Earlier, we reported that CBR intern Seth Gruber was exposing abortion at Westmont College, the Christian school where he is a student.  There is a great discussion going on right now on Seth’s blog.

One commenter wrote:

I would like to take a moment to remind everyone that Nazi Germany and abortions have very little to do with one another.

Here is my response, except I have revised the opening statement:

The commenter is, of course, correct.  Abortion and the Holocaust have nothing to do with each other … if.  If — only 2 letters, but such a big word.  If the preborn child is not a living human being, then there is no relevant similarity between the abortion and the Holocaust.  But if the preborn child is a living human being — science tells us that it is both alive and human — then abortion kills 1.2 million living humans ever year.  In that case, there are many similarities between abortion and the Nazi Holocaust.

1. In both cases, rights of personhood have been denied the victim class.  In Germany, it was a judicial decision by the Reichsgericht in 1936.  In the US, Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973.
2. In both cases, the perpetrators have used dehumanizing language to justify their actions.  Nazis called their victims rats, pigs, vermin, untermensch (subhuman), etc.  In the US, wanted preborn children are routinely called “babies.”  However, unwanted perborn children are never called babies, but are instead called products of conception, mass of cells, blob of protoplasm, “potential” life, etc.  Even though embryo and fetus are medical terms that define age — so are infant, adolescent, and teenager — they are often used in ways that incorrectly suggest something less than human.
3. In both cases, the perpetrators believed that what they were doing was actually good for society.
4. In both cases, the victims had something that was wanted by those in power, or the vicitms simply got in the way.  Jews got in the way of a racially pure society.  Eastern Europeans had lebensraum (living space) that the Nazis wanted for the German people.  Unplanned babies get in the way of career development, acquisition of material wealth, maintenance of lifestyle, etc.  They get in the way of sex without responsibility.
5. Victims have been spoken of as a disease on society or diseased themselves.  Nazis described Jews and others as “parasites” and “bacilli”.  In his medical textbook Abortion Practice, Warren Hern analogizes the unwanted preborn child to a disease, the treatment of choice for which is abortion.
6. In both cases, the perpetrators have asserted that resources are inadequate to care for the victim class, if they were allowed to live.  Nazis called their victims “useless eaters.”  Pro-aborts awfulize the birth of unplanned children by saying that nobody will take care of all of them and that their presence will endanger the planet.
7. Genocide is often framed in the language of “choice.”  The Nazis asserted that the make-up of the German nation was an internal matter for the German people to decide.  Abortion advocates argue that abortion should be a matter of “choice.”

Yes, there are many similarities that can help us put this present version of genocide in its proper perspective.

For more, see our brochure, How can you compare abortion to genocide?

Dehumanization – one of our most effective Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) panels.

On this day, 68 years ago, thousands of brave heroes invaded France on the Normandy coast.  They parachuted in from planes, they landed in gliders, they waded ashore, and they climed the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc.

If anything should inspire us to work tirelessly to preserve the lives of preborn children today, it is the sacrifice that so many of these young men, barely more than children themselves,  made on those beaches 68 years ago today.

On the 40th anniversary of this day, President Ronald Reagan visited the site and delivered this address:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEIqdcHbc8I

Jane Bullington

Each December, CBR’s Jane Bullington takes a week of “vacation” and works as a missionary in Germany.  Here’s her report:

In December, for the 10^th year, I went to Germany as part of a mission team to assist Southern Baptist missionaries Steve and Susan Jett of Knoxville.   Steve and Susan have lived in various towns in Germany for 17 years.   They have devoted their lives to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the German people.  Germans believe Baptists are part of a cult, so successful witnessing has to begin with relationship building.

Direct evangelism is not often successful, so the Jetts have devised several ways to get the Word into the marketplace and gain respectability in the community.  That is where the December teams come in.  Every German town, no matter how large or small, has a month-long Christmas Market in the heart of the town.  A few blocks are set aside for vendors to sell Christmas wares, all kinds of German fast foods, and German hot spirits.  They sell “kinderpunch” for children and tee-totalers!

The marketplace is full of festivities every evening, and parents love to bring their children out to enjoy the Christmas season.   Booth owners have to rent space, but because of their reputation and the draw they have on families, the Jetts have been given 3 spaces, at no cost!  One space is used for the very popular Living Nativity, one is for a kinder-pavilion (activities for children inside a warm tent), and one is for a marionette show that tells the Christmas story straight from the Gospel of Luke (in German, of course).

The team rotates among all 3 activities, 6 nights in a row, to reach as many adults and children as possible with the Gospel.  My favorite place to be is the Living Nativity.  In it, we place a Mary, a Joseph, an angel, and a shepherd.  We also have two sheep (a mom and a baby) plus a young donkey.  These living characters are a magnet for children.

A photographer draws poeple into the Nativity scene and takes a photo of  the children with the shepherd and donkey.  A team member prints the photo, on site, and places it in a packet of “Jesus” materials for the children and the parents.  In that way, the Gospel gets into the hands of folks who would not listen to an overt presentation of the Gospel.

It is so fun to see the absolute delight of children as they pet that donkey, get a hug from the shepherd, and then see themselves in a Nativity photo.  Parents are also delighted with the way we love on their children, and are amazed that we come to Germany at our own expense to share the Christmas story with strangers.

Germans think everything has a price tag, so this gift of a photo and sacks of games and tracts, at no charge, is hard for them to believe.  Our answer:  “We come because Christ loves us and we want to share His love with you here in Bruhl.  Merry Christmas!”  What a wonderful to begin preparing ourselves for the Day of Celebration when God sent His only Son into the world to save us from our sins.  Thank you, Jesus.

Nativity on display in Bruhl, Germany