Mark Shea and that vaunted whole life ethic

 On full display here:

Heh.  I know. It's Mark Shea.  Still, you have to love Mr. Seamless Garment New Prolife Catholic.  He basically tells the GOP to stop cheering.  Because they won Florida and Texas, which are friendly toward retirees.  That means their gains were among the elderly, who are old and will die soon.  

Maybe it's me, but that just doesn't strike the old 'What would Jesus say?' tone.   But then it is the New Prolife Catholic ethic, and I think we're all clever enough to know what that euphemistic label actually means.

Food for thought: The heresy of one issue Catholics

That's something I've seen posted on St. Blogs over the years.  So called 'New Prolife Catholics' say it's a heresy to boil the whole of the Catholic Faith down to a single issue.  By that, they usually mean abortion.  As in, Pro-Lifers say there is nothing that matters except abortion. Clearly there are important parts of the Faith that don't have to do with abortion.  Therefore, Pro-Lifers are heretics.  

The funny thing?  I notice most 'New Pro-life Catholics', or if you prefer 'Seamless Garment Catholics', do just that.  They just do it in reverse.  That is, they insist abortion is not the only thing that matters ... and then proceed to say nothing about anything else, at least to the left of center.  

Abortion isn't all that matters becomes abortion doesn't matter at all.  Pope Francis might call abortion child murder, but it doesn't seem to be a deal breaker with him.  From there, we learn nothing else matters either.  How about leftwing and Democrat Catholics and underage transgender surgeries, which are now not only admitted to but celebrated on the Left?  What about the continued peddling of the sex culture, or sexing up kids? What about the rise in using pre-natal testing to discover, and eliminate, babies with possible disabilities?  How about embryonic stem cell research, which is still a thing?  How about the suicide rights and right to die platform?  Thoughts on non-white racism against non-whites?  Heck, how about Catholics rejecting the fundamental teachings of the Church regarding such favorites as the nature of the Eucharist or salvation through Christ?  All of these things find friendship, if not party platform support, from the political and ideological Left. 

Do these 'whole life Catholics' ever speak to these things?  I've not seen them.  If you try to get them to speak to them you're accused of 'whataboutism' or deflection or some such.  They're usually content with pointing out that abortion is not  their only issue, therefore they are truly 'whole life' because of their politics.  Yet, in a weird way, they seem to have made not making abortion their only issue into their only issue; the one position that taketh away the sins of the left that no longer need confronted.  I find that amusing when I think on it. 

Mark Shea responds to the Roe decision

You/'ve been waiting for it, you know you have.  Here is one of his posts on the subject.  I've seen several comment on his various posts since the decision.  I was going to let them bother with Mark on this one.  Most of what he wrote is what one expects. 

But this post jumped out at me.  Here's why.  Take a look at how he frames it:

’m seeing comments all over the web like this:

“We pro-life people now need to work to create the conditions where life can flourish, which means certain social guarantees, including healthcare, decent employment, education (through graduate school), housing, nutrition, freedom from war, and a safe and pollution-free environment.”

The fatal word in this is “now”. 

Now I've learned not to trust Mark.  For the longest time we could attribute his constant stream of errors and falsehoods to laziness or partisanship on his part.  But too often he has spread false accusations and lies, and accepted errors long debunked in order to drive his agendas.  By his own standard, whereby a single mistake or misstep by a conservative is enough for Mark to condemn all conservatives, I believe Mark less than I believe your average cult leader in a Waco compound. 

Nonetheless, note what he did here.  He's suggesting that this is some MAGA conservative pro-life advocate saying 'now we need to care about moms and babies.'  As if up until now they haven't.   My first instinct is that Mark wrote that quote himself.  After all, I know of nobody remotely to the right who would say this.  This is laundry list of leftwing and democratic economic agendas and policies and theories.  

Or it could be one of those 'anti-abortion leftwing democrats'.   One of those liberal or democrat or atheist for life types who are against abortion, plus the death penalty and all other such things, but otherwise hardcore to the left of center in almost everything else.  

I'm willing to cut Mark some slack and make that second assumption.  He has taken something from a leftwing pro-life advocate and used it to regurgitate the old pro-abortion talking point that people against aborting pregnancies don't care about moms or babies.  Or worse, those pro-life advocates dare to question the policies and narratives of the political Left. 

That last part I'll buy.  There actually are some people who look at the numbers and question the narrative that if we just give more government mandated support for individuals, they'll stop sinning.  Some actually believe this sort of mentality doesn't make them sin less, it just shifts the sins around.  They believe that, as well meaning as some of these proposals are, they are short term benefits at best, that lead to long term problems that make things worse. 

Or Mark is trying to suggest pro-life advocates have never cared about moms or babies.  At that point, the invitation still stands: please show data demonstrating that pro-life activists are any less charitable than anyone else.  

But I had to respond to this one, since Mark doesn't link to the source of the quote, nor mention it, or identity who wrote it in any way.   I'll be charitable and assume it's someone left of center who otherwise is against abortion.  But if that is the case, it speaks to the assumption that God is little concerned with our widow's mites, cups of cold water, clothes for the naked and visits to jail; that the Almighty only cares about what political and economic policies of Caesar we support.  Which, by my understanding of the Gospel, is a false assumption of the most dangerous kind. 

UPDATE:  Apparently this was a two parter or something, since I was sent a link to a follow up post.  It seems to be some series.  Anyway, here is the link.  I was going to comment, but again, why?  Time is too precious.  It's bad enough to read any of it, but for those who enjoy misery, here's your chance. 

Dawn Eden responds to the Roe decison

 By regurgitating the old pro-abortion canard that pro-lifers don't care about poor mothers or children: 

I liked her response to Neil.  Until all pro-lifers have lived up to her standards, she sees no reason to think she has anything particular that she wanted.  And no Ms. Eden, we don't get to equate political legislation to the Gospel call to feed the hungry and clothe the naked.  

Oh, I'd like Ms. Eden to provide the statistics that show pro-life individuals are any less charitable, or giving toward poor mothers and children, than anyone else.  My first experience with giving a flip about abortion was in an evangelical church that spend copious amounts of energy and funds in helping a pregnancy center for mothers and children.   I think they staged one protest while I was there.  The rest was centered no helping the mothers and their children. That was as often as not par for the course in my Protestant days. 

It's worth noting that I see Ms. Klassen doing more on a rainy day to halt the horror of our abortion culture than everything I've seen Ms. Eden do for more than a decade.  Just saying. 

Mark Shea is Abby Johnson's best hope

Heh.  Read the thread here:

You see that?  Notice that Mark is hanging Abby's former life as an abortion clinic worker around her neck like a millstone.  That she famously left that life, gave herself to Christ, and entered the Catholic Church seems more or less irrelevant.  The one who first showed me this thought Mark was eschewing the forgiveness of Christ.  I disagree. 

