similar tactics, and have the identical ultimate goal, which is total freedom.
This sometimes gives the illusion of a vast conspiracy. The reality is that the anti-lifers don't need to conspire; they work remarkably well together because of their similar outlook.
Anti-life groups and individuals do not feel particularly constrained by truth or strategic and tactical ethics, so they can use whatever means they see fit to achieve their goals ('TEGWAR' again). They can define groups of persons out of existence and exterminate them. They can condemn and ridicule even Mother Teresa. They do not tithe to a church or support children, so they have almost unlimited funds to spend on any purpose they choose.
There is no earthly limit to what they can do if they are unopposed, because their only concrete rule is, "if it can be done, do it!"
This is why homosexual groups work so harmoniously with abortion-rights groups and euthanasiasts. In fact, conservative writers have labeled those with an anti-life orientation "the Swarm" or "the Hive," a classic phenomenon known to psychologists as the "herd of independent thinkers" (HIT) Syndrome. All of the anti-life movements work hand-in-glove with remarkably little friction.
The anti-life groups bestow upon themselves such glowingly patriotic names as "People for the American Way," "Center for Constitutional Rights," and "Americans for Constitutional Freedom." They gain power and prestige through aggressive networking and mutual stroking. They sit on each other's boards of directors and award each other distinguished titles before a slavish press.
As just one example, the American Humanist Association has bestowed its "Humanist of the Year" award to such 'luminaries' as Canadian illegal/legal abortionist Henry Morgentaler, Betty Friedan, Ted Turner, and former Planned Parenthood president Faye Wattleton, the latter for her "dedicated support for birth control" and because she is "an effective spokesperson for abortion rights."[17]
The reason for all of this is simple. Freedom is an easily-defined goal and appeals strongly to our fallen nature. Therefore, an anti-life person will instinctively embrace any philosophy that promises a greater degree of personal freedom.
The Pro-Life Disadvantage.
In unhappy contrast to the smooth cooperation seen among anti-lifers, it is often extremely difficult to get pro-life activists of different philosophies to work together. For example, some prominent groups in the anti-abortion movement have as their goal the total banning of abortion for any reason. Others want to make an exclusion to save the mother's life, and still others would like to add a second exception for rape and incest.
And, of course, anti-abortion strategies differ greatly. The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) spurns any violation of the law, preferring instead to work within the system to change the current situation, primarily through education and legislation. Such tactics, including the enactment of the Hyde Amendment, have almost certainly saved more than two million preborn lives over the last fifteen years.
On the other hand, some people who have participated in rescues believe that twenty years of "working within the system" has produced nothing more than 30 million dead babies, and that meaningful social change comes only after significant social upheaval.
And, of course, there is great confusion in the ranks of Catholics and fundamentalists, caused by dissidents in positions of authority and those espousing the insidious "Seamless Garment" theory (see Chapter 84 of Volume II for a detailed discussion of this concept).
The Fatal Anti-Life Flaw.
The great (and fatal) weakness of the anti-life movement, of course, is that it is laboring in a spiritual vacuum. It is primarily anti-theistic, and therefore its adherents believe that humans must enjoy life to the fullest, because life is all you get.
Most committed anti-life activists seem to be desperately unhappy and empty, because they have as their ultimate goal only the gratification of their own desires. This is not a noble calling, and human beings need very much to believe that they are intrinsically good, and that they are working for a higher cause. These motivations are entirely absent in the anti-life philosophy.
Anti-life activists are constantly insisting that they are "as good as you are." As any psychologist knows, those who loudly insist that they are as good as everyone else really don't believe it themselves.
Therefore, the anti-life movements are basically timid and fearful of discomfort since they are 'in it' for themselves, they don't have the stomach for a real fight and for the sacrifice so necessary in a battle for the rights and freedom of others.
This is obvious from the way the anti-life groups let the courts and the police do their fighting for them. As far as pro-abortionists and euthanasiasts are concerned, it is always someone else who must die to ensure their own "quality of life."
More Slippery Slopes.
I am sometimes asked whether I "believe in" the slippery slope, as though it requires an act of faith. I believe in the slippery slope the same way I believe in the Hudson River. It's there. There is no better metaphor to describe those cultural and technological skid marks which are evident to all who have eyes to see.
Pastor Richard John Neuhaus.[18]
Where Will the Future Lead Us? Where will this relentless drive for total freedom and independence inevitably lead?
Ultimately, it will lead directly to the destruction of the individual's conscience and soul. And, of course, since society is a flawless mirror of its human constituents, entire nations also will certainly decline into anarchy, as we have seen so many times in the past.
Some people will not fully exert themselves for the cause of Life because, as they put it, "the train has already left the station."
This craven attitude will certainly seal our country's fate unless pro-lifers can regain control of the train and find the reverse gear.
Slopes of Appalling Steepness.
General George S. Patton once remarked that "Following the path of least resistance is what makes rivers and men crooked."
Patton was no theologian, but he certainly understood human nature.
One of our greatest temptations is the urge to be totally free to be free of limits, to be free of restrictions, to be free of any inhibitions at all. Sin, dressed up in all of its glittery allure, tempts all human beings from time to time, even the most holy among us, as Mahatma Gandhi acknowledged; "Man must choose either of the two courses, the upward or the downward, but as he had the brute in him, he will more easily choose the downward course than the upward, especially when the downward course is presented to him in beautiful garb. Man easily capitulates when sin is presented in the garb of beauty."[19]
The anti-life philosophy has no use for restrictions or rules of any type. It teaches that we are all in a continuous process of self-construction, and no outside influence must impinge upon our progress. We have no use for the past, for it only causes guilt. We have no use for the future, because it oppresses us with potential limits. Therefore, there is only NOW and the enjoyment of NOW. The avoidance of pain, effort, commitment, and responsibility is paramount.
Modernists live for this world and Christians for the next. Yet the bitter irony here is that Christians are generally happier and healthier than the Modernists, and thus get the best of both worlds both this and the next!
At times, it may seem that the Christian Churches are only in the business of setting up rules. Why are all of these rules and regulations necessary? Because we, as human beings, are unique in all the world: We can reason!
