Trucks and signs at Liberty University Bookstore.

We got a message from a Liberty student who objected to our presence outside the campus.  We’ll call him “Warren Wilson.”  Here’s what “Warren” had to say:

I am a student at Liberty University where your organization has been picketing the past week. I need to preface by saying I agree with the message of what you all were saying. I am extremely pro-life. Its an issue I care about. I’ve worked at the Right to Life Booth at the North Carolina State Fair with my family for years. I typically vote for pro-life candidates. I believe abortion is never right and in every situation it is murder.

At the same time, I must express extreme disapointment in you and your organization. Your signs and billboards are disgusting. By using such graphic displays, you are not winsome or loving. Your methods are offensive which cause people to be defensive. If those images were in a film or on a website where you made a warning before showing them, that would be different but thrusting them in people’s faces while they are just walking by is inapropriate. To be convincing, we need to love people and be winsome. The Bible even instructs us to be winsome in our methods of talking to people. You will never shock someone into changing their minds. Perhaps in the future your organization can use more effective methods instead of fringe, extremist, hateful propaganda.

Your people also heckled me and my friends while we were just walking by. Not to mention using their children to hand out your graphic, gruesome pamphlets. We are probably a 97% pro-life campus. It rubs people the wrong way to yell, condemn, or shove posters in their face. I hope you will listen with an open mind and make changes to legitimize your organization in the future.

In Christ,
“Warren Wilson”
1 Tim. 1:15

CBR Florida Director Mike Schrimsher responded:

Dear Warren,

Thank you for writing us about your concerns. We agree with you that our signs and billboards are disgusting and offensive because they accurately portray that abortion is disgusting and offensive, even during the first trimester when most abortions (90% of them) are performed. It is disappointing to us that fellow pro-lifers are just as eager to cover up the horror of abortion as pro-aborts. I’m not aware of any “winsome” way to display abortion, but it is absolutely loving to show young men and women who are the most vulnerable to abortion (18 to 24 year olds) exactly who the unborn baby is and what abortion does to that baby. Folks who are experiencing an unplanned “crisis” pregnancy make life or death decisions over a short time span that are irreversible. Our images regularly save lives and help bring post-abortive men and women to repentance. We hear it and see it again and again. However, when someone knows the truth that abortion is an act of violence that kills a baby, and yet they insist upon making a fully informed decision to have an abortion, or pay for it, or support it, or coerce it, or fail to oppose it, then that individual should feel defensive, and guilty.

You are correct that it is better when we are able to put up warning signs around our displays. Unfortunately, since we were unable to gain access to a more ideal location on the Liberty University campus, our space was limited and so were our options. Please visit our website abortionNO.org to see a film with a warning at the beginning and other examples of our signs. However, it is not correct to say that we were “thrusting them in people’s faces while they (were) just walking by”. Our signs were stationary and our staff merely offered brochures to passersby. It sounds like you might prefer to limit your pro-life efforts to “loving, winsome” methods that focus on the pregnant woman’s visible crisis and ignore the more urgent hidden crisis of the unborn baby, with primary emphasis on post-abortion counseling. I think it would be very enlightening if we could swap Bible verses. You may want to re-read the gospels and be reminded of Jesus’ teaching methods. You may not believe it, but we regularly “shock someone into changing their minds”. Please let us know about your “more effective methods”. We are eager to abolish abortion as quickly and efficiently as possible. However, you know very well that our materials are not “propaganda” and your use of terms like “fringe, extremist, hateful” to describe our work would enable you to fit right in at a Planned Parenthood or NARAL or NOW meeting.

I sincerely doubt that our people “heckled” you and your friends, but I know that it is possible, so please provide as many details as you can remember so that we may correct the individual(s). I certainly hope that you and your friends are more offended by the gruesome death of aborted babies than you were by having live children hand out “gruesome pamphlets” with pictures of aborted babies. I’m sure you know that there may be some Liberty students who will have sex outside of marriage, have an unplanned pregnancy and consider abortion. But even if Liberty is in fact a “97% pro-life campus” then what better place to find activists who will not only choose life for their own babies, but also protect the most defenseless among them and persuade others not to kill their babies either. We did not “yell, condemn or shove posters” in anyone’s face and these unfounded accusations do not help us “listen with an open mind”. Perhaps the graphic images themselves were so powerful that they made you feel heckled, yelled at, or condemned, etc. Or perhaps the contrast between exuberant children enjoying life right next to graphic abortion images was just too jarring for you. In any event, we don’t really care whether or not you think our organization is legitimate. We care what you think about abortion and what you are going to do to help stop it.