I don't think Mark is thinking of Christ's forgiveness one way or another.  Or at least I hope he isn't.  I think he's trying to be clever.  He's trying to say that Abby is some sort of horrible hypocrite for not sending herself to jail for all those babies she helped abort.  Note that Mark does a little switcheroo with the terms.  

Abby is obviously talking about what happens if a woman aborts a pregnancy if it becomes illegal.  Mark slickly injects the term 'post-abortive' to suggest Abby means any woman who has ever had an abortion before.  Which isn't what Abby - or anyone I've ever heard - appears to be saying.

Here's the funny thing however.  If we accept Mark's premise that if Roe is overturned and abortion made illegal then Ms. Johnson should send herself to jail, then Abby's best hope is Mark.  After all, Mark and most New Prolife Catholics are burning the midnight oil to help keep Roe on the books and thus the abortion mills churning along freely and legally.  If that's how things end up and Mark's side wins, then Abby will have no reason to go to jail!

Well done Mark.  Protecting women  like Abby Johnson from jail time by bravely fighting to wreck anyone who would try to overturn Roe v. Wade.  I can't think of anything that more perfectly demonstrates the mindset of the New Prolife Catholic movement.  :) 

A wonderful story of life

 Here, at the hard working Laura Klassen's page:

I read that and thought just how many miserable failures those who have stood on the side of Life and Truth have endured. When did we allow the world the upper hand in the abortion debate?  When did we allow the pro-abortion activists to frame the narrative so that the above story seems like some freakish exception to the rule, rather than the decent, common sense choice it was? 

This weird idea that if we give people more money, they'll stop sinning, is one of the most stupid in our world today.  And that's a world we're people insist men can have babies. 

You don't need more money, you need to do the right thing.  Poor or rich.  Nothing wrong with helping people and finding ways to reach out a charitable hand.  But believing that she had every right to abort her child because she was poor, or excusing such an act because she was poor, is propaganda from the pits of Hell.  That so many Church leaders appear to accept the premise is why her story comes off as some oddity, rather than run of the mill common goodness. 

God bless this young woman.  Note how God was able to work through her choices to elevate her and bless her.  If she would have accepted the New Prolife Catholic idea that her finances and situation in life make aborting her child completely understandable, how different would her life - and the world - be for it?

Mark Shea spent most of March for Life weekend trashing the March for Life

New Prolife Catholic activist Mark Shea spent much time during the March for Life ripping into the March for Life this year.  Why?  Because of the vaccines of course.  If you ignore last year, it's obvious that if we get the shot, we stop the spread. That's what they said last year.  Nothing has happened to call that into question.  Various statistics continually taken out of context prove this is correct.  If you disagree, how can you be pro-life?  Right?  Right?  Anyone?  

Of course not.  By now, insisting that the current vaccines will Stop the Spread or End Covid is like insisting the moon is made of cheese.  As I said here, when more people in the ICU with Covid have been vaccinated than are unvaccinated, it's time to pull the ripcord on the sales pitch.  That is true even if they manage to find just the right stat that keeps the narrative alive.  

By now medical pros are admitting there needs to be a different approach to the vaccines than the current one, along with reports showing that other measures for fighting Covid may have done more harm than good. You just can't keep screaming 'GET THE SHOT NOW!' and not sound like Trelane at the end of The Squire of Gothos.  

That Mark chose not to pray with the marchers despite disagreements, but attack them with unchristian vitriol and character assassination, along with his his usual broadsides against his typical bogeyman villains, is a shame.  Such is "apologetics" in the Internet age I suppose. 

Mark's version of being authentically New Prolife: 

Mark is, sadly, not alone.  Echoing the Left's general premise that it's impossible not to be a leftist and not be a stupid racist, one of Mark's old Patheos mentors chimes in with similar thoughts:

Note the condemnation of someone daring to suggest Catholics should not be partisan thralls.  Heh.  That's always made me laugh, the old 'Stop being divisive and conform to my party!'. Note also that there is nothing Ms. Keating said that that suggests she claims Pro-Life means pure and sinless living.  Putting words into people's mouths being another old favorite.  I'll assume that he also sees no racism, impoverishment or oppression on his particular side of the tracks?  Hard to say.  I doubt saying it would do any good anyway. 

FWIW, I was sent this picture while getting ready to post this:

It's our former priest, braving wind chills in the single digits to pray for an end the extermination of unborn babies by the tens of millions to slake our lust for an endless drugs and sex culture in the age of AIDS.  I don't normally post pics of non-family who we know, just because.  But it was a wonderful shot of devotion to God's abiding care for the least of these.  As for me and my house, we'll gladly side with our former priest's Catholicism rather than that thing Conway and Shea call Catholicism. 

Twitter is where Catholics go to dance with the Devil

Really.  So Dave Armstrong and Scott Eric Alt got into a spat.  I'll leave them to it.  But that made me look for more of Alt's take on Armstrong.  Exactly why Alt felt the need to unload on Armstrong is beyond me.  It could be that Armstrong, a passionate and supporter of Pope Francis, still isn't properly leftist enough.  For most on the Left, being 99.9% leftist is as good as being 100% white MAGA conservative racist Nazi deplorable after all.  But who knows. 

In any event, I did a Lenny and Squiggy's bathroom moment, held my nose, screamed, and went over to Alt's Twitter feed, which also had shares from other New Prolife Catholics.  I'll get to some of the other fantastically bad, ignorant, and downright apologetics for evil I found from others.  This is what leapt out at me on Alt's Twitter (again, I'll leave his clash with Armstrong to others to care about):

Wait.  What?  Please tell me just how Fr. Pavone is wrong.  I get that he's playing on words and I'm not sure emphasizing that abortion is killing a baby delivers much punch today. After all, the big pro-abortion tactic nowadays is to be pro-abortion, and not just pro-choice.  Admit it's killing a baby, boast in the fact, and rejoice in the fact that the divine vaginal does give you power over life or death, or those sexist men ain't getting any tonight (which appears to keep most men in their place where saving babies is concerned, ahem). 

But how is Fr. Pavone wrong?  I read that, read it again, read it a third time, and finally read it once more, and I can't see how he's wrong to the point of dumb.  So please dear readers, comment below and tell me what I'm missing. It might be so obvious I'm missing it.  Perhaps my deep suspicions about anything Alt writes is blinding me to the obvious.  But I would dearly like to know

Redemption and reconciliation become the latest Christian virtues to end up on the Leftwing chopping block

Courtesy of the New Prolife Catholic movement.  So apparently Rebecca Bratten Weiss posted this on her Twitter feed:

Wow.  There was a time when I imagined such an image would have been celebrated as an example of redemption and God's grace working in the worst of sinners, of which I am chief. Note how it is framed as disturbing, nothing at all about grace, mercy or redemption.  Furthermore, such a misplaced focus (apparently on things like forgiveness, mercy, redemption, and God's gracious healing of us sinners) is what makes the RCC look bad.  