However, the great gift of reason has its dark side, as do all great gifts. We as individuals, societies, and species tend to wander from the natural path. Animals don't need rules or regulations because they have instinct to guide them, unless they are placed in an unnatural environment for an extended period of time. In such cases, they must literally be retrained in order to live in their natural environment.
Individual Slippery Slopes.
When right and wrong are clearly defined, every person must decide between the two, and the individual must make a commitment to action or inaction. This is why anti-lifers obscure the line between right and wrong as a matter of ingrained habit; in the vast grey area of valueless indecision, nobody can tell them that they are wrong.
Anti-lifers are those individuals who have never directly faced or challenged the evil or weakness within themselves or have faced it and have been defeated. Instead of conquering their weaknesses, they have capitulated to them. Eventually, such people value their own opinions above the obvious distinctions between right and wrong, and at this point they have literally become their own gods. This, of course, is the foundation of the 'New Age' movement: "You are your own god." They also deceive themselves into thinking that they are actually 'good' people, and that anyone who objects to their behavior is somehow persecuting them unjustly.
As French novelist and poet Anatole France remarked, "It is in the ability to deceive oneself that one shows the greatest talent."[2]
We as individuals tend naturally to drift toward 'situational ethics,' which means that we would like to make decisions on a case-by-case basis, free of constricting rules that deem certain behaviors unacceptable. However, without moral absolutes, we begin to glide effortlessly down the 'slippery slope.' And, as everyone knows, stumbling down a hill is much easier than climbing back up particularly if that hill happens to be glazed with ice.
Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn aptly summarized our current situation in his famed 1983 Templeton Address; "Through decades of gradual erosion, the meaning of life in the West has ceased to be seen as anything more lofty than the 'pursuit of happiness' ... The concepts of good and evil have been ridiculed for several centuries. The West is slipping toward the abyss, losing more and more of its religious essence as it thoughtlessly yields up its younger generation to atheism."
Figure 2-3 shows how this process occurs within many individual persons. In many cases, they are not even aware that the process is happening until they wake up one day and suddenly realize that they don't believe in God any more and worse, they really don't care!
National and Worldwide Slippery Slopes.
Every one of our cities has a crime problem, not so much because the police are not vigilant as because great masses of men in an urban community are undisciplined and chaotic souls. There is something very pathetic about the efforts of almost every one of our lost cities to restore by police coercion what has been lost by the decay of moral and cultural traditions.
German pastor Reinhold Niebuhr in 1926.[20]
Since governments and organizations consist of people, the slippery slope theory applies to any entity that consists of human beings. Recent history (as shown in Figures 2-6 and 2-7) has plainly demonstrated to us that the Neoliberal 'Christian' Churches, our country, and the entire world are skidding down the slopes with increasing speed.
FIGURE 2-6
THE 'SLIPPERY SLOPE' AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL
1931 The Federal Council of Churches (forerunner of today's National Council of
Churches) begins the process of moral disintegration by approving contraception for
just the "hard cases."
1960 American society begins to come apart as the "me generation" assumes control; the
birth control pill is widely distributed. The 'Sexual Revolution' begins in earnest!
1968 Artificial contraception widespread; abortion is allowed in some states for just the
"hard cases;" to save the life of the mother and for rape and incest.
1970 Drug use, child abuse, and crime rates escalate rapidly; systematic suppression and
ridicule of conservative religious views by Neoliberal groups and the media;
renegade 'churches' (such as the Sodomy (Metropolitan Community) Church) are
founded.
1973 Abortion approved for any reason through birth in all states; National Man-Boy
Love Association (NAMBLA) founded; forced funding for abortions.
1975 Involuntary sterilization of hundreds of retarded men and women in the United
States.
1980 Direct infanticide first upheld by the courts.
1983 Passive adult euthanasia first upheld by the courts.
1985 Food and water withdrawal from handicapped newborns widespread; more than
2,000 cases per year reported.
1987 'Bioethicists' deem fetal organ harvesting acceptable; organs harvested from live
anencephalic newborn infants; abortion for sex selection becomes popular; Satanic
'breeders' uncovered (infants grown for ritual sacrifice to Satan).
1988 Sale of live foreign baby boys to the United States for 'spare parts;' euthanasia
groups consider nursing homes as 'organ farms.' SOON Nursing homes 'cleaned
out' as in Holland; widespread mandatory euthanasia of the sick, retarded, and
socially unfit; genocide and anarchy, and then finally and inevitably:
SUBJUGATION OR DESTRUCTION OF A CORRUPT SOCIETY
Mother Teresa, in her 1979 Nobel Prize acceptance lecture, warned us that abortion will lead to nuclear war.
Does this sound far-fetched? If her prediction has any chance of coming to pass, it would have to be preceded by a general total callousness towards human life engendered by an entrenched anti-life philosophy.
So consider the case of 14-year old Marcy Renee Conrad of Milpitas, California, who had been repeatedly raped, beaten, strangled to death, and dumped alongside a country road. The murder was bad enough, but the events that followed the killing were positively hideous.
At least thirteen teenagers indifferently viewed her battered body at various times, never bothering to report her death. One girl snipped a piece of material from the dead teen's bluejeans for a souvenir. A boy took his little brother to the scene to see the body. Several teenagers went to view the body and then went to a pinball arcade to enjoy themselves. One student told a local newspaper that he cared only about collecting the marijuana cigarettes he won on a bet with another teenager that her body was real.
The Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph reported that
The shock is the shock of the encounter with icy indifference, the indifference of the kids in the first instance, but, much more importantly, of the culture that produced them ... The depersonalization seems more complete and they seem more alienated and isolated than what we have ever known before.[21]
And so, we as a society have become obsessed with trivialities in an attempt to ignore and gloss over our atrocities. We have literally come to consider parking in a handicapped area more sinful that adultery and fornication.