Sincerely,
Michael A. Schrimsher
CBR Florida Regional Director

Students tell us that the opinion among Liberty U students was divided.  Some appreciated our efforts to expose the deeds of darkness (Ephesians 5:11); some did not.  That was not a surprise.

But several of our staff members noticed something very different about the reaction of Liberty University students to our presence.  The people who objected were almost all men.  They seemed to believe that they were all pro-life enough, and we shouldn’t bother them any more about it.  (They didn’t realize that one of our our primary goals was to bother them about abortion, so that they would do something about it.)  They listened politely to our explanations, but you could see the skepticism was still there.

The women, however, all seemed to get it.  They didn’t claim that their classmates were all pro-life.  They understood the need for students to see the pictures, even at a Christian school like Liberty.

Could it be that the men didn’t get it because, as a group, men are much more adept at hiding (from each other) their involvement with sex, pregnancy, and abortion?

We are not being critical in this regard; we are just being realistic.  CBR’s Executive Director Gregg Cunningham recalls listening to a broadcast of James Dobson’s radio program, during which Dr. Dobson interviewed six Christian college presidents.  Dr. Dobson asked them if they had ever seen a pregnant student on their campuses.  To a person, they said no.  To a person, they all believed this was evidence that their students were living chaste lives.  Dr. Dobson was incredulous.  We are not.

Perhaps the women need to speak, and the men need to listen up.

God commands us to expose the deeds of darkness.

FAB undercover operatives obtained this e-mail that was sent to the parents of Liberty Christian Academy, which is essentially on the campus of Liberty University.

LCA FAMILY,

I have received hundreds of complaints about the abortion demonstrators who have recently occupied the space at the corner of Candler’s Mountain Road and University Boulevard, across from the Hardees. Additionally, the pro-life demonstrators are driving large vans with very graphic and insensitive pictures of aborted babies on the city roads around our campus.   While their goal of ending abortion is commendable, the use of graphic images of aborted fetuses has been jarring and offensive to me personally and to many in our LCA family.  Some have asked what we have done to protect their children, and I write to explain.

First, we must recognize that the First Amendment to the constitution limits what can be done to curb political speech on public property.  We have consulted with Liberty University administrators, our law enforcement personnel, and attorneys with expertise in this area and confirmed that the demonstrators are fully within their rights.  Of course, they can voluntarily stop demonstrating or move.  Therefore, we approached the group to learn how long they planned to occupy the corner and drive their vans and if they would consider moving to a location that would not expose our school children to the graphic images of aborted babies.  Unfortunately, they were unwilling.  We understand that they plan to continue their current demonstration until Friday, September 2.   

Please understand, I share your interest in protecting our children and protecting your decision on how and when you will introduce this important issue to them.  We have re-arranged bus routes, playground usage, and transitions between areas to keep the children from being exposed to these photographs while your children are under our control.  Thank you for your passion in protecting your children; I share this with you.  I feel privileged to lead a school where parents care so deeply about the innocence of their children.  As always, I thank you for your support.

Straight Ahead,

John Patterson
Superintendent, Liberty Christian Academy

There’s so much here.  Mr. Patterson said that hundreds of parents complained because their children saw pictures of abortion.  We have to wonder if these same parents ever asked either of these questions:

1. Mr. Patterson, what are you doing to teach my children the truth about abortion?  What are you leaving out?
2. How can we best teach our children never to kill our grandchildren?
3. Are we teaching our children to think this is just somebody else’s problem?

Aren’t those the more urgent questions?

We must compliment Mr. Patterson on one thing.  He offered perhaps the most astute comments by any Liberty administrator regarding our visit.  In his interview with WSET-TV, he said this:

Hopefully, our parents can turn this into a positive … to explain to our kids possibly what abortion is and take a pro-life stance.

This is really the point … to show students at Liberty University students what abortion is, so that they will be more likely to obey God’s commands to avoid killing, to be a voice for the defenceless (Proverbs 24: 11-12), and to teach other Christians to do the same (Matthew 28:20).  We are merely showing Christians what they need to know.  If Liberty were already showing age-appropriate abortion imagery inside the citadel, then it would become less important for us to show it on the outside.  We might go somewhere else.

Regarding high school and middle school students, if they are old enough to get pregnant and have an abortion without their parent’s knowledge, they are old enough to know the consequences of that decision.

Obviously, we don’t target young children with our pictures, but with all the institutions of society (including the Church) covering up the truth of abortion, we have no choice but to take to the public square. Otherwise, the killing will never stop.