Wow.  I mean, wow.  Thank goodness it's only her, and nobody else taking such a disturbing view of Church teaching.  Correct?  Oh, turns out here are some comments on this thread:

Exactly how this fits into the emerging notion on the left that judgmentalism is all the rage, but mercy and forgiveness are just stealth white supremacy and therefore to be rejected, their banter doesn't make clear.  It's enough that they don't see redemptive grace or reconciliation, but rather an individual who should not be allowed to move past his sins, and the idea that no saint should be venerated by ... a sinner? 

New Prolife Catholics approve this message

Note the good Catholic film critic and deacon Steven Greydanus throws his two cents worth of contempt for such an image of redemption and reconciliation into the mix.  Well done deacon.  I notice how one trick of shifting Christian goalposts around rests on semantic nitpicking of the type the good deacon himself tried to condemn recently.  God makes saints of course, the individual who wrote that in a likelihood understand this.  But the important thing should be the story of redemption and unbelievable level of God's grace, not 'quibbling over semantics, which is the definition of what Deacon and company are doing'. 

For what it's worth, this is simply following a growing trend in which we learn almost anything and everything from the last thousand years of Christianity and the Christian West - and possibly before - can be assumed to be false, the result of bigotry, racism, colonialism, misogyny, or any one of a million different demographic defects.  

For instance, maybe in heaven there can be forgiveness for a growing list of unpardonable sins such as rape, racism or slavery in America, but on this side of the eternal, depending on your group identity, your arse belongs to the Left and whatever privileged demographic group is holding the rope at the moment. 

As God is my witness, I sincerely believe there is no heresy, blasphemy, intrinsic evil, or sin that cries out to heaven for vengeance that believers - Catholics included - who have thrown their lots in with the Left will either embrace, defend, or at best ignore.  And if it means throwing core Christian doctrine and virtue under the bus, or interpreting such things as God's grace or redemption only through the prism of leftwing dogma, apparently that's just fine. 

A "forced meeting with your attacker where you tell them you forgive them
and then everyone acts like nothing happened" - A New Prolife Catholic perspective

To be with the Left is to lie

Yep.  Lies, falsehoods, misinformation, idiocy and plain B.S. are the stock and store of those defending the Left.  You see it in so many topics the Left advocates.  For instance, take the gun control movement, where almost everything said is riddled with misinformation, falsehoods or reliance on accusation and calumny.  And for all of its efforts, a good 99% of its time and energies if I were to guess, is aimed at stopping what amounts to about 5% of mass shootings, themselves a small percentage of overall gun violence.  That's one example.

Another is a frequent mantra of the New Prolife Catholic movement, in which 65 million abortions in America are the sole responsibility of misogynistic capitalists who have given women no other choice but the unfortunate, yet completely understandable, choice of terminating their pregnancies.  Furthermore, nobody - and that means no woman ever - wanted or celebrated an abortion. 

That has never been true, as I knew girls in college who saw abortion as a badge of honor and a gratuitous F-you to men who are rendered powerless where children are concerned until they find out there will be a child they for which they are financially responsible.  And that was the 1980s.

Now, the old 'I'd abort six million babies for better sex' movement is picking up speed, and more and more women are being encouraged to rejoice with great gladness over the ability to abort their pregnancies.  If they've aborted before, then they should hang a medal of honor on their bra.  If not, then rejoice and be glad and cheer the fact that if it ever came around, the power of defining life or non-life would be yours for the having!  See this blasphemous sign praising God for aborting pregnancies here.  

Post Modern Jesus, beyond caring about skin color, also loves abortions

Again, the New Prolife movement is simply an allegiance with the Left and all its manifold heresies, blasphemies, and promise of mass extermination of undesirables to sustain a culture of debauchery and decadence in the era of AIDS, with its clear goals of eliminating liberties and freedoms of everyone else all who fail to bow before the ninety foot idol of the Left.  Because of that, expect copious amounts of 'what camps in the German woods' denials and lies to become part and parcel of the whole New Prolife gig. 

New Prolife Catholics who hate homeschool

Homeschool is one of the great blasphemies against the ninety foot idol of the Leftist State.  Anything that leads to free thinking, dissent or failing to conform to leftwing non-conformity is anathema to the Left.  We won't even discuss things that point to God, Jesus Christ or holy living.  That's why I've seen dozens of news stories all in a panic over the number of moms who are still home with their kids since Covid instead of going back into their cubicles and office jobs while their kids get raised by our fine government regulated daycare centers.

Therefore it shouldn't be surprising that Catholics who have thrown their lots in with the Left would share the same loathing and contempt for those who wish to teach their own children against things like the sacred right to mass exterminate undesirables by the tens of millions in order to sustain a drugs and porn culture of endless sex and abstract gentiles during the AIDS pandemic:

Of course the good Dan Conway might be interested to know that nobody I've ever talked to uses that as their reason for homeschooling.  Reasons vary, though most are happy to point to the overwhelming statistical evidence that homeschooled children tend to outscore their public school counterparts in standardized testing and college admissions examinations.  But why quibble? 

Note, however, the standards they assume to be deal breakers: These homeschool kids aren't being taught to strive for success in the worldly sense, having neither the prestige of entering a high end ivy league university, nor climbing the upward ladder to economic success.  Because being venerated by the world and achieving high positions of wealth and prosperity are what being a Christian is all about - at least according to these two Catholics. 

For what it's worth, in our own home we've told our kids that going to a prestigious university or making tons of money aren't the most important things in life.  An honest living, even flipping burgers, is better than a dishonest one.  And wisdom, which is no longer imparted by most of our fine institutions of higher learning, is preferable to a degree based on values antithetical to the teachings of Christ.  After all, the few score years in which we travel this sod are, at the end of the day, a blip on the eternal radar. 

Of course this reminds me of all those liberal professors and students I knew in my college days in the 1980s.  How many of them decried the evils of Reaganomics, and the horrible decade of greed and avarice in which we found ourselves!  Yet I couldn't help but notice how many of them were fine with pining for the biggest homes, the finest cars, and the latest home entrainment centers and Jacuzzis (a big thing in the 80s).  

It also reminds me what I've been saying.  When the Left finally begins hunting down dissenters in full force, it will have plenty of card carrying Christians - including Catholics - joining the lynch mobs.  If they don't actually join the hunt, you can bet they'll be more than happy to support it, as Christians have often done over the years when Satan issues the latest clarion call to help go after those believers over there. 