A major 1986 People Magazine poll asked people to rate a series of actions on a scale of 0 (least sinful) to 10 (most sinful). The thousands of respondents tended to rate intrusions on personal space as far more serious than various sexual sins, as shown below.[22]
EXTRACTS FROM THE PUBLIC'S RATING OF SINS
(Higher score = more serious sin)
Description of Sin Rating
Bigotry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.42
Sexual harassment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.97
Parking in a handicapped zone . . . . . . . . 5.53
Cutting into grocery store lines . . . . . . . . 4.91
Divorce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.31
Sex before marriage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.04
Living together without marriage . . . . . . . 3.74
Masturbation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.07
FIGURE 2-7
THE 'SLIPPERY SLOPE' AT THE WORLD LEVEL
1913 The Birth Control League (BCL, later Planned Parenthood) is founded.
1921 The BCL advocates eugenics to cut down on 'human weeds' (blacks).
1930 Anglican Lambeth Conference okays artificial contraception for 'just the hard cases.'
1934 The Nazi euthanasia program is established by doctors who have accepted the
eugenicist philosophy of American thinkers.
1950 Extensive eugenic sterilization of the 'unfit' in developing countries and in the United
States.
1955 Establishment of officially atheistic states (i.e., Albania).
1959 Russian leaders vow to "bury" the United States.
1973 Widespread fetal experimentation and research conducted on living aborted babies.
1975 Chinese possess in-place 'doomsday' bomb; mutual assured destruction (MAD)
becomes a widely-used term.
1978 Dutch nursing homes 'cleaned out' by euthanasia advocates; 100,000 killed in 15
years.
1980 All but two developed countries slip under population replacement levels (zero
population growth).
1983 Aborted preborn babies used in French cosmetics at Madame Renee Ibry's Henri
Chacon Centre.
1985 Initial development of the RU-486 abortion pill; 55 million surgical abortions
annually worldwide and at least twice as many more caused by abortifacient
"contraceptives."
1986 Forced third-trimester abortions and forced sterilizations in China exposed;
pro-abortion groups in the United States voice their approval of this program.
1987 Abortion advocated by East Germans to enhance athletic performance.
1990s Disintegrating respect for larger and larger groups of people, respect for human life
declines to the critical psychological "flash point," and then, finally and inevitably:
TOTAL DESTRUCTION BY NUCLEAR OR BIOLOGICAL WAR
Conclusion.
Never was any generation of men intent upon the pursuit of happiness more advantageously placed to attain it who yet, with seeming deliberation, took the opposite course towards chaos, not order; towards breakdown, not stability; towards death, destruction and darkness, not life, creativity, and light.
Malcolm Muggeridge.[2]
And so, we, the people of the United States, have lost our sense of sin. If we do not regain it, we will go the way of many other corrupt civilizations.
Perhaps it is already too late, although only the historians will know for sure. But we cannot fall into the sin of despair. It is our job to oppose the evil, and it is God's job to win the war.
The New Times Magazine summarized America's mood just before the periodical went defunct in January of 1979;
Welcome to America ... C'mon in. Something for every palate. Reproductions by Rockefeller. Senators by David Garth, exploding Pintos by Ford ... Carcinogens in 31 flavors. Opium from St. Laurent, seconals from Graceland ... funky, punky, junky ... you want it, we got it ... There's something in the air a sense of slippage, the perfume of decay. Life is slick and bright and noisy, but there's a softness here, a crumbling behind the gloss ... there are ripples of grace and distinction, commitment and courage, but all seem in shorter supply now. It's no time for heroes ...
References: The Anti-Life Philosophy.
[1] Goethe, quoted in Marlene Maloney. "Cults and the Family: The Leaven of Herod, the Leaven of the Pharisee, and the Sacking of Nazareth." Fidelity Magazine, March 1989, page 19.
[2] Quotes are from Jonathon Green. The Cynic's Lexicon. New York: St. Martin's Press. 1984, 220 pages, $18.95.
[3] 'Musician' Frank Zappa at a 1990 Los Angeles pro-abortion rally. Quoted in Joseph Farah. "Anti-Christian Bigotry in Hollywood." American Family Association Journal, May 1990, page 10 of Special Insert. Also quoted by Joseph Farah. "Hollywood's New Blacklist: An Inside View of the Intolerance, Censorship, and Bigotry in Today's Entertainment Industry." New Dimensions Magazine, September 1990, pages 12 to 25.
[4] Pope John Paul II. Familiaris Consortio ["The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World"], November 22, 1981, Section 6.
[5] Edwin H. Wilson. "The Origins of Modern Humanism." The Humanist, January/February 1991, page 9.
[6] American Humanist Association fundraising letter dated May 24, 1982. Signed by Bette Chambers, Executive Director of the AHA.
[7] Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, at his 1972 "Celebrate Life" holy hour address at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral.
[8] "Medicide: The Goodness of Planned Death. An Interview With Dr. Jack Kevorkian." Free Inquiry ["An International Secular Humanist Magazine"], Fall 1991, pages 14 to 18.
[9] John W. Whitehead. The Stealing of America. Westchester, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1983. Page 37.
[10] Malcolm Muggeridge. "The Decade of the Great Liberal Death Wish." Human Life Review, Summer 1984, pages 5 to 24.
[11] Leslie Bond. "16,500 Aborted Babies Buried, But Without Religious Services." National Right to Life News, September 26, 1985, page 6.
[12] Rosemary Radford Ruether. Womanguides: Readings Toward a Feminist Theology. Beacon Press, 1985, page 104.
[13] Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party of the USA (RCP). Communist Party Worker, July 10, 1989, page 2.
[14] Humanist psychologist Erich Fromm. The Heart of Man. New York: Harper & Row, 1968. Page 150.
[15] George Orwell. Nineteen Eighty-Four. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1949. Page 270.
[16] Director Cecil B. DeMille, at the New York City opening of his film "The Ten Commandments." Quoted in "Can Truth Be Found in Hollywood?" New Dimensions Magazine, September 1990, page 38.
[17] "Wattleton is Humanist of the Year." National Federation for Decency Journal, July 1986, page 14. Also see "Humanist Touts Accomplishments, Asks for Funds to Win More Victories." American Family Association Journal, May 1989, pages 17 and 18 (March 1989 letter by Isaac Asimov).
[18] Pastor Richard John Neuhaus, quoted in "The Return of Eugenics." Commentary, April 1988, pages 15 to 26.
[19] Mahatma Gandhi. Harijan, January 2, 1935, page 410. Quoted in Father A.S. Antonisamy. Wisdom for All Times: Mahatma Gandhi and Pope Paul VI on Birth Regulation. Family Life Service Centre, Archbishop's House, Pondicherry 605001 India. June 1978. Quotes are taken from D.G. Tendulkar (Editor). The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volumes 2 and 4. Published by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.