Sarah commented on a previous posting where the issue of children seeing the images came up.  Here’s what she said:

… to the mom who says she doesn’t want her young children to see that I would say it is not our job to always shield our children from every unpleasant thing, but to explain it all in context of God’s Word.  Does she also shield her children from the gruesome truth of what was done to Jesus when He died on the cross?

I learned about abortion at a very young age and saw photos.  It made me pro-life and kept me sexually pure throughout my teen years as well.  My son is 4 and he also has learned about abortion.

It is remarkable when children see the images they remain calm if the parents remain calm.  If the mom explains what it is and allows the moment to be a lesson in the sanctity of human life, the children are fine.  But when hysterical, ridiculous moms and dads get upset, yell and carry on the children also get upset.

We live in a fallen world.  We cannot keep our children in a compound and shield them from every single thing.  But we can take valuable opportunities to teach them God’s values.  Shame on you “Christians” for attacking those who are defending children from slaughter.  God said not to hurt children because their angels behold the face of the Father in heaven.  What are you doing to help save children?

I believe this is the greatest sin of the church.  So many go to church, carry their Bibles and think they are good with God when in eternity they will answer for why they turned a blind eye as 53 million (and counting) children were torn limb from limb down the streets from their very churches.

Children are exposed to graphic images of violence all the time … on newspaper front pages, on magazine covers that are visible in the supermarket checkout lines, etc.  They even showed Schindler’s List on TV during family viewing hours a few years back.  Nobody objects because nobody feels guilty about their own complicity or complacency with respect to those acts of violence.  Many are guilty of complicity or complacency with respect to abortion.

What is worse, a born child being horrified by a picture of abortion or a preborn child being killed by the act of abortion?

You might ask if Jesus would ever put a graphic image on display where children could see them.  In fact, He did just that.  Jesus controlled every aspect of his arrest, trial and execution.  He arranged to have Himself beaten nearly to death before stumbling through the most crowed part of Jerusalem on the most crowded day of the year.  His bloody body horrified throngs of Passover pilgrims which included large numbers of families with young children.

He then permitted himself to be stripped naked and tortured to death in full view of still more passersby, including more children.  The Romans used executions to intimidate subjugated peoples.  They located crucifixion cites for maximum public exposure. Our Lord accommodated Cesar by going out of His way to make this disturbing spectacle of His death as public as possible.  And in the process, He chose as the very symbol of our faith, a bloody instrument of torture.  His point was to disturb us with the gravity of our sin but bless us with the grace of His forgiveness, despite the fact that many children would be traumatized in the process.  Did He get this wrong?

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Liberty students study the abortion photos and Scripture verses.

We wrapped up our visit to Liberty University on Friday.  It was quite a week.  Not sure if it was the heat (90+ degree days) or the lack of sleep, but this ole boy is whipped.  Can’t wait to do it again, though.

By the end of the week, we had found a location near the Liberty University Bookstore that featured a publicly owned piece of land adjacent to a major walkway and at perhaps the most active entrance for cars and buses.

Based on the comments of the students, our presence was the talk of the campus.  Many students didn’t appreciate our displays of graphic photos.  Others were fully supportive.  Still others agreed with our use of graphic images, but didn’t understand why we came to Liberty.  “We’re already pro-life, aren’t we?”  Stimulating that kind of conversation, reflection, and debate is a major goal of our work.

We were pleased to sign up more than 20 students who were enthusiastic about becoming more involved in pro-life activism at Liberty.  Twenty people can make a huge difference.

I learned that on Day 4, the Lynchburg police (who were present during our entire visit) had come by to investigate a trespassing complaint.  Before we even started on Monday, we had given each team member a set of aerial photos which depicted the intersections we would work, along with property boundries that separated private property from public property.  These maps were downloaded from the City’s own Geographic Information System (GIS) website.  (See pages 16-19 of this letter to see the photos.)  Our volunteers produced the maps, which showed that we were clearly on public property, so the police thanked us and went on.

I should emphasize that we are grateful for the courtesy shown to us by both the University and the City of Lynchburg.  Perhaps they didn’t want us to be present, but they didn’t interfere, either.

If you’re dead tired and you’ve been at it for 4 solid days in the hot sun, you have to wonder if a 5th day is really worth the wear and tear on your body … and everybody else’s bodies.   But even though we had been there 4 days already, we still noted the impact of the photos on the students.  They still studied the abortion signs and reflected on the Scripture verses displayed.  It was on this 5th day that the Liberty student TV crew came out to get video and interview our people.  The Liberty student newspaper also showed up.  Praise God for giving us that 5th day!  We are interested to see what the reporting will look like.