At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to infants.  Matthew 11.25

New Prolife Catholics and Biden's priorities

So the news is all aflutter about all the great things Biden will do first thing when he gets in office.  Among the most important - and always near and dear to the heart and soul of the secular Left - is undoing all of those restrictions on abortion access that occurred during Trump's presidency.   

Now we'll see New Prolife Catholics step up and make some serious noise, call Biden and the Democrats out, and really hold their feet to the fire. Bishops will be outraged, and  those who insist they are in no way supportive of the 'slaughter for sex' era in which we live will make calling Catholic president Biden out on the carpet a priority.  Meanwhile, seeing how often Pope Francis injected his opinions into American's last few years, we can expect him to bemoan such developments and even speak to the injustices of such an approach to human life, especially from a prominent Catholic politician. 

Or not.  I hope they do, and I'll gladly tip my hat to them if it happens.  I'm not holding my breath, but I hope they do at least the consistent thing, if not the right thing. 

How the propaganda ministry does it

So last week it was all Green Checkmarks.  That is, each news story I saw analyzing claims made by the Democrats reported that they were true, or mostly true, or in a couple cases not altogether true - but they still all got a Green Checkmark  meaning true!  100% green last week. 

This week, of course, the dreaded Red X of falsehood has begun flying like mosquitoes.  I've already seen two after the first day.  And those claims not marked as false but in someway not completely and technically true are being pounced on. 

So we have this, apparently a Trump advisor from Puerto Rico told of her mother's journey to raise her family in America as a first generation immigrant from Puerto Rico.  The advisor, Kimberly Guilfoyle, went on to describe herself as a first generation American citizen.  

That's when I saw the outlets pounce.  Of course Puerto Rico is a US territory, and its citizens are officially US Citizens as well.  I know, it's complicated.  Don't ask me to unpack the history of that hot mess, why it's not a state, what the differences are and how it all works out.    

But the media outlets were quick to mock her for apparently not knowing that she always was, technically at least, a US Citizen.  Even the good Deacon Steven Greydanus got in on the act:

Yeah, see a conservative do that about something a liberal Puerto Rican immigrant said at the DNC and imagine what good progressive Catholics would say. 

But here's my thinking.  Could it be that this says something about how those in Puerto Rico see themselves?  Could it be insight into their way of thinking?  Might it mean something that they see being here as what should matter, and this could shed light into how at least some understand this complicated matter?  I mean, doesn't charity demand we consider such things rather than just tweet 'what dumb-dumbs'?  

Or not.  Goodness knows we can't focus on her speech about how great America is and how wonderful a land of opportunity we are blessed with.  Heaven forfend. 

Again, since apparently not a single Democrat said anything wrong last week, it's hard to tell how the press would react.  But I get the feeling that if all things were equal, and the only difference being Ms. Guilfoyle works for Biden, you would hear none of this.  And if someone at FOX or similar outlet did make a stink, the rebuttals and charges of racism would be swift and brutal. 

Whatever it would be or not, however, note how this worked.  Nobody is talking about her speech at all.  Those who are talking about it are getting caught up in these trivialities.  But in all things, the greatness of America as land of opportunity, which you might have come away from her speech with, is entirely forgotten.  And that Charlie Brown, is one way the propaganda ministry - with help from choice Catholics and other sympathetics - does it. 

Quick note: As I was getting this ready, I was notified of another Greydanus original that follows the same 'focus on the molehill of the opposition so we don't have to focus on the mountain range of mass slaughter on the Left' tactic:

Yep. Why join Ms. Johnson in her condemnation of one of history's most brutally efficient human slaughter machines when we can ping her on a triviality?  Oh sure, Planned Parenthood was founded on Margaret Sanger's principles of exterminating minorities, poor and other sub-human reprobates which it continued to celebrate until a couple years ago, and yes it continues to help with the annual slaughter-fest of a million screaming innocents - but Johnson said a goofy, Johnson said a goofy!

Sigh.  Especially when you see the same good deacon prepared to eviscerate someone like Abraham Lincoln for failing to be as morally perfect as the modern Left demands when it comes to judging and hating on the right and wrong skin colors for the right and wrong reasons:

Yep.  Note the word Great in scare quotes.  The New Prolife Catholic movement in action.  Not a shred of understanding or sympathy for those in the past who were of their time, nor letting pass a slip of the tongue from Pro-Life advocates today, all while giving endless benefits of endless doubts to the modern equivalent of the human slave trade.  This is just what the press propaganda ministry, and the Left, wants from its confessing Christian supporters. 

Lila Rose and a consistent pro-life ethic

Ah, consistent pro-life ethic.  That's a phrase tossed about, usually by Catholics who cleave unto the Left of the political center.  What it typically means is that you can't be pro-life and also challenge the horses and chariots of the Political Left at the same time.  Like many things in the progressive camp, it's a slick way of herding the conversation along a one way road.  You either agree, or you're not pro-life.

Now, the hirlairty is that those doing so are as often as not fully supportive of a political movement that defines itself by promoting and supporting the Sexual Revolution, the abortion culture, and increasingly such goodies as embryonic stem cell research (remember that?), legal assisted suicide, post-birth abortions (AKA infanticide) and even dipping their toes in the pool of euthanasia.  Add to that its embrace of modern racism and racial based evaluation of human worth, and you wouldn't think there is much pro-life there.

But the NPLCs are able to pull upon the secular, progressive belief that there are no sinners but that corrupt and oppressive social structures make it so.  Therefore, if anyone does have abortions, indulge in sexual deviancy, rape, pillage, murder - it must be the fault of 'The Man' (things valued by Conservatives).  And it's only the horses and chariots of the Political Left that can possibly save us from The Man. 

That's a brief look at how they do it.  What it boils down to is a radically inconsistent pro-life ethic disguised as anything but.  The real strange irony in all of this is that one of the frequent targets of the NPLCs is a young lass named Lila Rose.  Ms. Rose exploded on the national stage for going undercover and exposing the murderous profiteering of Planned Parenthood.  Almost overnight, good Faithful Catholics decided that the best thing to do was fret over the dishonest means necessary for an undercover operation that discovered the evils beneath Planned Parenthood's murderous industry, than focus on the evils beneath Planned Parenthood's murderous industry. 

Since then, she has largely been ignored, or occasionally blasted, for daring to suggest things like undercover work is acceptable, or that you can't be prolife and support a party whose platform is dedicated to falling on the sword and throwing the least of these under the bus so that abortion can be santificed and expanded in all possible ways.  Go figure.