[20] Pastor Reinhold Niebuhr during a 1926 sermon in pre-Nazi Germany. Quoted in National Review, September 3, 1990, page 5.
[21] The Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph, December 16, 1981, page 9-C.
[22] D. Keith Mano. "The People Magazine Sin Poll." National Review, May 23, 1986, page 50.
[23] Pope Pius XII, radio address to the United States National Catechetical Congress in Boston, Massachusetts, October 26, 1946.
Books Written by Anti-Life Activists.
The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin.
Pope Pius XII.[23]
The best way to truly comprehend the anti-life philosophy lies not in listening to the unsubstantiated opinions of pro-lifers; it is reading the 'works' of the anti-lifers themselves. Committed pro-life activists really need to know how their opponents think if they hope to be really effective in thwarting them in the public arena.
The following books are good examples of anti-life 'thought' or the rigorous pro-life analysis of it.
American Civil Liberties Union. Policy Guide.
1988: New York, ACLU. 576 pages. Order from the American Civil Liberties Union, 132 West 43rd Street, New York, New York 10036. If a pro-life activist wants to see where anti-lifers stand on any issue, all he need do is consult this comprehensive guide.
Christiaan Barnard, M.D. Good Life Good Death: A Doctor's Case for Assisted Suicide.
Prentice-Hall Publishers, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1980. Reviewed by Olga Fairfax, Ph.D., on pages 17 and 18 of the July 1981 issue of ALL About Issues. The author, who killed his own mother and approves of the Jim Jones massacre in Guyana (because the 900+ victims did not have enough 'quality of life') is second only to animal rights activist Peter Singer in the extreme radicalism of his views on human life. This book shows where the anti-life mentality will eventually take us.
Beryl Lieff Benderly. Thinking About Abortion.
New York: Dial Press, 1984. Reviewed by Jenny Westberg. This book is a good introduction to pro-abortion philosophy (which is to real philosophy what Velveeta is to Brie). Grab this book on a rainy day and enjoy hours of fun counting contradictions.
Birth Control Review.
DeCapo Press, a division of Plenum Press, 227 West 17th Street, New York, New York 10011. Telephone numbers: 1-(800) 321-0050, (212) 620-8000, and (212) 620-8495. Yes, it still exists, although Planned Parenthood fervently wishes it didn't; DeCapo Press still publishes the complete set of Margaret Sanger's Birth Control Review. This is the ultimate resource for settling arguments about what Sanger did and did not say and do. Volumes 1 and 2: 1917 and 1918. Volume 3: 1919. Volumes 4 and 5: 1920 and 1921. Volumes 6 and 7: 1922 and 1923. Volumes 8 and 9: 1924 and 1925. Volumes 10 and 11: 1926 and 1927. Volumes 12 and 13: 1928 and 1929. Volumes 14 and 15: 1930 and 1931. Volumes 16 and 17: 1932 to September of 1933. Volumes 16 through 24: October 1933 to January 1940.
Robert Bluford and Robert E. Petres. Unwanted Pregnancy.
New York: Harper and Row, 1973. A frightening book that advocates the elimination of the unwanted and undesirable, precisely as Binding and Hoche did more than a half-century ago as they laid the foundation for the Nazi mentality and resulting Holocaust.
Magda Denes. In Necessity and Sorrow: Life and Death in an Abortion Hospital.
New York: Basic Books, 1976. Reviewed by Jenny Westberg. This book portrays a sad, ugly, and gruesome (but true) picture of the abortion industry. This is not a book for the faint-hearted. Incredibly, the author remained pro-abortion after writing it, which shows how deeply some people can deceive themselves and ignore reality. David Reardon, in his work Aborted Women: Silent No More, speculated that Denes wrote this book in order to numb herself to the awful reality of her own abortion.
Marian Faux. Roe v. Wade: The Untold Story of the Landmark Supreme Court Decision That Made Abortion Legal.
New York: Macmillan, 1988. 330 pages. Reviewed by Maggie Gallagher on page 45 of the July 22, 1988 issue of National Review. This book is interesting primarily because it is so profoundly trivial in nature when compared to those written on the same subject by Judge Noonan, Dr. Nathanson, Judge Hekman, and many others. The author purports to 'examine' the infamous Roe v. Wade decision from the pro-abort's viewpoint. However, since the decision and the pro-abort view are both insupportable, most of the book addresses not the decision or its underpinnings, but instead parrots tired slogans 'justifying' abortion and trivia about the day-to-day life of the plaintiffs (i.e., one of the pro-abort lawyers was very vain about her hair). It also repeats all of the old slander about pro-lifers and adds some new pro-abort slogans (example: pregnancy is an 'injury' to all women). Interestingly, the author's name is French for "false."
Frederick S. Jaffee, Barbara L. Lindheim, and Philip R. Lee. Abortion Politics: Private Morality and Public Policy.
McGraw-Hill, 216 pages. Reviewed by David LaFontaine on page 6 of the April 8, 1982 National Right to Life News. Three pro-abortion activists state at the beginning of their book that their own personal views will not impact on their writing. Ha ha. This book is cleverly slanted propaganda that the uninformed reader may not be able to see, because it systematically precludes any discussion of the pro-life side of the issue and has literally scores of footnotes (all from pro-abortion sources, naturally).
Garrett Hardin. "Abortion for the Children's Sake." In Abortion and the Unwanted Child (C. Reiterman, editor).
New York: Springer, 1971. Population controller Garrett Hardin has toned down his virulent pro-abortion rhetoric since the early 1970s, but this book captures him at his raving best (worst?). The title alone gives some idea of how out of touch with moral reality he really is. Hardin is probably the most persistent sloganeer that the pro-aborts have.
Beverly Wildung Harrison. Our Right to Choose: Toward a New Ethic of Abortion. Beacon Press, 1983. 334 pages. Reviewed by Mary Meehan on pages 5 and 9 of the November 24, 1983 issue of National Right to Life News. The author, a self-styled "Christian woman," shows us just how far self-deception can be carried as she advocates third-trimester abortions and other atrocities. There is nothing "new" about this 'ethic;' pro-life activists recognize it as the eternal black cloud of death and self-centeredness that has surrounded the anti-life philosophy and those enslaved by it since the beginning of time. This book is good for reading if one is interested in how the anti-life rationalization works.
