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Bad Faith from Focus on the Family
In terms of strategy, there is nothing new here. "Abortion reduction" via public policy and other means has been part of a two tier strategy, (the other of which is criminalization) for at least a quarter century. This fresh overture is more in line with the long history of "common ground" discussions that have been held under a variety of auspices over many years, none of which have produced much, except to sometimes allow the Religious Right to come to treat others better (see here and here for example). According to the Denver Post: Focus spokesman Gary Schneeberger said the ministry doesn't yet have the list of abortion-rights supporters it will contact, but Focus will reach out to that movement. Schindler's List is of course, the famous film, based on a real life story of how a German businessman saved the lives of more than a thousand Polish Jews who would have been exterminated in a concentration camp. If this is a Schindler's List moment, then abortion is the holocaust and abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood are Nazis. We have seen this Religious Right script too many times. The most notorious example for me was when Rick Warren, during a nationally broadcast presidential candidate forum hosted by his church, called for people on opposing sides in public life not to demonize each other. That sounded great until he called abortion a "holocaust" -- thereby casting those with whom he disagrees as Nazis. Jim Daly, current honcho of Focus on the Family, told the Denver Post that he wants to have more conversations and fewer fights. It would be nice to believe that. But if he is going to convince anyone of his sincerity, his spokesman can start by stopping the Nazi analogies. But a few minutes on the Focus on the Family web site, suggests that the problem is not limited to the FoF spokesperson or to Nazi analogies. Jim Daly blogging about this initiative on the Focus on the Family web site states: "We don't just talk about evil - we look at how the Lord might use us to help stop it... The Lord is on our side."He asks readers to click over to Citizen Link, the political arm of FoF "to learn more." When we get there, what we learn is that FoF is promoting the hoax undercover sting video produced by Live Action, and calling for readers to mobilize to get Congress to defund Planned Parenthood. Focus on the Family could hardly do more to suggest that they are acting in bad faith -- than to frame their common ground outreach in terms of the Nazi holocaust, support disreputable activists like Live Action, and urge Congress to defund the very organization with whom it wants to enter a supposedly well-intentioned conversation. On the other hand, maybe they are sincere in wanting to find a civil way of finding some common ground and just have a funny way of showing it.
Bad Faith from Focus on the Family | 177 comments (177 topical, 0 hidden)
Bad Faith from Focus on the Family | 177 comments (177 topical, 0 hidden)
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