As we were packing to leave, we encountered one student whose sign shocked us at first, but whose message was a huge encouragment in the end.  In big letters, his sign said, “Looking @ dead babies just makes me hungry …”  He was being clever.  In small letters, he continued his declaration, ” … for change!”  Indeed.

Hungry ... for change!

Virginia Director Nicole Cooley can speak of her experience; the photos speak of the baby's experience.

On Thursday, we wrapped up our trip to Radford University in Radford, Virginia.  CBR Virginia Project Director Nicole Cooley spoke with many students who asked questions and concluded by saying that we had changed their minds.  She said she told her story of rape, abortion, and healing more often than ever before.

We were covered by the Roanoke Times, both here and here.

WDBJ-TV, which had reported earlier in the week on our visit to Liberty U, did a very slanted hit piece on our visit to Radford.  Although one-sided reporting is SOP for the national media, local media are usually much more even-handed in their reporting.  In all our years of being covered by local media, this was only the second story that could easily have been written by Planned Parenthood.  The other was in Des Moines, Iowa, in 2004, where a TV station covering our Key States Initiative referred to us as “anti-choice extremists.”

Perhaps we are naive at FAB, but we give you the benefit of the doubt.  You have to be really bad for us to notice.  This time, we noticed.  Not one of our people were interviewed for the WDBJ-TV story about our visit to Radford; only the pro-aborts were interviewed.  We offered to speak with them; they weren’t interested.  They also didn’t take note of our poll table, in which the results were fairly evenly divided between pro-life and pro-abortion.  Not good reporting … good comedy, though.

Meanwhile, back at Liberty U, we continued to reach students.  WSET-TV covered our continuing presence.  We placed several of our Scripture signs along a pedestrian route from dorms to the main part of campus.  More to come!

Signs at Liberty University Bookstore expose the reality of abortion.

GAP at Radford University

On Wednesday (yesterday), some of us slipped away from Lynchburg to take our Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) to Radford University.  We were invited by the Radford College Republicans.

This GAP was a bit unusual because we displayed during the very first week of classes.  We’ve never visited a school in August before, let alone two.  We have two more scheduled for week after next.

This is important for a couple of reasons.  First, we are reaching so many freshmen before they’ve even had a chance to get (or get a girlfriend) pregnant.  Also, by completing 4 GAPs this early, we still have time to visit even more schools later this semester … but only if we get the funding.  We depend solely on you, so please give generously; a baby’s life depends on it.

At Radford, nearly 30 pro-life students declared their support at our poll table.  We hope some of them will start a Students for Life club on campus.  The College Republicans were also busy, signing up at least 20 new members on Day 1.  GAP is an excellent membership recruiting platform, because it gets the attention of the most serious students and lets them know they can make a huge difference in the lives of others.

Work at Liberty University continues.  We’ve been joined by the Hardin Family GAP Team from White House, Tennessee, and the Hardwick Family GAP Team from Columbus, Ohio.  Darius Hardwick is CBR’s Midwest Region Director.  Several Liberty students have commented on earlier FAB postings.

More to come!  Please keep those cards and letters coming!

WDBJ-TV, the CBS affiliate in Roanoke, broadcast a story on our RCC/GAP at Liberty University.  It was very well done, except for their unwillingness to show what the display was all about: abortion.

But you gotta hand it to WDBJ.  They did something we were unable to do.  They got Liberty University to state their official policy toward abortion.  Unfortunately, Liberty is just like the pro-life church; they oppose abortion, but they also cover it up.  Out of sight and out of mind.  Liberty was quoted as saying this:

Liberty has always taken a strong pro-life position on the abortion issue, but it does not encourage the public display of the horrific images of the deaths of aborted babies in order to further the pro-life cause.

In other words, we can talk against abortion, but we won’t show people what it really is, even those who desperately need to know.  But can anybody provide even one example of a deadly social injustice that was ever eradicated by covering it up?

Compare this policy to that of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who brought about dramatic changes in our society, even ending segregation in less than 10 years.  Was he wrong when he said this?:

We bring [injustice] out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with.  Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with an its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.

Dr. King also said, “America will never reject racism until America sees racism.”

Was he wrong?  We’ve been asking that question for many years, and nobody … not one person … has ever stood up to defend the proposition that Dr. King was wrong.   We can name many historical examples that prove that his strategy of exposing injustice works.  People who criticize our our use of King’s stragegy to fight abortion can’t provide even one example to suggest hiding injustice works.