Louise Kapp Howe. Moments on Maple Avenue: The Reality of Abortion.
New York: Macmillan, 1984. Reviewed by Jenny Westberg. The title's claim that this book presents the "reality of abortion" is either naive or deliberately dishonest. The book gives an Alice-in-Wonderland view of the industry. The abortionists wear white hats; the counselors fairly ooze compassion and understanding; and the patients undergo quick and easy "procedures," none of which results in a dead baby. And everyone lives happily ever after, especially the aborted women. This book is recommended for science fiction aficionados.
Jack Kevorkian. Prescription: Medicide: The Goodness of Planned Death.
Prometheus Books, 59 John Glenn Drive, Amherst, New York 14228. 1991, 262 pages. Jack ("The Dripper") Kevorkian gives us some of his revolutionary ideas in the area of human beings putting other human beings to death. He primarily addresses the suitability of those condemned to death row as "organ farms," organ harvesting, and medical experimentation. Kevorkian refers to any limits on his activities as "stone-age," and rejects out of hand any kind of Christian morality whatever. This is a fascinating book for anyone who wants the goals of the euthanasia movement clearly outlined, because Kevorkian seems to be the only person on the pro-euthanasia side who is honest enough to speak of them truthfully.
Kristin Luker. Abortion & the Politics of Motherhood.
Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1984, 320 pages. The author examines the history of the California 'experience' with liberalized abortion law and shows how a political cause became a moral crusade for pro-abortionists. She also interviewed more than 200 pro-abort and pro-life activists and uses the results to draw conclusions about their beliefs as affected by their environments. Although the author writes from a pro-abortion standpoint (i.e., she thinks that adoption is bunk), and despite the fact that much of her bias shows, she brings up some very interesting and worthwhile points for those interested in the psychology of the activists on both sides of the abortion battle.
Jeff Lyon. Playing God in the Nursery.
New York: Norton Press, 1984. 340 pages. Reviewed by Carleton Sherwood in the April 11, 1985 National Right to Life News. This is perhaps the most frightening inside look at the true anti-life mentality ever written. The author has reversed the roles of 'good' and 'evil' completely. He tries to reconcile the role of doctor as both healer and killer in the nursery as he decides which babies have sufficient "quality of life" to go on living and which do not. The story revolves around the struggle over whether or not to keep a Down's Syndrome baby alive. The pediatrician who tries to get a court order to feed the little baby is described as "intimidating," "threatening," and "a sadist." The author cruelly refers to the poor infant himself as a "bad baby," although none of his troubles are his fault. Those people who want the baby to die of starvation and thirst are, of course, "courageous, loving, caring, decent, ethical," and on and on ad nauseam. This book is written by an author whose outlook is so warped and twisted that, hopefully, it will literally terrify many pro-life activists into action.
Kathleen McDonnell. Not An Easy Choice: A Feminist Reexamines Abortion.
Boston: South End Press, 1984. 157 pages. Reviewed by Patricia Soenen in the October 24, 1985 National Right to Life News. This book is a frightening look at true Neofeminism. The author can't really 'reexamine' abortion honestly, because she begins by asserting that it is a "woman's right." However, this author is not entirely ignorant: She acknowledges that women must confront the fact that the unborn are human beings, i.e., they must "let the fetus in." What is frightening is that, even though McDonnell acknowledges the humanity of the unborn, she still thinks it is all right to kill them. This is one step further than even the Nazis took at least they tried to dehumanize their victims. in other words, McDonnell is baldly stating that it is all right to kill a human being who is an inconvenience to you! This book shows how pro-abortionists are sinking even deeper into self-delusion and Newspeak.
Thomas Merton. Enemies of Choice: The Right-to-Life Movement and its Threat to Abortion.
Boston: Beacon Press, 1981. Also; Connie Paige. The Right-to-Lifers: Who They Are, How They Operate, Where They Get Their Money. New York: Summit Books, 1983. Reviewed by Jenny Westberg. These two delightful little works of unintentional comedy are a sure cure for the activist blues. Packed with familiar characters (be sure to check for your name!), this blend of sensationalism and fiction is what the pro-aborts apparently believe is "brilliant investigative journalism." Thrill to the realization of how little they really know about us! These two books are already turning into cult classics, in the same genre as the pro-abortion cult film "Holy Terror." If you want an endless supply of silly, inaccurate and just plain comical quotes, these are the books to read.
Robin Morgan (editor). Sisterhood is Powerful.
New York: Vintage Books, 1970. The collection of radical Neofeminist essays that is sometimes used by Neofeminists instead of the Bible as they swear themselves into office. This gives some idea of just how much the Neofeminist movement owes to this book, which is an excellent collection of essays that illustrate vividly the character of the chilly Neofeminist 'soul.'
National Abortion Rights Action League. Legal Abortion: A Speaker's and Debater's Notebook.
71 pages, June 1978. Superb insight into the anti-life philosophy and how it shrinks from reality by using propaganda, Newspeak, and profuse slogans.
Margaret Sanger. Woman and the New Race.
Reprinted in 1969 by permission of the Sanger Estate by the Maxwell Reprint Company, Fairview Park, Elmsford, New York 10523. Any pro-life activist who wants to become familiar with the real attitudes and philosophy of the anti-life movement and Neofeminism in general should read this book. It is an utterly fascinating treatise by one of the original Neofeminists.
Laurence H. Tribe. Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes.
W.W. Norton & Company Publishers, 270 pages, 1990. Reviewed by Brian Robertson on page 48 of the July 9, 1990 issue of National Review. The man who asserts that women "speak with their bodies" when they abort here attempts to shore up the crumbling foundation of the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. If you are a Neoliberal abortophile, then he will appear to have done a fine job. If you are any kind of Constitutional scholar, you will be fascinated at the depth of self-deception that even lawyers (especially lawyers) are capable of. This book provides fine insight into the 'logic' of the Neoliberal mind.
