Angel of God, my guardian dear,
To whom God’s love commits me here,
Be ever this day at my side,
To light, to guard, to rule and guide.
Lord, give thine angels every day
Command to guard us on our way,
And bid them every evening keep
Their watch around us while we sleep.
John Mason Neale
by Gabrielle Timm
A few weeks ago, I read an opinion piece in The Hustler titled “The hypocrisy of anti-abortion extremists” by Molly Corn. The entire piece was written from a pro-choice perspective, and while I am pro-life, my response is prompted by the author’s direct and indirect comments about adoption.
Corn states that she believes “it (abortion) is right because every child deserves to be a gift, not an accident.” While the debate about when life begins will go on, a statement implying that because a child results from an unwanted pregnancy, he or she is not a gift is absurd.
I am adopted. To be more specific, I am the unplanned result of a one-night stand that likely involved alcohol. After my birth mother became aware of her pregnancy, my birth father wanted an abortion and she seriously considered that option for a while.
While I am an “accident,” I think it is possible to be both an accident and a gift. To my parents, who weren’t able to have biological children, I am a gift. To imply otherwise is insensitive and offensive to me, to my parents and to many adopted children and their parents, as well as to the courageous people who chose adoption over abortion.
The piece wasn’t directly about adoption, but Corn links to a column that disparages adoption as a genuine alternative for those with an unwanted pregnancy and includes several misrepresentations about adoption and the pro-life movement. The message seems clear: Life is only a gift if it is planned and/or wanted by its biological parents.
The column states that the pro-life movement often makes adoption out to be “the easy choice.” My birth mother, and others like her, did not make an easy choice. But, to many people, adoption is the only moral solution to an incredibly difficult situation when a birth parent does not want to raise the child or is unable to do so. To interpret the pro-life position so superficially, or to state it as a fact, is a gross misrepresentation of the pro-life movement’s stance as a whole regarding adoption.
The article also cites that the number of adoptions that occur annually is stagnant. Combined with the discussion about the danger of babies ending up in foster care should abortion cease to be legal, this article seems to imply that there is not a very large demand for domestic infant adoption. However, in recent years, the rate of babies being placed for adoption has dropped for a variety of reasons, including the widespread and common acceptance of abortion services and changing attitudes toward single parenting. While there are no readily available national statistics that track the number of couples looking to adopt, Richard Pearlman (executive director of the Adoption Center of Illinois, who has worked in the field for more than 26 years) notes that there is still a strong demand to adopt infants, evidenced by waiting lists which average six to 12-month waits.
A large part of the linked column discusses emotional negatives surrounding adoption, failing to fully address the serious problems abortion causes. Dr. David Ferguson, a pro-choice researcher, conducted a study that found women who had abortions were significantly more likely to experience mental health illnesses such as depression. Ferguson continues to be pro-choice, but noted in an interview that it would be foolish to not take the risks and benefits into account when considering abortion.
Adoption is a challenging and courageous choice. The adoption agency I was adopted through (Adoption Center of Illinois at Family Resource Center) even has links on its blog discussing the emotional difficulties birth mothers face. Judging the adoption alternative requires thoughtful consideration of the real issues associated with both adoption and abortion.
Finally, fewer than 140,000 total adoptions occur annually in the United States, which include international adoptions, adoptions from foster care, adoptions by step-parents, etc. Fewer than 20,000 of those are domestic infant adoptions. I would be very skeptical when reading statistics or articles arguing that many adopted children suffer from emotional problems due to separation from their biological mother, since the studies include all ages of adopted children and do not account for early experiences in foster care, orphanages, etc. A child’s emotional health, whether they are adopted or not, recognizes the important truth that families are bound not solely through biological ties, but through unconditional love.
I do not feel abandoned by my birth mother, who at the time of my birth had recently graduated from college. If I ever meet her, my first words would be to tell her how grateful I am that she decided to place me for adoption and how I think she is incredibly brave for giving me the gift of life and the gift of a child to my parents.
My life is a gift, even if it was an accident.
via LETTER: Prolife adoptee shares her story – The Vanderbilt Hustler: Opinion.
Vicar of Baghdad: Four Iraqi Christian Kids Beheaded After Refusing to Convert to Islam, Telling ISIS Militants ‘No, We Love Jesus’
By Samuel Smith , CP Reporter
December 2, 2014|2:12 pm
Rev. Canon Andrew White Speaks About The Persecution of Iraqi Christians.,
“Four Iraqi Christian children, who were all beheaded by the Islamic State, refused to betray Jesus and graciously died in his name when the ISIS militants gave them one last chance to say the Islamic words of conversion, the Rev. Canon Andrew White revealed in a recent interview.
In an interview last week with the Christian Broadcast Network published on the Orthodox Christian Network, White, who is the only Anglican vicar in Iraq and is know as “The Vicar of Baghdad,” detailed the plight of Christians in Iraq and recounted two instances when Islamic State’s forceful conversions directly pulled the strings of his heart.
Speaking on ISIS’ brutal mistreatment of religious minorities, White recounted the recent incident when ISIS militants beheaded four kids, all of whom were under the age of 15, when the kids refused to say that they would follow the Prophet Muhammad and told the ISIS fighters that they will always “love” and “follow” Jesus.”
Advent Contemplation – The First Heartbeat
In praise and thanksgiving for the first beat
Of the Sacred Heart of Him
Who was born,
Savior and King.
