Pro-life/Christian support at Virginia Tech
Sometimes we focus so much on the antics of those who oppose us, we forget to report on the many pro-life students who support our presence on campus. They are so thankful that they are not alone.
“Thank you! I am glad you are here!”
“I’m glad those other students [finally] have something to be upset about.”
“If you support this, why don’t you want the advertisement?”
“Why are these people saying you should leave campus? It is just [the truth]!”
“These are just pictures. If you are upset, that’s good.”
“This is stirring up conversation; this is good.” (Christian dining hall employee)
Young Christians believe the truth (at some level), but they don’t know how to answer the full-frontal assault that is the atheistic campus culture. The modern church has never taught them how to articulate and defend the Christian Faith with logic and reason, so they fear the Faith is illogical and unreasonable. What a tragedy.
The most effective evangelical organization on campus is often the College Republicans, because those kids know how to articulate the truth without fear.
The two biggest threats to our children … your children … are Dawinism and abortion. Darwinism is an assault on the intellect; abortion is an assault on the flesh. Yet the typical evangelical church (e.g., your church) does almost nothing to address these threats.
For example, have the youth at your church seen the movie, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed?” No? That’s a scandal. And if you have never watched it yourself, that’s a scandal, too.
Anyway, the intellectual needs of young Christians has been ignored by the modern church, but when we show up with GAP, they don’t feel so alone.
Tags: abortion, apologetics, Darwinism, Virginia Tech
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2014 at 9:30 am and is filed under Campus Debate (GAP), Pro Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 29th, 2014 at 1:52 pm
scragsma says:I would disagree about the two biggest threats to our children. You’ve defined them too narrowly. I would say the two biggest threats are relativism and disrespect for family/marriage/sex.
May 29th, 2014 at 8:18 pm
W. Russell says:I think you are making a big mistake by linking the pro-life cause with religion. There are people out there like me that are prolife but want nothing to do with religion. Not to mention the fact that “Darwinism” (btw, there is no such thing) has nothing to do with abortion. I am an atheist, believe in evolution, and am pro-life. Why do you want to write me off as an enemy to your cause. You say the biggest treat to children is the belief in evolution and abortion. No, the biggest treat to children is ignorance and the lack of respect for human rights, every human’s rights. One can believe that every human being, born and unborn is deserving of life without believing in a deity. The pro-life cause needs all the support possible. Don’t exclude people because they don’t have the same beliefs as you. If you do, you are just as ignorant as the people who support abortion.
May 30th, 2014 at 1:06 pm
Fletcher says:W. Russell, thanks for your comment. I wholeheartedly agree with much of what you said. For example, you said, “One can believe that every human being, born and unborn, is deserving of life without believing in a deity.” You are of course correct. Many atheists agree with us on the right to life.
You said we should not link the pro-life cause with religion. There is some truth in that. For example, we should be able to argue against abortion without appealing to our religious beliefs. With our Pro Life Training Academy, we do exactly that. We train people to talk about spiritual matters only with people who are open to that discussion. When an atheist asks us why we oppose abortion, we don’t ask him to adopt a new moral code; we simply ask him to apply his own moral code to everyone equally, including the unborn. We assume that he opposes killing born people, and usually he does.
You said, “The pro-life cause needs all the support possible. Don’t exclude people because they don’t have the same beliefs as you.” You are again correct, and I am happy to work beside you to end injustice, including the injustice of killing unborn children, no matter what else we may disagree about.
But I don’t agree with you that just because we disagree on something important, I have “[written you] off as an enemy to [our] cause.” It only means that we disagree on some things and agree on other things.
It is unrealistic to expect that Christians will quit being Christians when they take up the cause of ending injustice. We Christians fight injustice for two reasons. First, we are commanded to do so by our Creator.
Second, Christians believe that all of us (including you and me) are created beings, and we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these is the right to life. If there is no Creator, then we all evolved from the earth. We are simply a cosmic fluke, mere dust that happens to be animated for a period of time before we return to dust. And if that is true, then what is the basis for any kind of morality? How can one clump of animated dust say what is moral and what is not moral for another clump of dust?
And are all clumps of animated dust to be treated equally? What is the basis for declaring that human lumps of dust have a greater status than non-human lumps of animated dust (e.g., animals)? Or even non-animated lumps of dust (e.g., rocks).
If we claim greater moral significance for ourselves than for dogs or rocks, because we are more evolved, then who is to say that some of us aren’t more evolved than others, and therefore entitled to greater rights?
That’s why I believe Darwinism to be a dangerous philosophy … because it ultimately leads to the conclusion that there is no objective morality, there is no basis for equality, and there is no imperative to treat anyone with human dignity. Any moral code is only a tool to promote self interest, and it can be discarded by those in power as soon as conditions make a different moral code more profitable.
I know that you have a different basis for your beliefs that there is a moral code we are all bound to follow, that we all have a right to live, etc. And I respect that. I just don’t agree with it. I welcome you to the table of respecting the unalienable rights of all people; I just got there through a different door. That doesn’t mean that I have written you off as an enemy, nor does it mean I don’t welcome your support.
Before I close, I have to tell you that it is my duty to tell you that I am concerned for your eternal soul. It is my hope that you will live abundantly, not only for a few years on this earth, but eternally in the world to come. I hope you won’t be angry to know this.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:16-18)
On final note about Darwinism (the notion that all life forms evolved as a result of random, unguided, naturalistic processes). Speaking as somebody with a science background, I believe any claim that science has made any conclusive case for Darwinism is a classic example of begging the question (i.e., assuming the proposition you claim to be proving). Darwinism does not prove man evolved via naturalistic processes; it assumes man evolved via naturalistic processes. Big difference. But, that’s another topic for another day.