Books Written by Pro-Life Activists or ThoseGenerally Opposing the Anti-Life Mentality.
Melvin Anchell, M.D. Sex and Insanity.
Halcyon House, Portland, Oregon, 1983. Order from Christian Family Renewal, Box 73, Clovis, California 93613. Reviewed by Murray Norris, Ph.D., J.D., on page 27 of the November 1983 issue of ALL About Issues. A Freudian psychiatrist presents logical arguments against pornography, comprehensive sex education, moral relativism, and other peculiarities of our sex-crazed society.
"Anti-Christian Bias in America."
Excerpts from the proceedings of the American Family Association's March 1990 Conference on Anti-Christian Bias in America. Printed in the May 1990 issue of the American Family Association Journal and available as a 24-page reprint from the American Family Association, Post Office Drawer 2440, Tupelo, Mississippi 38803. Papers include Congressman William E. Dannemeyer, "Christianity Under Attack By 'New Bigotry';" Larry L. Crain of the Rutherford Institute, "Anti-Christian Bias in the Law;" Columnist Cal Thomas, "News Media Biased Against Christians;" Editor Joseph Farah, "Anti-Christian Bigotry in Hollywood;" Paul C. Vitz, "Religion and Traditional Values in Public School Textbooks;" and H. Wayne House, Th.D, J.D., "Anti-Christian Bias in Higher Education: Problems and Solutions."
Leo A. Brodeur. Hell's War Against Our Children.
Order from Keep the Faith, 810 Belmont Avenue, Post Office Box 8261, North Haledon, New Jersey 07508, telephone: (201) 423-5395. The author describes the various weapons that Satan uses to target our children, causing them to lose faith, patriotism, respect for their parents, and even their desire to live. Special emphasis is given to Satanic and violent rock music.
James Burnham. Suicide of the West.
Regnery Books. Order from the Conservative Book Club, 15 Oakland Avenue, Harrison, New York 10528. This book dissects Neoliberalism to its rotten core. It examines the curious Neoliberal combination of guilt, arrogance, selective indignation and compassion, double-standards, fuzzy logic, good intentions, and self-righteousness. The book examines why Neoliberals can never rule, why Neoliberalism is the ideology of suicide, why it clashes with Christianity, why Neoliberals sneer at patriotism and other 'traditional' values, and why Neoliberals are driven to make war on these values.
Claire Chambers. The SIECUS Circle: A Humanist Revolution.
Belmont, Massachusetts: Western Islands Press. 1977, 506 pages. The philosophy and comprehensive goals of the Humanist revolution. Includes detailed information on 35 Humanist organizations.
G.K. Chesterton. What's Wrong With the World: The Superstition of Divorce, Eugenics, and Other Evils, and Other Essays.
450 pages, hardcover, softcover. Order from Ignatius Press, 15 Oakland Avenue, Harrison, New York 10528. Although a century old, these economic and sociologic writings by one of the most prolific and respected Christian writers of all time show conclusively that the anti-life philosophy has been with us for many years. Chesterton shows that lax moral standards will lead to eugenics, divorce, artificial contraception, abortion, and ultimately the dehumanization of man, the loss of respect for human life, and the destruction of the family. A 'must read' for Christian historical scholars.
Peter Collier and David Horowitz. Destructive Generation.
New York: Summit Books, 1989. Reviewed by George Sim Johnston in the May 7, 1989 issue of the National Catholic Register, page 5. Collier and Horowitz were in on the birth of the noisy New Left in the early 1960s. They believed sincerely that United States society was totally corrupt, and that it could not be rehabilitated only destroyed. This book charts their journey from this philosophy, which they found to be totalitarian and totally rigid in its thinking, to the more rational point of view that they now hold. They say that a hardened remnant of the New Left remains, only because the media continues to prop it up. This book, written by two persons who were once part of the hypocrisy and narrow-minded thinking of the Left, makes fascinating and informative reading. It will confirm many of your common-sense hunches about the radical Left.
Father Anthony Delaporte. The Devil Does He Exist and What Does He Do?
Order from Keep the Faith, 810 Belmont Avenue, Post Office Box 8261, North Haledon, New Jersey 07508, telephone: (201) 423-5395. The truth about Satan, his goals, his methods, and his many great (evil) achievements in today's world. This book provides many answers to the questions that involve our society's steady disintegration.
Donald DeMarco, Ph.D. Abortion in Perspective.
Order from: Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174. Telephone: (703) 586-4898. An analysis of the empty philosophy behind all of the pro-abortion rhetoric. This book allows the activist to understand where the pro-aborts are "coming from," and thus allows a more effective and reasoned response.
Donald DeMarco, Ph.D. The Anesthetic Society.
182 pages. Order from Trinity Communications, Post Office Box 3610, Manassas, Virginia 22110, telephone: (703) 369-2429. The author analyzes the methods by which modern man insulates himself from reality and anesthetizes himself from guilt and other necessary feelings when dealing with abortion, drugs, technology, and other issues.
Donald DeMarco, Ph.D. In My Mother's Womb: The Church's Defense of Natural Life.
Hardcover, paperback. Order from: Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898. An eloquent defense of the Catholic Church's defense of human life. An examination of abortion's language and perspective, the unborn, contraception and bio-engineering. Also covered are the Church's perspective on new technologies, including in-vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood, fetal experimentation, and genetic engineering. See especially Chapter 1, "Abortion and Church Teaching," pages 7 to 25, "Abortion and Bio-Engineering," pages 82 to 88, and "In Vitro Fertilization," pages 143 to 159.
Eugene F. Diamond, M.D. This Curette for Hire.
Order from: Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898. The author discusses the deterioration of medical ethics and the critical role of the doctor in all anti-life activities: abortion, fetal experimentation, sterilization, euthanasia, infanticide, sex therapy, and more.
Ralph Epperson. The Unseen Hand (An Introduction to the Conspiratorial View of History).
488 pages. Order from Our Lady's Book Service, Nazareth Homestead, R.D. 1, Box 258, Constable, New York 12926, telephone: 1-800-263-8160. A total summation of the anti-life and anti-religious forces that have shaped our world since 1700. This volume has been acclaimed as "100 books condensed into one."
Germaine Greer. Sex & Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility.
