Sunday, January 18, 2004 was the thirty-first anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. It is the judicial event that legitimatised abortion. In Phoenix, almost 600 people gathered in the warm sun at Steel Park for a Pro-Life Commemoration Rally. Among the speakers were: Catholic Bishop Thomas Olmsted, of Phoenix, who delivered a sensitive message, and Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, who did not.
The rally was populated by earnest souls in a picnic setting. But some of it’s leaders wallowed in hypocrisy before the crowd.
The rally began with compromise. The “mistress” of ceremonies was a lady named Sydney. Sydney is a mainline Republican lobbyist turned local neo-con talk show host. She is known to outdo Rush Limbaugh in her screeching “bomb-em” rhetoric. Her support for the administration’s war policy was not unique at this “pro-life” rally.
Sydney suffers from “Christian Racism” according to the sign: CHRISTIAN RACISM KILLS PALESTINIANS?which she had to look directly at as she spoke. Sydney, with her record of scantily disguised hatred of Muslims and Arabs, epitomizes the shocking worldview that combines the issue of anti-abortion with a radical pro-war rhetoric.
This warped rationale led us to picket this conference.
Eight Project Strait Gate volunteers formed three teams. One team set up on the top of a pronounced hill overlooking the outdoor amphitheater on the fringe of the lounging crowd in front of the speakers, and one at a distance of 50 yards on a high knoll overlooking the speaker’s podium. The latter team held big signs that were easily read by all:
BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS,
A bloody painting,
INNOCENT BLOOD ON OUR HANDS, IRAQ- GAZA.
The second group of three held, or propped against convenient trees, a total of five signs directly in the speakers? line of sight, and flanking the crowd. The signs included:
CHOOSE PEACE, NOT WAR
PROJECT STRAIT GATE, (our address and phone)
CHRISTIAN RACISM KILLS PALESTINIANS
IRAQ, WWJD?
Three volunteers did not hold signs but distributed literature, an easy to pocket 3 x 8 in., bookmark with a message, PRO LIFE? HOW ABOUT THE LIFE OF TEABA (a little Iraqi Orphan girl). Literature was distributed to approximately half those attending the rally.
Project Strait Gate expressed its purpose in our letter to Bishop Olmsted:
“To influence fellow Christ-followers to oppose successive slaughter in the Mideast and to recognize the effect these acts of deliberate annihilation have on the morals of our own people. Americans are now among the victims of the war almost every day. But even when none of “ours” are killed, they are being fashioned into assassins and brutal occupiers, which is not what most Christ-followers should desire for their children.”
Our volunteers answer inquiries with this question:
“Do you think one can be for the unborn children in America but also for the bombing of children, unborn and born, in Iraq and Palestine (like the one pictured on our hand out)”?
Amid the devout, the dedicated, the prayerful and the hopeful, U.S. Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, seized the opportunity to take advantage of the crowd and made a campaign speech for G. W. Bush and Republicans in general, systematically tarring each of the Democrat challengers.
Until the recent Partial-birth Abortion Ban, which many have exposed to be of no value in saving lives, Senator Kyl had not been known to cast a vote for a pro-life measure. He is the darling of the large, overwhelmingly “pro-choice” Jewish contingent in Scottsdale/Phoenix.
The senator boasted of his support for the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban, proclaiming it a great victory and turning point for life. It is in fact, a shabby fraud that may not save a single baby. Anyone who doubts this has only to read Partial-Birth Ban of No Effect, New Law Encourages Up-to-full Term Abortions, by Jim Rudd.
Senator Kyl is the Arizona poster boy of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, (AIPAC) where he was a keynote speaker at a conference in May 2002. He is also one of G. W. Bush’s most outspoken supporters of bombing Iraq, much to the glee of AIPAC. There he also promised unconditional support to the State of Israel, see “Lobby for Dollars AIPAC Meeting features Senator Jon Kyl who Pledges Support to Israel.”
In spite of his record, Senator Kyl was given the floor at the rally. He appeared irritated by the sign and seemed to take the challenge personally. He did the unthinkable for a politician, he recognized Project Strait Gate, stating condescendingly:
“There are some here who disagree with us. I see one sign CHOOSE LIFE NOT WAR, and I want to tell those people that when we went into Iraq to make war we brought life to the Iraqi people.”
The Senator “made our day” by directing attention to us.
Immediately, the line of visitors to our outposts increased from a trickle to a steady stream. Students and young couples came out of the crowd up our little private hill, even during the speeches. Some, usually older persons, denounced our volunteers, angered by:
“CHRISTIAN RACISM KILLS PALESTINIANS.”
We explained that if you are for Israelis and against Palestinians on account of ethnicity, a definition of “racism.” is applicable. Can a Christ follower be a racist?
Others, especially the young, took literature and openly showed concern over the hypocrisy of the bombing of Arab civilians and children. Some asked us to explain what the signs really meant, and listened to answers.
Three young women came as a group and stayed, and one asked if we would pray for their discernment and understanding of the conflict she had found anew that day. We did pray with her. Most took home packages of Strait Gate information.
Purpose Accomplished
We confronted the meeting to explain why the pro-life movement has failed?
There are only two reasons:
First, the political, corporate churches have not taught in an understandable manner how to consistently support the pro-life movement. We have done so. Pro-lifers must take their velvet gloves off and picket the church.
Second, those dedicated few who have stepped out of the church have made the mistake of thinking they can trust elected, Christian professing officials (like Kyl and Sydney).
Both problems were clearly visible at The Commemoration and Pro-Life (for some people) Rally. Project Strait Gate leaders speak not from afar as critics, but as participants who have experienced everything we condemn.
Both problems have also been clearly exposed in two in depth articles in Pharisee Watch, which document why, after 31 years, hundreds of millions of contributed dollars, millions of men and women hours, including many days spent by dedicated volunteers in court and in jails, the pro-life movement has failed miserably.
To Form Your Own Project Contact Strait Gate Ministries:
For further reason why you should do so, read The Heart Breaks
January 24, 2004 By Haaretz (Israel) where Gideon Levi, an Israeli journalist with it leading daily tells the story of a family in pain…but the story can not tell us how the man who fired the shot must feel…and how American boys who are fire shots like this will someday feel.
Free Resources:
In the Realm of Judeo‑Christianity, Some Lives are More Precious than Others, by Charles E. Carlson
The Source of Our War Problem: Why Judeo-Christians Do Not Demand
Zion’s Secret, the Hidden Facts About Abortion in Militarist Israel
Why the Pro-Life Movement Need Not Fail: Part One: Stop Trusting False Political Leaders Who Claim to be Christians
By Charles E. Carlson
Signs for your vigil are available: inquire
Books, Tapes And Videos about the Israel and it hold on Americas Churches:
WHY THE MID-EAST BLEEDS – Theodore Winston Pike
Israel 1948: Super Sign of the Last Days? What the Bible says about Israel. Are we in the “End Times?”
by Don K. Preston
