The Tim Tebow Focus on the Family Superbowl Ad

So I just finished watching the Superbowl, go Saints woot! And I caught the pro-life ad featuring Tim Tebow (a college football star) and his mother forFocus on the Family and I wanted to write down my thoughts before going to see what others said about it.

This ad sparked a lot of controversy because advertisements for advocacy groups aren’t normally allowed during the Superbowl. But for some reason CBS decided to take Focus on the Family’s ad, in spite of its controversial subject matter: abortion.

If it hadn’t been for the controversy over the ad I probably wouldn’t have paid attention to it. It was a really boring one compared to what you normally expect out of the Superbowl…and especially compared to the adorable ad that preceded it featuring Betty White. It started off with Tebow’s mom holding up a picture of him and saying:

I call him my miracle baby. He almost didn’t make it into this world. I can remember so many times when I almost lost him. It was so hard. Well, he’s all grown up now and I still worry about his health. You know with all our family’s been through we have to be tough.

At this point it feels like it might be an ad for a hospital or medical charity or something, I can see it ending with “thanks to the wonderful doctors at ______ I got to see my son win the Heisman.”

But what actually comes next is Tebow tackling his mother! What the??

And then there’s some banter between the two while Focus on the Family flashes their website, and that’s it! They want you to go to their website to hear the rest of Tim’s story, but I find the story as it’s represented in the commercial to be utterly uncompelling, so I don’t know why anyone would care to see the any more of it. But I guess I like torturing myself because I visited their website.

It links to a video of Tim’s parents talking about what happened, which is a snoozer about how they decided to go against their doctor’s recommendation to abort and risk his mother’s life, and how they’re so lucky because their baby came out healthy and grew up to be a role model and a football star. The message of the video is to put the baby’s life in god’s hands and to not abort but to have faith.

It’s a really dangerous message because although in the Tebows’ case everything worked out, other mothers may not be so lucky. Not to mention the pregnancy will not likely result in a football star. And for Mrs. Tebow to be preaching about not having an abortion is not fair. In her situation they intended to get pregnant, and she had the support of her husband to help her through her health issues throughout the pregnancy.

What about single mothers who can’t afford to take care of a child, or whose death would result in her other children becoming orphans? What about rape victims? It’s horrible to put this kind of shameless guilt trip on women who are going through the extremely difficult situation of choosing whether or not to abort.

The real kicker, and the part that makes me want to punch my computer screen, is when Mr. Tebow says tearfully to the camera: “Don’t kill your baby.” What a colossal asshole.

At the end of the video they quote from the Bible, John 10:10:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Basically saying that god is for life. Um news flash, even if you ignore all of the smiting god does throughout the Bible, if you believe that god designed the reproductive system then god is the biggest abortionist of them all. I’ve heard that between 30 and 50% of conceptions end in miscarriage (you can get some better numbers with references on Wikipedia). Is god killing all of those babies?

Abortion – the Reality Show

This is an interesting idea…a reality show (BUMP) that follows three women with unwanted pregnancies as they decide whether or not to keep the baby. And viewers get to decide what they do.

If you’re disgusted don’t worry, it’s all done with actors, and it’s simply a way to open up dialogue on what people go through when making a decision about getting an abortion:

BUMP+ The Experiment is an attempt to determine whether story can succeed where nearly four decades of angry rhetoric and political posturing have failed.

Inspired by President Obama’s call to people on both sides of the abortion debate to open the lines of communication and find workable solutions to the problem of unintended pregnancies, Yellow Line Studio is starting that conversation inside the safety zone of a fictional world based on real life situations.

Is our society willing to give it a try? How authentic are these characters? And how serious are we about an open, honest exploration of this controversial topic?

You tell us. Please.

The BUMP pilot premieres January 22, 2010. We can’t predict how it will end because we’re waiting for your input to finish the upcoming episodes.

That’s right – their choice is up to you.

Full disclosure: we’re thinking outside the ballot box here. (Real life isn’t that simple; and, besides, haven’t we all had enough of politics clouding this complicated issue?) We’ll be crafting the episodes to reflect the ongoing discussion on our website boards, so sign in and start talking. We can’t have a conversation by ourselves. Please be kind, though; and remember that we’ve already heard every argument on both sides. In this forum, we’re looking for authentic stories, honest communication, and – hopefully – a continuing dialog. We may even incorporate your experiences into future episodes; but no matter what, you have our promise that your feedback will determine the final decisions for our characters.

Watch the episodes. Share your story. Join the conversation. Their choice is (really) up to you.

I think this is brilliant. The show is going to be shaped by peoples’ real experiences with abortion, and hopefully it will give anti-abortionists some insight into what women considering abortion as an option really go through.

The pilot and the first episode are up here.

Do you think show is a good idea?

The Manhattan Declaration

I don’t get on Twitter very often, but today I decided to check it out today, and thanks to Dave the Happy Singer‘s tweets, found out about this disgusting document called the Manhattan Declaration.

The subtitle of this document is “A Call of Christian Conscience”. If this document is any indication of the Christian conscience, well…I’m speechless.

Here are some exerpts from the declaration, but I suggest you read it yourself to get a glimpse into the mind of some of these people who are opposing gay marriage and womens’ rights to abortions, as well as trying to insert their religious beliefs into America’s secular government:

[…]the institution of marriage, already buffeted by promiscuity, infidelity and divorce, is in jeopardy of being redefined to accommodate fashionable ideologies; that freedom of religion and the rights of conscience are gravely jeopardized by those who would use the instruments of coercion to compel persons of faith to compromise their deepest convictions.