Anyhoo, I find Ms. Rose, far more than most Catholics who try to bake that Kosher Ham of Leftist Catholicism, to be authentically and consistently pro-life.  That doesn't mean I agree with her all the time, or even her approach to things.  One doesn't need to agree with me to pass the 'righteousness' test.  I look at why she says and does what she says and does, and hold it up to other things she's stood for and against.  And in that, she's far more authentic and reliable than many of her NPLC critics.

So here are a few tweets of hers I saw populate on another site that illustrate the point.  

Yep.  Trump is not my cup of tea.  I get that he is the one bulwark against the pseudo-communist juggernaut, but that still doesn't mean he's not a fistfull of problems.  Continuing to blame everyone else for failing to cut such funding is no different than Obama blaming everyone else for his anemic recovery.  I get why it's happened.  I'm certainly not inconsistent or stupid enough to say since Trump failed to eradicate funding of Planned Parenthood, I'll therefore support the party prepared to throw the least of these out the window and hold America hostage to ensure funding of Planned Parenthood.  That's like saying FDR, having failed to eliminate the Holocaust, I'll now support the Nazis who have perpetrated the Holocaust.  So she's right here. 

But notice she goes after Trump where it is due, but then observe:

Again, she doesn't fall for the 'fed up with FDR, I'm now a Nuremberg Catholic all the way' approach.  She sees the evil and the culture of death on the left side of the aisle just the same.  For many Catholics, it's hard not to see their trashing of Trump as merely the excuse to support the party of death they so long deplored.

And then, she also does this:

God bless that poor woman. 

One of the worst things Pope Francis ever said was his 'who am I to judge' dodge where gay sex is concerned.  The Sexual Revolution will certainly go down in history as one of the greatest human tragedies ever visited upon mankind in all of history.  Abortion aside, the body count is beyond comprehension.  Add to that the genocide level slaughter of the abortion culture that is needed to sustain the revolution, and it's unlike anything we've ever seen.  And it isn't just sex. It's the drugs, the party, the debauchery, the selfish apathy that became sanctified during this time. 

I must say the Orthodox are better at calling this one out than Catholics, or even Christians in the West in general.  Afraid they'll say meanie things to us (or perhaps enjoying the fringe benefits of the revolution), we're rather tepid about calling it out.  Given the suffering, carnage, misery and loss attributed to this Party till you Die revolution, our lack of stalwart opposition is shameful, and hardly consistently pro-life.  Even Pope Francis deserves a smack on the hands for giving this a pass when he's so prepared to brutally judge other sins that are usually associated with thinking above the waistline. 

But Ms. Rose gets it right.  Again, I'm not saying I always agree with her.  And sure, we can discuss her methods.  But compared to the dumpster fire inconsistencies of so many of her Catholic critics, I'd say she is a far cry more consistently pro-life than many of them are close to being. 

When a Hollywood actor is more outraged about New York's abortion law than Catholic apologists

Here:

Meanwhile, a devout pro-life Catholic apologist reacts:

No big thoughts on it.  Sure it's 100% the GOP's fault (factually wrong of course, but Mark is about 99% wrong on everything he posts at this point).  But the main thing is, no real big thoughts on it.  It's just the legalized murder of babies inches away from birth.  Nothing to see here.  Let's move on. 

In fairness to Mark, at least he commented.  I was going to post some other examples, but damned if I could find any New Prolife Catholics who commented.  Mary Pezzulo at Steel Magnificat and Rebecca Bratten Weiss at Suspended in Her Jar were noticeably silent.  They did each post pieces reflecting on National Holocaust Remembrance Day, reminding us how horrifyingly evil were those Americans, Christians and Europeans of old.  Ms. Pezzulo also posted a mock "apology" in which she laments expecting anything from the Covington students, so she's sorry she had harsh words to say to kids who obviously should have had the bar of expectations buried low in the dirt. 

Other than that?  Not a single word - not a jot or tittle - on Patheos about the new law that makes it so much easier to murder a baby with only seconds to spare before it is born.  I guess Ms. Pezzulo was exhausted from trying desperately to keep the slanderous and racist attacks on the Covington kids alive, and of course Mark was also spending his energies trying to find Muslim activists, radical Leftists, and anyone else who could heap scorn on those white skin sissies who are all bothered about multiple death threats, bomb threats, threats of expulsion, condemnation from their own church, calls to have their applications to colleges flagged, and celebrities offering favors and even oral sex if someone would just take those boys out and beat them within an inch of their lives.

Such is the New Prolife Catholic movement.  Like the Left itself, evil and human suffering matter ... insofar as it benefits the Left.  Otherwise?  Eh. 

If those lamenting Holocaust Remembrance Day want to learn from it, it might be worth asking who is burying their heads in the sand, offering to build trees around the new barbed wire fences so nobody can see, or even joining in with the goosestepping parades today?  Who is embracing the racism, murder, narcissism, hedonism, bigotry and the sides dedicated to the same?  It just might surprise them who really owns the horrors of the past.  And they might not like it at all. 

BTW, well done Mr. Davi.

The Massacre of the Innocents and the New Prolife Movement

In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are no more.

Today is, in Western Circles, the day set aside to remind people that Christmas was never meant to be only a Hallmark moment. It is the day to remember Herod's order that the newly born of Bethlehem must be murdered. 

In recent years, this has become a time to mourn our modern culture of infanticide.  Like human slavery, euphemistically called Human Trafficking, abortion is merely infanticide with medical muscles.  It reminds us that warning against losing the Christian West's civilization could mean a throwback to pagan barbarism is lost on the hearing today.  The fact is, an increasing number of Western citizens appear to want to go back to an age of pagan barbarism, complete with infanticide, matricide, patricide, human sacrifice - as long as it means Hollywood versions of pagan sexuality is thrown into the mix.

Hence why the concern that we are moving to a post-justice, post-reconciliation era where guilt and innocence no longer matter is also falling on deaf ears.  The point isn't that we have blind and gullible sheep wandering after the next Cool Thing, unaware of the side effects that come with their goals.  They want those side effects.  They have determined that a world of eliminating the unwanted and those who threaten one's own fiscal reality that, as often as not, involves endless debauchery, greed and narcissism is a world worth having.

And it's this movement that the so called New Prolife Christians have allied with.  It is the same that those who use such terms as Social Justice, or Seamless Garment, now slavishly follow.  So while a decade ago, you could find so many across ol'St. Blogs using this day to lament the modern era of infanticide, today those who have posted on this are practically none.

A few who cling to the old ways have done so.  But so many who proudly call themselves New Prolife have posted nothing at all.  Or they have deflected to this or that political policy regarding immigration or healthcare or such.  Anything but dealing with the topic at hand.  Granted I couldn't search for everyone who goes by NPL, but of those I know who do, there was deafening silence.

