I spent this evening at the local Right to Life group's yearly Banquet. I was there to run a camera to record the event. The main speaker was Janet L. Folder, the author of The Criminalization of Christianity. And I have to say, probably the most compelling difference between a KKK rally and a Right to Life Banquet is that in many ways the KKK is more subtle. That, and the audience of a KKK rally is usually not 95% octogenarians.
It began with an aid reading a letter from our State Representative who could not attend as he had to be in Washinton voting against The Employment Non-Discrimination Act which was described in the letter as, "The ENDA our Religious Freedoms act". After this the bar was set so god-damned low that unmitigated ignorance ran rampant throughout the proceedings. Here are the highlights:
- According to one speaker once upon a time a 14 year old girl got knocked up and was able to keep the child and raise it. Thus proving once and for all that ever 14 year old, ever, is capable of raising a child on their own.
- An ex-cancer patient shared her story in which she had cancer, was pregnant, and was able to deliver the child and successfully battle cancer. Proving that any pregnant cancer patient who chooses to abort her child is a cold-blooded murderer.
- I learned that life begins at conception, and no scientist will refute this fact.
- I learned that one can use science to support one's claim of a fetus' humanity and at the same time refer to Evolution as a myth.
- I learned that Roe V. Wade is a wall that must be torn down. Despite the fact that walls hamper action, and Roe V. Wade enables action.
- I learned that every Christian should vote for Mike Huckabee if we wish to "win the abortion battle".
- I learned that everything in the Bible is literally true. And in 2007 one can cite the story of the walls of Jericho as proof that God will help us tear down the wall of Roe V. Wade. And if you're in a room full of people who are ignorant enough? They will cheer.
- I learned that Al Gore won the Florida recount, and it was the prayers of Evangelicals that allowed Bush to win the election despite the electoral system of the United States of America.
- I learned that there is no Separation of Church and State.
- I learned that hate crime laws based upon an individual "feeling threatened" are absurd. I learned that threatening abortion doctors is both fine and dandy.
- I learned that in California there are Abortion Mills.
- I learned that Right to Life groups use Billboards because, "If a woman is driving to an abortion doctor they will see our sign and change their mind." Because people are basically unthinking sheep.
- I learned that no argument for Personal Freedoms and Choice with regard to Abortion is sensible and all are the result of a desire to kill children.
- I learned that the entire abortion debate is in fact not nuanced or complicated for it can be reduced to "Do you want a Dead Baby or do you want a Living Baby?"
- I learned that we were all fetuses at one time, which means that all fetuses are human beings.
And finally, I learned that now matter how long human beings exist, no matter how much we learn an explore, no matter how far we evolve and grow as a species, there will always be ignorant, ignorant, ignorant, ignorant people who cling to the ideas held in a book composed by Cattle-Sacrificing Primitives who thought every species of animal lived within walking distance of Noah's house.