Allowing gay marriage does not compel any person of faith to do anything. It’s as if they think that providing this right to someone else is tantamount to forcing them to marry someone of the same sex. Nobody is asking you to be gay! You don’t even have to like gay people, just let them have their rights and keep your nose out of their business.

For example, human embryo-destructive research and its public funding are promoted in the name of science and in the cause of developing treatments and cures for diseases and injuries.

Hmm, are they taking about stem-cell research? Honestly…if you’re going to oppose something, at least makes sure you understand what it is. Stem-cells used for research aren’t, and will never be, babies. And using them to develop treatments and cures, they say that like it’s a bad thing! I thought they were pro-life, yet they don’t want to allow for potentially life-saving research?

Oh dear FSM…they go on to equate stem-cell research with assisted suicide:

Eugenic notions such as the doctrine of lebensunwertes Leben (“life unworthy of life”) were first advanced in the 1920s by intellectuals in the elite salons of America and Europe. Long buried in ignominy after the horrors of the mid-20th century, they have returned from the grave. The only difference is that now the doctrines of the eugenicists are dressed up in the language of “liberty,” “autonomy,” and “choice.”

Wow, there are some parts of this document that I won’t even copy over to my blog, it’s gross.

Vast human experience confirms that marriage is the original and most important institution for sustaining the health, education, and welfare of all persons in a society.

Does all persons include women? Because maybe they didn’t read about the possible lifting of the ban on spousal rape in the Bahamas, or maybe they missed the Islamic guide to beating your wife without leaving marks? The document talks about how we need to stop the spread of AIDS, do they think marriage does this? I guess they haven’t heard about unfaithful husbands in Africa bringing spreading AIDS to their wives. But I suppose they would say these people aren’t Christians…well the document quotes Ephesians 5:32-33. Did they happen to notice Ephesians 5:22-23? The part where it says that womens should submit to their husbands? I suppose that’s for their welfare. (barf).

At least they admit that they aren’t doing so well when it comes to marriages:

We confess with sadness that Christians and our institutions have too often scandalously failed to uphold the institution of marriage and to model for the world the true meaning of marriage. Insofar as we have too easily embraced the culture of divorce and remained silent about social practices that undermine the dignity of marriage we repent, and call upon all Christians to do the same.

Maybe they’ll be able to model the true meaning of marriage by focusing on their own damn families, and by not worrying about what gay people are doing.

No one has a civil right to have a non-marital relationship treated as a marriage. Marriage is an objective reality—a covenantal union of husband and wife—that it is the duty of the law to recognize and support for the sake of justice and the common good. If it fails to do so, genuine social harms follow.

 #$&*%^$@#%$@%%#$*!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have no more words. I want to believe that most of the purported 333,642 people who have signed so far just got bored after the first paragraph and signed not realizing what it actually said, but give the United States’ record on gay rights, I doubt it.

[Note: Hopefully this hasn’t been too incoherent…I’ve been listening to anti-atheist podcasts all day and now this, my brain is turning to mush]

Family Guy’s Abortion Episode Aborted

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane revealed on a Comic Con panel that Fox may not be allowing the release of an episode dealing with abortion:

“20th Century Fox, as always, allowed us to produce the episode and then said, ‘You know what? We’re scared to f–king death of this,'” MacFarlane said.

I’m completely against censorship, so I was hoping that they would cave and allow the episode to air, but then Fox released this statement:

“Fox will not air the ‘Partial Terms of Endearment’ episode of ‘Family Guy,’ but we fully support the producers’ right to make the episode and distribute it in whatever way they want.”

Pathetic! Seriously I think it’s impossible to offend Family Guy fans, why draw a line now? Hopefully this one goes the way of  “When You Wish Upon a Weinstein” and makes it to the air eventually.

Racism, Abortion and Criminal Justice over Breakfast

At breakfast this morning my husband and I got into some good discussions over a few issues, so I thought I would post them here to have others weigh in.

1. There’s a custody battle happening locally that brought up an interesting question. If you don’t take into consideration any other factors such as whether physical and emotional needs are being met, should parents who teach their kids to be racist have them taken away?

2. When do you think a person becomes a person? Are late-term abortions morally reprehensible?

3. Would more punitive (longer sentencing, death penalty) punishments discourage people from committing crimes?

What are your thoughts on these issues?

Scott Roeder Charged with Murder Today in Shooting Death of Abortion Clinic Doctor

Despite being shot once before and feeling so threatened that he had to wear a bulletproof vest to work every day, Dr. George Tiller, an abortion doctor in Kansas, was shot to death on Sunday while serving at an usher at his church.

The man who killed him was charged with murder today. If convicted, he’ll face a mandatory life sentence and won’t be eligible for parole for 25 years.

Tiller was a hero. He provided a difficult service that saved lives:

Susan Hill, President of the National Women’s Health Foundation, who knew Dr. Tiller for over two decades and referred girls and women to his clinic, said in a phone interview, “We always sent the really tragic cases to Tiller.” Those included women diagnosed with cancer who needed abortions to qualify for chemotherapy, women who learned late in their pregnancies that their wanted babies had fatal illnesses, and rape victims so young they didn’t realize they were pregnant for months. “We sent him 11-year-olds, 12-year-olds who were way too far along for anybody [else] to see,” said Hill. “Eleven-year-olds don’t tell anybody. Sometimes they don’t even know they’ve had a period.”

A couple who had to make the difficult decision to abort their conjoined twins said:

The nightmare of our decision and the aftermath was only made bearable by the warmth and compassion of Dr. Tiller and his remarkable staff.

The brave clinic staff will resume regular services beginning monday.

If you wish to honour Tiller’s life in some way, consider making a donation to a pro-choice organization.