When Christ was born into the world, the Roman Empire had only recently stepped into the fray in the regions around Jerusalem.  Rome was now the ruling authority, the dominant political reality.  Despite a history of bravely facing up to those who would challenge the Jewish faith, a great many residents of Judea by now seemed tired of the fighting.  Increasingly, Jews were learning that when in Rome, do as the Romans.  Some resisted, even violently.  But many sought ways to either preserve the Faith at Rome's pleasure, or just go full blown Greek and be no different than the Gentile Roman down the street, or just do what it takes to get by.  When Herod, a puppet of Rome, ordered this massacre, it was done in line with the prevailing culture of the day. Though those immediately impacted would no doubt be weeping along with Rachel, most had come to accept that this was the way of things now that Rome was in town.

Some things never change.  The silence of New Prolife Christians where abortion is concerned, or the desperate attempt to deflect to ludicrous and flawed notions of abortion being men's fault, or capitalists fault, or anyone else's fault, just shows that, deep down, they darn well know what they are doing. More to the point, those who have said nothing at all reveal themselves the most.  For the best way to see guilt is to note silence where outward opinions once would have been.  Bring up adultery, even as a joke, to someone sleeping around behind his spouse's back, and watch the eyes drop and look away.  Today, many who strut like peacocks under the self-proclaimed title 'New and Whole Prolife' have looked away. 

Banned from Mark Shea's platform for heresy, lies and sin - again!

Mark Shea, from Mark's blog, in a different age and time

Yep.  Mark lifted his universal bans a few weeks ago.  So initially I was just going to post a few one off warnings to Mark to pull up from the trajectory to hell that his apologetics appears to be on.  Then I decided, to atone for my many sins, I would read his blog every day and comment at least once a day through Advent.  At that point, I would wish a polite adios and offer a prayer for him to wake up in time.  I didn't comment every day, but did visit.

Now granted, I knew what I was getting into.  Mark resorts almost daily to lies and false accusation, calumny and defamation of character, spreading false rumors, character assassination, name calling, personal attacks, or similar things that apparently have made him quite a big name in Catholic apologetics circles.

So Mark posted a typical post emphasizing the rise of anti-Semitism, but exclusively that which is on the Right.  Included in this was labeling several he apparently doesn't like as closet Nazis with their own brand of anti-Semitism.  He's done that before, accusing this or that Catholic or Christian of being Nazi.  The Left has long used the old 'be liberal or be evil' tactic, and it's worked like a charm.  Mark and others across the Catholic blogs seem happy to use the same effective tactic.   That anti-Semitism is on the rise is doubted by nobody.  Hate crimes in general are on the rise.  And obviously, to any sane person who keeps up with the times beyond Left wing rags, the anti-Semitism is well beyond the borders of right wing neo-Nazi white supremacists.

Nonetheless, Mark naturally focused only on that Jew-bashing that could be used to subsequently bash opponents of the political Left and its narratives and policies. Included in the post was the usual 'opponents of George Soros only hate him because he's Jewish - thus Nazi!'  So I decided it might be worthwhile to see one of Mark's older posts on the subject:

Yep.  Banned.  Not even a chance to point out that perhaps others deserve the same consideration he's given himself on the subject.  Not a chance to rebuke Mark's false suggestion that I somehow defend anti-Jewish rhetoric.  The number of times my name has been dragged through the mud on Mark's blog being beyond count, but likely more than has ever happened in my life: among Orthodox, Protestant or non-Christians combined.  FWIW, if you ban someone for merely posting one of your own posts, that should set off bells and whistles right there.

But Mark has become like a mindless thrall of the political left.  Any deviation from the left, per Mark's rhetoric, proves your own brand of evil.  On Mark's pages, one's relationship to Christ comes across as some dashed off afterthought.  Sure, it's borderline heresy.  But Mark can hardly be blamed.  Increasingly across the Catholic Church, it's one's fealty to particular policies regarding immigration, global warming and the economy that defines one's righteousness and even pathway to heaven.  Actually living a chaste life or one in obedience to traditional Church teaching, or being charitable and giving to the poor, or even one's relationship to Christ, looks increasingly irrelevant.

Like a growing number today, whether by design or by accident, Mark acts as if it is fealty to the modern way that matters.  And like most, especially inclined as Mark is to his own brand of rhetorical flourish, failure to fall into Mark's circle of acceptance damns you.

I saw similar behavior to this in some more radical Protestant fundamentalist, independent churches back in the day.  But usually not this extreme.  That beyond the lies, sin and heresy of his own posts and comments, his combox is a bastion for racism, evil, murder, wishing death, abortion (including late term), witch hunts, sexual debauchery, heresy, blaspheme, tyranny, slander, anti-Christian and anti-Catholic rhetoric, merely reminds you of what was no doubt behind many who proudly goosestepped behind the ones who got invited to the best parties in Germany in the 1930s.  For example, lest you think I exaggerate, a smattering of comments from only a couple posts in a couple days:

When I called out Mark on his failure to reprimand the fellow who wished a gun rights activist's children would be murdered by cops, you'll note the limp-wristed 'ah come on now, stop with the whole I want children murdered thing - or I'll do something!'  Compare that to outright banning someone for merely posting one of Mark's own posts (you'll note that even after pushing back against Mark's criticism of wishing the children murdered, the commenter was allowed to post again).

Sure, Protestants had their Fred Phelps*.  But you know what?  Anyone who was anyone stepped as far away as humanly possible from him, and practically beat each other up to get to the microphone to condemn him.  But then, Phelps spewed hatred against the designs of the popular culture.  Mark's is right along with the designs of the popular culture.  Perhaps that's why he can say or do anything, or excuse or advocate anything, and he still gets accolades from the leaders and clergy and prominent voices of the Church.

Again, the problem is not - repeat, NOT - Mark.  It is that such a flagrant display of near blasphemy, heresy and sin is generated by someone not only popular, but one who is increasing his own profile among Catholics, Catholic leaders and even clergy and Catholic ministries.

Yes, in fairness, Mark seldom presents himself this way in public.  In an ironic twist, he almost personifies Social Media era passive aggression, in which face to face he swoons over people and insists he's just Mark and everyone just love Jesus and let's be friends.  He then slinks back to the protection of his computer screen and lobs his endless slander and lies and minimizing the manifold sins of the Left through any means necessary.   So there is a chance - a chance mind you - that not everyone knows of his alter ego.  Nonetheless, many do, and even make excuses for him.  And don't forget Catholic bishops who have moved aggressively against various Catholic ministries or spokesmen for far less, but for far more traditional perspectives.  This strongly suggests that, once again, there are those in the Church poised to ally with a grave and intrinsic power of Satanic evil rather than give up suffering for Jesus on upper middle class incomes at the best awards assemblies.