Harper & Row Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, New York 10022. 1984, 550 pages. Greer faced head-on the most deep and avoided questions relevant to Western society and fertility: Is our obsession with world overpopulation causing us to reject our own fertility? Why do we reject the few children we have so that they will inevitably reject us in our old age? Greer examines chastity, attitudes towards fertility, sterility, and childbirth; abortion and euthanasia; and the histories of the birth-control and eugenics movements.
Steve Hallman. "Christianity and Humanism: A Study in Contrasts."
A special 24-page insert in the March 1991 issue of the American Family Association Journal. Available as a 24-page reprint from the American Family Association, Post Office Drawer 2440, Tupelo, Mississippi 38803. Topics covered include the background and growth of Humanism, ethics, doctrine of man, human sexuality, law and government, and the Christian response.
James Hitchcock. What Is Secular Humanism?
158 pages. Order from Trinity Communications, Post Office Box 3610, Manassas, Virginia 22110, telephone: (703) 369-2429. A detailed treatment of the nature of secular humanism, its goals, impacts, and future.
Thomas Howard. Chance or the Dance? A Critique of Modern Secularism.
1987: 150 pages. Order from: Ignatius Press, 15 Oakland Avenue, Harrison, New York 10528, telephone: 1-800-528-0559. The author shows that, although the new modernism has gained entrance to our lives, we cannot discern any meaning to our lives without Christ.
J.R. Lucas. Weeping In Ramah.
1987. Order from: Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898. A fictional account of how life would be in the future if the anti-life forces gain complete control of society (this book is the pro-life answer to the pro-abort fiction The Handmaid's Tale). Describes how the nationally-based pro-life groups have been neutralized and how a small but determined pro-life underground risk and lose their lives in their struggle to save babies. This is prophecy unless we can mobilize!
David Mall. In Good Conscience: Abortion and Moral Theory.
Kairos Books, 1982. 166 pages, hardbound, paperback. Reviewed by Wanda Franz, Ph.D., on page 20 of the January 6, 1983 issue of National Right to Life News, and by Steven Baer on page 10 of the November 24, 1983 issue of the same publication. This excellent book demonstrates the absolute correctness of the pro-life position and demonstrates the destruction that must inevitably occur in a society preoccupied with death.
Father Vincent P. Miceli. The Gods of Atheism.
485 pages. Order from Catholic Treasures, 626 Montana Street, Monrovia, California 91016, or from Keep the Faith, 810 Belmont Avenue, Post Office Box 8261, North Haledon, New Jersey 07508, telephone: (201) 423-5395. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen called this book "as complete a study of atheism as exists in any language." The author shows that, while we have been spending trillions of dollars defending against the Communist onslaught from the outside, our country has been eaten away by the atheist cancer on the inside. God is even outlawed in our schools. Father Miceli shows why Communism must be atheistic and why it is the ultimate spiritual evil; why Christian parents must firmly inculcate their children with Christian beliefs; and how atheism is the great temptation of the educated and/or intelligent. Covers the similarities between Neoliberals and Communists, the roots and virulent nature of atheism, and the proper Christian response to it.
Father Vincent P. Miceli. The Roots of Violence.
229 pages. Order from Our Lady's Book Service, Nazareth Homestead, R.D. 1, Box 258, Constable, New York 12926, telephone: 1-800-263-8160. This book explains the roots of the violence that is flooding our society today. It examines in detail our general apostasy from the word of God, and our society's resulting allegiance to the corrupt morals and secular values of the world.
Bernard M. Nathanson, M.D. The Abortion Papers: Inside the Abortion Mentality.
Idea Books, Post Office Box 4010, Madison, Wisconsin 53711. 1985, 192 pages. Reviewed by Nancy Koster on page 6 of the November 24, 1983 issue of National Right to Life News. A former prolific abortionist exposes the anti-Catholic bigotry of the pro-abortion movement, discusses the role of the blatantly biased media in obtaining abortion on demand, and explores what the science of fetology has revealed about the unborn child. This enjoyable book is written in George Will's wry style. Dr. Nathanson is one of the co-founders of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). Chapter 3, "Catholics," pages 177 to 209, describes in detail how NARAL used blatant anti-Catholic bigotry to push liberalized abortion laws and undermine the teachings of the Church. Other examples of NARAL skulduggery abound in this book. For example, NARAL asserted to the state of Massachusetts that pro-life groups have no right to endorse pro-life candidates, even if the groups are not tax-exempt. In the ensuing lawsuit, FEC v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc., the right to distribute such literature was upheld. This is typical of the harassment lawsuits brought by NARAL and others when any pro-life efforts are in progress. Pro-aborts almost never spend money themselves, but get a government entity to go after pro-life activists. Also see Chapter 1, "Abortion and the Media," pages 7 to 109, and Chapter 2, "Fetology for Pro-Life," pages 111 to 175. Chapter 2 consists of a detailed and interesting history of fetology in the United States.
Richard John Neuhaus. The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America.
Eerdmans Publishers, 1984. 280 pages. Reviewed by Joseph Sobran on pages 42 and 44 of the July 27, 1984 issue of National Review. The author shows that, despite the ranting of various prominent Humanists, the United States always has been and always will be a Christian country. He then goes on to show why this is not a bad thing, by trashing all of the tired and shopworn Humanist objections.
Christopher Nugent. The Masks of Satan: The Demonic in History.
Westminster, Maryland: Christian Classics, 1989. The author traces the history of demon worship and shows how Satan hides behind many attractive guises in order to accomplish his goals. He also documents how evil has crawled out of the fetid swamp it inhabits to become official state policy even today, particularly with regard to abortion and the other central 'life issues.'
Pope St. Pius X. Encyclical Letters "On the Doctrines of the Modernists (Pascendi Dominici Gregis)" and "Syllabus Condemning the Errors of the Modernists (Lamentabili Sane)."
July 3, 1907. Compact 4-1/2" X 7", 77 page booklet for 50 cents from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul's Avenue, Jamaica Plain, Boston Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911. This booklet, although the better part of a century old, describes the current situation in the world perfectly. In general terms, it details how a turning away from the precepts of the Christian Church, and the rejection of Jesus as Lord and Savior, has led us to the current deplorable situation in the world.