This all reminds me of that regular feature on Monday Night Football …  Liberty, you’re a university.  You’ve got a whole department of history.  C’mon man!

Pro Life Training Academy at Lynchburg, Va.

Here we are in Lynchburg, Virginia.  Thankfully, we are well west of Hurricane Irene.  We have students here from Liberty U, Central Virginia Community Collge, James Madison U, the U of Virginia, the U of Richmond.  Pro-life activits from Lynchburg and Roanoke have also joined us.

This is a critical place for us to be.  The pro-life Liberty University students are telling us that there are many pro-choice students on their campus.

We don’t charge students to attend this Academy.  We depend on you to cover our costs, which are about $75 per person (mostly speaker travel).  Please click here, and please be generous, so that we can do this again for more students in Virginia and across the country.

Our featured speaker is Jay Watts of the Life Training Institute (LTI).  As a former pro-choice atheist, Jay is uniquely prepared to train students how to deal with people like … well … his former self!

Hardin Family GAP Team

Did you know that White House is home to a family of pro-life missionaries like no other?  Ask yourself this question: Would you do this with 7 of your children?  Read on; it’s even more incredible than you think.

I’m talking about the Hardin Family of White House, Tennessee, just north of Nashville.  Yes, Mom and 7 children (3 teenagers and 4 younger children) are coming to Lynchburg, Virginia, for CBR’s outreach to Liberty University.  (See photo at right.)  They’ll drive 8 hours to get here, just so they can stand out in the hot sun holding GAP signs for members of the Liberty community.

Bright Eyes in the center of the photo is Karine, the newest member of the Hardin family. You may remember our story of her arrival from Armenia earlier this year.  This will be her first GAP!

This will be more Hardin’s than we’ve ever seen at one time! Because of the them and the rest of our traveling team, students at Liberty will see abortion in all its horror.  When Christians see the horror of abortion, they are more likely to obey God’s command not to kill their own children (Mark 10:19).  They are more motivated to protect and defend the defenseless (Proverbs 24:11-12).  They more fully understand their duty as Christian leaders to teach other believers to do the same (Matthew 28:20).

The Hardin’s are willing to come to bring truth in love to Liberty students.  (Others are coming from Florida, Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama, and North Carolina.)  They offer themselves freely.  All they ask is their expenses.  Could you help us cover their expenses?  Here’s what it will cost to bring the Hardins:

• Gas: $250 (500 miles in a van big enough for 8!)
• Lodging: $250
• Food: $480 (ever try to feed 8 on the road?)

Your tax deductible gift to CBR (link here) will transport the Hardins and the rest of our team to Liberty University next week.  This is one of the most important GAPs we’ve ever done.  Please be as generous as you can, maybe even more so.  Thank you for saving babies and moms.

Abortion Photo over Liberty University

CBR is flying a huge photo of abortion over Liberty University this week, so that Liberty students can learn the truth. For many of them, it will be the first time. WSET-TV has the story.  Watch the video!

Most people have abortions simply because they don’t know who the unborn child is, nor do they know what abortion does. Christian youth are just as vulnerable, because “pro-life” churches are covering up the truth as effectively as everyone else. If your church is not showing abortion photos or video, babies are being lost that could have been saved.

The coverup at Christian schools is just as egregious, if not more so. The most striking examples are Notre Dame University and Liberty University, arguably the flagship universities of the Catholic and Protestant worlds, respectively. Both have prevented the display of abortion photos on their campuses. The First Amendment protects pro-life education at public universities, but not at private schools. It is mind-blowing to think that public university students know more about abortion than Christian university students.

Just a year ago, I showed abortion to a small group of maybe five Liberty University students. None had seen abortion before. One of them later wrote,

Seeing all those graphic photos and that video brought me to tears and showed me [abortion] is murder; it is wrong. I want to now fight for their lives.

Another wrote,

I witnessed my first abortion through the images and clips by the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform. That has changed my view on abortion. … [After] actually seeing the results of this murder, I am pro-life because abortion is bluntly murder and should be outlawed!! I believe these pictures should be shown to change the minds of people on abortion.

Fortunately, the airspace over these universities is still free. Last year, we flew abortion photos over the Notre Dame campus.

Expect us to be more and more aggressive in educating Christians in the public spaces around their schools and churches.  If abortion is to be stopped, three adverse conditions must be corrected:

1. Christian people must know what abortion is and does.  (They don’t.)
2. Christian people must act in proportion to the injustice.  (We don’t.)
3. The Church must lead.  (It doesn’t.)

By ourselves, we can’t do much about #2 and #3, but we will do everything we can to correct the lack of knowledge.