Last week a small group of protesters from Operation Save America marched on the campus of Eden Theological Seminary. You can read my post about the protest here. They now have their version of events posted on their web site. This group is about as extremist as they get and their advocacy borders on the promotion of violence. Here are a few excerpts from their site:
If you wanted to see the gates of hell manifest...here they are. The theological students have no standard of the Bible. The wolves dress like pastors. They're dangerous and they're populating the church of our day. You have to deal with wolves ferociously. According to Timothy, an Eden student, everything is complicated. It has to be complicated if you want it to be covered up with lies.
It's obvious to little children that this is evil. Yet to some it's always “more complicated." Jesus said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was Your good pleasure." Matthew 11:25-26. If you don't become like a child you won't understand. The devil has to complicate everything to cover up the truth and to make a "no" a "yes." The devil confuses and complicates. Homosexuality- they say it's complicated; these brilliant theologs of the University of Sodom called to lead straight to hell. It's complicated to get someone to go to hell. It's complicated to cover up with lies.
The President, David M. Greenhaw, came out & kicked us off the campus because it had been reported that someone walked in and disrupted their classes.
We took the truth to the streets. It was the worst of times, but it was the best of times. We hit the streets when they kicked us off the campus. Sodom Theological Seminary was the best kept secret in Webster Groves . It was exposed. Theology became biography in the streets. A lot of people drove by. Reporters stopped for interviews. We got thumbs up of support by passing drivers. The banners outside this institution read: Eden, called to lead..straight to hell! We proclaimed.
How do you reason or dialogue with people who have views like these? It would be easy to demonize all anti-abortion advocates as unthinking and dangerous. The folks involved with Operation Save America certainly fit that bill. But the truth is, as always, more complicated.
As a pro-choice Christian, I recognize there are people of good faith and with well intentioned motives who strongly disagree with me. No one (despite the rhetoric of the extremists) wants abortions to occur. It should be safe, legal, and rare. It is when we demonize all those who disagree with us that we fail in our obligation to love each other. Then dialogue becomes impossible.
Pro-choice and pro-life supporters need to be in a dialogue to discuss ways to prevent unwanted pregnancies, increase adoption, and to support the needs of children the world over born into hunger, poverty and despair.
Don’t let the actions of the people with Operation Save America end the conversation before it begins.