Professor Charles E. Rice. Beyond Abortion: The Theory and Practice of the Secular State.
Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1979. 159 pages. Order from Keep the Faith, 810 Belmont Avenue, Post Office Box 8261, North Haledon, New Jersey 07508, telephone: (201) 423-5395. Reviewed by Donna Steichen in the Spring 1980 issue of the International Review of Natural Family Planning, pages 72 to 74. An examination of the underpinnings and workings of this secular state and how they inevitably lead to loss of faith, abortion, and euthanasia. A very good examination of the anti-life philosophies and how they originate and self-perpetuate in a society that turns away from God. Professor Rice shows us that there can be no real turning away from anti-life practices like abortion, infanticide, and other euthanasia, unless we acknowledge God as our master.
Jeremy Rifkin. Algeny.
Viking Press, 1983. 273 pages. Reviewed by Nancy Koster on pages 5 and 9 of the November 24, 1983 issue of National Right to Life News. A very interesting book, written in a very appealing and understandable style, that critically examines the cosmological worldviews that have prevailed throughout the ages (including Darwinism), and their common fallacies and dangers.
Randall Rothenberg. The Neoliberals: Creating the New American Politics.
Simon & Schuster, 1984. 287 pages. Reviewed by Joseph Sobran on pages 55 and 56 of the August 24, 1984 issue of National Review. This book defines what could be called a 'new economic Liberal,' and then goes on to describe just how the new breed of liberals has embraced certain traditional economic theories while clinging to various leftist beliefs.
John Senior. The Restoration of Christian Culture.
244 pages. Order from Keep the Faith, 810 Belmont Avenue, Post Office Box 8261, North Haledon, New Jersey 07508, telephone: (201) 423-5395. The author contemplates many of the primary problems with our society, and finds them rooted in a lack of belief in God. He shows how Christians can take action to restore this society to Christianity.
R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. The Liberal Crack-Up.
New York City: Simon & Schuster, 1984. 256 pages. Reviewed by Victor Gold on page 35 of the March 1985 Conservative Digest. Tyrrell's thesis: "New Age Liberalism is no longer the sensible, tolerant, highly principled body of thought that liberalism was in decades past. Sometime in the 1960s or early 1970s, it cracked up into a riot of enthusiasms, usually contradictory, always extremist, often non compos mentis."
Paul C. Vitz, Ph.D. Psychology As Religion.
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 255 Jefferson Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503. 1977, reprint 1982. 150 pages. Order from Trinity Communications, Post Office Box 3610, Manassas, Virginia 22110, telephone: (703) 369-2429. Reviewed by Naomi King in an article entitled "With the Self at the Center, Psychology Replaces Religion," on pages 20 and 21 of the February 1984 ALL About Issues. The author analyzes the psychology and methods of the "New Age" gurus who encourage people to make themselves into God.
Fredric Wertham, M.D. A Sign for Cain: An Exploration of Human Violence.
Macmillan Company, 866 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10022. 1973, 375 pages. Although it does not directly address abortion, this excellent book explores the roots, motivations, and expressions of human violence against other humans. Additionally, Dr. Wertham looks at the mechanics of violence in all of its forms. Abortion and euthanasia fit nicely into this picture.
Anthologies.
Greenhaven Press. American Values: Opposing Viewpoints.
Greenhaven Press Opposing Viewpoints Series, Post Office Box 289009, San Diego, California 92128-9009. 1984, 240 pages. Each section includes several essays by leading authorities on both sides of each issue. The questions asked are: "What Are America's Political Values?;" "What Are America's Social Values?;" "What Are America's Business Values?;" "What Are America's Religious Values?;" "What is True Patriotism?;" and "What Does America Need?" Authors include George Gilder, David Rockefeller, J.W. Fulbright, Edward M. Kennedy, and Ralph Nader. A catalog is available from the above address and can be obtained by calling 1-(800) 231-5163.
Greenhaven Press. Constructing a Life Philosophy: Opposing Viewpoints.
Greenhaven Press Opposing Viewpoints Series, Post Office Box 289009, San Diego, California 92128-9009. 1985, 194 pages. Each section includes several essays by leading authorities on both sides of each issue. The questions asked are: "Where Are You?;" "What Is Life's Meaning?;" "How Do Religions Give Life Meaning?;" "How Do Others Make Moral Decisions?;" and "How Should One Live?" Authors include Benjamin Franklin, Plato, Niccolo Machiavelli, and Teilhard de Chardin. A catalog is available from the above address and can be obtained by calling 1-(800) 231-5163.
Greenhaven Press. Feminism: Opposing Viewpoints.
Greenhaven Press Opposing Viewpoints Series, Post Office Box 289009, San Diego, California 92128-9009. 1989, 231 pages. Sections feature essays written by leading activists on both sides of the euthanasia debate from women and the vote to the future of feminism. Authors include Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Germaine Greer, and Phyllis Schlafly. A catalog is available from the above address and can be obtained by calling 1-(800) 231-5163.
Greenhaven Press. The Political Spectrum: Opposing Viewpoints.
Greenhaven Press Opposing Viewpoints Series, Post Office Box 289009, San Diego, California 92128-9009. 1983, 213 pages. Each section includes several essays by leading authorities on both sides of each issue. The questions asked are: "What Is America's Political Spectrum?;" "What Are the Roots of the Political Spectrum?;" "What is American Liberalism?;" and "What is American Conservatism?" Authors include John Locke, Hubert H. Humphrey, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Russell Kirk. A catalog is available from the above address and can be obtained by calling 1-(800) 231-5163.
Greenhaven Press. Religion in America: Opposing Viewpoints.
Greenhaven Press Opposing Viewpoints Series, Post Office Box 289009, San Diego, California 92128-9009. 1988, 305 pages. Each section includes several essays by leading authorities on both sides of each issue. The questions asked are: "Is America a Religious Society?;" "What Role Should Religion Play in Politics?;" "Is Television Evangelism Positive?;" "Does Religious Discrimination Exist in America?;" and "What is the Future of Religion in America?" Authors include William Bennett, Barbara Ehrenreich, and James Eastland.
© American Life League BBS — 1-703-659-7111
This is a chapter of the Pro-Life Activist's Encyclopedia, published by American Life League.