As my oldest son, who remains Catholic, once said, "The Catholic Church has taken some long naps in its history, and right now it is in the middle off one of its longest."  I fear he is right.

Oh, and lest you think I'm too harsh with the whole 'heresy, lies and sin' thing, I give you:

In other words, we came here to trash Jew hatred (which apparently means only those on the right who, per Mark, hate Jews - other examples being noticeably absent).  Do you disagree on abortion?  Do you support abortion?  It matters not what your reasons are.  Aborting babies is just one of those things we'll have to respectfully agree to disagree over.  But opposing Republican political and economic policies?  Now that is something over which we can come together as allies!  I give you the New Prolife Movement Seamless Garment in action and its take on what the teaching of the Church really should be about.

*BTW, this is not to suggest that Phelps was guilty of everything Mark engages in.  His issues are merely well known, and one of the closest comparisons I have from outside of the Catholic world.

Deacon Steven Greydanus attacks Kavanugh's yearbook

Yeah.  Really.  The low point of American politics in 2018, and the good deacon jumps on board the sham train.  Naturally, being good Catholic that he is, he takes the absolute worst, most leftist partisan interpretation of Kavanaugh's high school yearbook.  That's his high school yearbook.  If I was a Catholic at this point, I would reach out and say how shameful this is from such a well established Catholic deacon.

This as conveyed to me via Mark Shea who, naturally, gushes over all of the accusers - yes, all three of them - and dismisses anything from Kavanaugh.  You really have to see it to believe it.  Oh, and since both have banned me from their accounts for daring to question leftist narratives, I feel no guilt about pointing out their embarrassing devotion to the worst of the Left on my own page.

Remember, these are Catholics willing to unpack the adolescent years of a SCOTUS nominee, tearing apart any drinking, spinning any youthful joking, condemning even the slightest teenage indiscretion in a yearbook from high school.  We all know how puritanical Catholics are after all, especially when it comes to language.  But then, we all know how the Left has always championed an Ozzie and Harriet morality.  Here today, gone later today.  The Left's approach to morals.

Again, all of the good deacon's - and by extension, Mark's - take on this relies on accepting the worst possible interpretation of what Kavanaugh did - WHEN HE WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL.  Think on that. The great fear of the Left is that Kavanaugh might curtail unlimited abortion rights.  That's what this is all about, and everyone knows it.  And now you have Catholic apologist Mark Shea and Catholic deacon and movie critic Steven Greydanus jumping on board, accepting guilty until proven innocent, and joining the new puritanism that says anything but the most clean and puritanical behavior from an American adolescent can be grounds for wrecking your life at any point in the future.

Bonus points to Mark for dropping the pejorative 'White' into the mix, reminding us that Mark is also slavishly devoted to the new racism of the Left. Also note that, like Colbert, he doesn't care a whit about any suffering on Kavanaugh's part, or even mention Kavanaugh's family's suffering, choosing to mock and deride Kavanaugh's own pain that even the pagans have admitted was tough to watch. Apparently suffering and death threats only count when they're aimed at those who are useful to the Left.   New prolife.  Ha!

BTW, Catholics.  Stop bellyaching about the priests and leadership and the pope and all.  These two represent what the majority of Catholics are, and where they stand.  They'd rather adopt a puritanical McCarthyism filled with all of the false attacks and destruction of due process rather than take a chance on letting a judge on the court who might roll back abortion rights.  Before you go complaining about the bishops and cardinals, you might want to let that sink in.

The allies of the New Prolife Christians

Here:

The more that New Prolife Christians attempt to lay the blame for all sins at the feet of Capitalists, conservatives, men and whites, the more the emergent Left smacks them down.  They make it clear that it is not because of some financial burden or sexist man that a poor woman has no choice but to abort her baby.  They make it's clear they love abortion, they want abortions, it's power, it's control over life, it's free debauchery, and it's all done increasingly with the tacit approval or apathy of their allies in the Christian Left.   Allies who ironically call themselves New Prolife.

Truly this is a sing that cries out to heaven for vengeance.

"Abortion I salute you!
Women, if you need an abortion, get one!
If you want an abortion, get one! (emphasis mine)
If you're not pregnant and you think you might be and want to order a future abortion, get one!"
All to the cheers and adoration of the Leftist mob

This is the movement with which the post-Conservative and Leftist Christian movement has allied.

New Pro-Life Christians and NARAL: A Love Story

New Pro-Life means never having to confront abortion

Written by Herndon de la Rosa, and edited by Mark Shea.  You see, the New Prolife Christians (NPLCs) are, in fact, that religious wing of the emergent Left.  That is, they act as if they accept the Left's doctrine that the sanctity of life stops dead where its advantage for the Political Left ends, only with religious sounding spins.  By seamless garment, they increasingly mean what the Left means when it chastises someone like Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: You're either 100% with us every day on every issue, or you're 110% deplorable, irremediable or otherwise.

The Political Left, of course, doesn't care about the sanctity of human life any more than any other man made political movement necessarily does. It likely cares less.  After all, where was NARAL's protests back when Obama was deporting immigrants?  Where was NARAL or the press when immigrants were being detained and separated from their families in 2014?  Where were the cries of Holocaust, Auschwitz, Hitler and Nazi then?

You'd never know it,  from the Left or the NPLCs

Unless I'm missing something, that would be almost nowhere. Those cries would be the same place as the Left's coverage of half as many people dying of AIDS in America every year as murdered by guns.  That would be the Left that drops like a hot potato an unarmed American brutalized or killed by police when it turns out the police officer in question was black.  That would be the Left that thinks nothing of the misery and suffering brought to Americans by immigrants due to the skin color and heritage of those Americans.

Yes, the Left has schooled Christians in the teachings of St. Saruman* well, whether that's the reason for their capitulation or not.  You shall care about life when we say so if you're going to join with the new power that is rising.  This is the Political Left that elevates to the source and summit of all secular sacraments abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide and all manner of sexual gratification in the era of 36 million dead from AIDS.  This is the Left increasingly proud of its demands that all civil rights be subjugated to obedience to the Left. This is the Left that renounces the Christian Faith, even announcing that Christians who believe salvation is through Jesus have no business sitting near the front of the political bus. This is the Left that turns a blind eye to the suffering under Islam of religious, and other, minorities unless it can be used for political leverage in America.

And this is the Left that the so-called New Prolife Christians almost universally support.  How do the NPLCs reconcile with the various heretical beliefs and sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance that are embraced, advocated and promoted by the Left?