As today, new life is conceived,
And secreted away in a woman’s womb,
Known only to God in darkness,
As it’s rhythms begin a song of praise
Ever so silent.
Then the moment of joyous awakening,
A singular throb sends a resounding shiver
Through amniotic waters,
Alerting angels of one more heart
Ready to join their chorus of hosannas.
Sounds full of thankfulness,
A eucharist of being and becoming,
Ever so sacred,
To the glory of God.
copyright 2014 Joann Nelander
Joann Nelander
lionessblog.com
“At the end of his three-day visit to Turkey Pope Francis said that he understood how Muslims were offended by the stereotype that equates Islam with terrorism. “They say: ‘No, we are not this, the Koran is a book of peace, it is a prophetic book of peace. This is not Islam,’” he said.
Turkish Muslim academics and researchers from “The Centre For European Studies” at Istanbul Bilgi University, pointed out to the western media, at the end of Pope Benedict XVI visit to Turkey in 2006, that “the only thing that will change the attitude of Turkey’s Muslims toward its Christians, is if we take all of the school text books, including the Koran, that teach Muslim kids to hate Christians and burn them”.
Turkish president Erdogan supported the previous notion of the Turkish academics by showing his contempt of the West in linking directly Islamic Terrorism on growing anti-Muslim sentiments in Europe and America, and the growing Western conspiracies to dominate the Middle East. Erdogan insisted during Pope Francis’ visit to Istanbul that there was a “very serious and rapid trend of growth in racism, discrimination, and hatred of others, especially Islamophobia in the West.”
Let us analyze closely the following verses from The Koran and see who hates the “OTHERS” more, the West or Islam:
“Know that we send down to the unbelievers (Jews and Christians) Devils who incite them to evil. Therefore have patience: their days are numbered”. Koran 19:87
This verse is often chanted during the beheading rituals we often see on radical Islamic websites. For the pious Muslim beheading his defenceless hostage, it is an act of heroic proportion, because he is slaughtering the Devil incarnated in the human form of an Infidel.
“Satan has gained possession of The People of The Book (Jews and Christians) and caused them to forget Allah’s warnings. They are the confederates of Satan; Satan’s confederates shall assuredly be lost in hell. The Believers are the confederates of Allah (Hizbollah); and Allah’s confederates shall surely triumph”. Koran 58:19
Another verse recited frequently in the background of beheading rituals, to reinforce the view that by slaughtering Christians and Jews, a pious Muslim is killing Satan not an innocent captive.
“We will put terror into the hearts of the unbelievers (Jews and Christians). They serve other Gods for whom no sanction has been revealed. Hell shall be their home; dismal indeed is the dwelling place of the evil-doers”. Koran 3:149
A verse often used by Salafist radicals to spread terror and encourage Muslims to kill indiscriminately innocent children, women, and seniors attending a wedding or using the public transit system. After all Jews and Christians worship Gods that have not been sanctioned by the Allah of Islam, and they are all classified as evil-doers who shall perish in an earthly hell of Muslim design, make, and timing.
“Do you fear the unbelievers (Jews and Christians)? Surely Allah is more worthy of your fear. If you are true believers make war on them; Allah will chastise them through you and humble them. He will grant you victory over them and heal the spirit of the faithful”. Koran 9:14
A favorite passage of Hizbollah fighters in Lebanon, who scored with the help of Allah a “Divine Victory” against the mightiest army in The Middle East (IDF 2006). Hassan Nasrallah, the supreme leader of The Hizbollah movement in Lebanon exploits this passage extensively in his fiery speeches to remind his followers that Allah’s will for the believer is very clear; his or her primary religious duty should be to wage war on the Jewish State of Israel to liberate Jerusalem, destroy Christian unbelievers who sustain the existence of Israel, and thus impose on the “Kouffar” Allah’s agenda for the salvation of humanity.
“Cast into hell every hardened unbeliever, every opponent from the people of the book (Jews and Christians), and every doubting transgressor who has set up another God besides Allah. Hurl him into the fierce tormenting flames of hell”. Koran 50:21
Suicide bombers use this verse (in videos taped prior to their heroic operations) to justify the blowing up of their explosive charges on buses and in a variety of public places frequented by Jews and Christians. By becoming a “Shahid” (Arabic for martyr) and securing a place in Allah’s heavenly kingdom, the suicide bomber is hurling his victims (hardened unbelievers) into the fierce tormenting flames of hell-the inferno created by the explosion in a confined space.
Believers, do not make friends with any men other than your own people. They will spare no pains to corrupt you. They desire nothing but your ruin. Their hatred is clear from what they say, but more violent is the hatred which their breasts conceal”. Koran 3:117
These verses are used extensively every Friday, in dozens of mosques located in major capitals such as London, Paris, Brussels, Spain, Toronto…to deepen the schism between Muslims and non-believers, and insulate them from any arguments that may challenge radical Islamist narratives. The time has come to reinforce the key principle that no democracy has any legal or moral obligation to tolerate the intolerable, including Muslim presidents like Erdogan.
And to all Western apologists who believe that tolerance should remain one of the most distinct characteristics of democracies, I invite them to reflect on the following statement of British novelist
Dorothy Sayers:“In this world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called indifference, the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.” ”
Sergei Bourachaga
Be Holy! 