First, they make those sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance, like abortion, into nothing more than a matter of polite and respectful disagreement.  They then, in a manner similar to Pope Francis, elevate the various political platforms, narratives and policies of the Left to non-negotiables.  Global Warming, Open Borders, Post-National Global Government, Socialized Medicine, even acceptance of non-heterosexuality as a gift from God in all but name - these become the absolutes, the dogmas against which there is no argument.

What about issues associated with the modern Left, like sexual immorality, blaspheme, heresy, abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, state mandated termination of sickly children, embryonic stem cell research (yeah, remember that one)?   Those become the little points of departure with which we can lovingly and respectfully disagree.  If pressed, they are blamed on the Left's bogymen: Traditional white skinned American Christian men.  Abortion becomes the fault of vile Capitalist, rapists misogynists.  Euthanasia the unfortunate result of a Capitalist driven economy gone mad.  Suicide the sad consequence of mental and emotional problems born of an oppressive and wicked society.

And if those excuses don't do it, the NPLCs simply attack.  They attack the traditional believer and pro-lfie advocate through lies and insults, calumny and character assassination.  They embrace the modern progressive notion that we judge the hearts and minds, not the actual actions, of all who fail to conform.  Sure, the traditional Christian pro-lifer might look like they care, like they do the right thing, like they really value all life - but we've seen their wicked  hearts and know better!  Note that recurring theme in Mark's posts (though he is hardly alone).

Nope, the NPLCs are merely religious foot soldiers for the political Left.  Why, I don't know.  Maybe they just no longer believe anything that isn't filtered through a post-Christian world view.  Maybe they believe in the inevitability of progress, that we're just getting better all the time and the old ways are therefore necessarily wrong.  Or perhaps they have seen the writing on the wall, and are in no way prepared to become outcasts who are marginalized by a post-Christian society.  Their leaders realize that, to be blunt, if you want to be the next Billy Graham when living in the USSR, you have to wear a hammer and sickle.  And so they do.  Mark's entire piece is simply a long screed trying to square the round hole of having elevated political policy to sacred dogma and reduce sacred dogma and intrinsic evils to minor points of polite disagreement.

This is how it happens, BTW.  My sons, being homeschooled, learned that slavery wasn't something our evil and bigoted forefathers invented to slake their racist lust.  Rather, racism was the outgrowth that resulted from bringing slaves from Africa and eventually treating them differently than others in various forms of servitude.  As the slaves from Africa came in droves, those slave owners had to have an excuse, as humans always do.  That's where racism came from: a sinful rationalization for doing the wrong thing. FWIW, they also know that Europeans weren't the first to adopt racist justifications for African slavery, but that's for another post.

So those Christians today who want to serve Jesus and also want to be invited to all the best parties at the anti-Christian Kremlin must find excuses as well.  And those excuses are starting to sound a lot like those slave owners of old explaining why African slaves should be slaves for life; an excuse, a justification, a rationalization, but certainly not historical Christian teaching.  That so much of the NPLC's obedience to the Left depends on judging  the inner heart and soul of those who seem to do the right thing but don't conform to the political Left merely adds to the problem and should make it obvious that the NPLCs are on the wrong track.

It's worth noting that this sweet comment arrived on the blog, celebrating Mark's post:

Thank you.  This is a powerful and important testimony, and I say that as a former officer in the Texas chapter of NARAP and a monthly donor to Planned Parenthood.  There are people who think abortion is great – there are seven billion humans and many of them are terrible – but most of us think that abortion is like chemotherapy; a bad thing that is marginally better than a worse thing, and the worse thing in this instance is bearing a child that the women cannot care for or nurture. The Old PLM organized around a hatred for the changing role of women in society and tried to make themselves look good using pictures of newborns.  I don’t share their ultimate goal, but at least the New PLM women understand that abortion is a terribly complex problem that is poorly addressed by the criminal justice system.  I look forward to working with women like Destiny to make the world a more welcoming and nurturing place. 

And again, than you for your wisdom on this issue. 

In the olden days, most pro-life Christian blogs were not the place that former officers of organizations dedicated to providing abortions, and donors to the choice of abortion, came to sing praises and adoration of the blogger in question.  New Pro-Life indeed.

So how do you get abortion industry officers to sing your praises as a New Pro-Life Advocate?  To recap:

• Declare Sacred Dogma a matter of personal opinion that we can lovingly agree to disagree about.  Love Jesus, hate Jesus, piss on Jesus, it matters not.  What matters is: 
• Declare political narratives, premises, policies and platforms the Real Sacred Dogma that alone bringeth salvation and righteousness, and all who dare resist guilty of nothing less than mortal sin
• Emphasize verbal conformity to the political over and against actually doing the will of God (see the John Lennon principle for guidance)
• When confronted by the sins of the new progressive sacraments, you may do several things:

1. You may blame society or whatever bogeyman is in vogue 
2. You may deflect, focusing on some obscure stat and ignoring the stats that are inconvenient
3. You may simply cover up, ignore or downplay the sin altogether
4. You may attack those who point out the sin, falsely accusing them of secretly wanting to murder babies or Hitler as good as always; judging motives, heart and soul works well here 

• Finally, you let the political power dictate what is and isn't important, and when it is and isn't important.  If it says deporting immigrants is the next Holocaust (c. 2018), then so be it.  You must join in the outcry.  If, however, it chooses to downplay the deporting of immigrants (c. 2014), then you had best keep your mouth shut, too.  Remember, 100% obedience 110% of the time

And that, kiddies, is how you do it.  I'm beginning to think Rod Dreher is right. The time is coming when Christians will - and should - be an oppressed minority.  All of those jumping ship in order to align with the principalities and powers of this present darkness, for whatever reasons, will have to account for their allegiance in due time.

*' "And listen, Gandalf, my old friend and helper! " he said, coming near and speaking now in a softer voice. "I said we, for we it may be, if you will join with me. A new Power is rising. Against it the old allies and policies will not avail us at all. There is no hope left in Elves or dying Númenor. This then is one choice before you. before us. We may join with that Power. It would be wise, Gandalf. There is hope that way. Its victory is at hand; and there will be rich reward for those that aided it. As the Power grows, its proved friends will also grow; and the Wise, such as you and I, may with patience come at last to direct its courses, to control it. We can bide our time, we can keep our thoughts in our hearts, deploring maybe evils done by the way, but approving the high and ultimate purpose: Knowledge, Rule, Order; all the things that we have so far striven in vain to accomplish, hindered rather than helped by our weak or idle friends. There need not be, there would not be, any real change in our designs, only in our means."

The Lord of the Ring, The Fellowship of the Ring

Always remember, for every Christian martyr who was marched into German concentration camps, there were ten German Christians behind them with guns and swastikas on their armbands.