WFWP Publishes First In A Series Of Booklets On Application Of Divine Principle To Everyday Life

by Lynn Mathers-NYC

Insights Into The Afterlife: Thirty Questions and Answers on What to Expect is the title of a new 30-page booklet published by Women's Federation for World Peace. Nora Spurgin, President of WFWP and author of the booklet, says it was a collaborative effort which was written for the purpose of applying the truths of the Divine Principle to life (and the afterlife). It is the first in a series of such booklets which she envisions. She states, "Such a series would be an excellent witnessing tool. I would like to find several people who would like to help me do them on other topics, for example, 30 questions and answers on Marriage and the Family; on Raising Children; on Choosing a Spouse; etc."

Insights Into The Afterlife begins and ends with the personal experience of the author and several close friends as they experienced the illness and the death of their friend and co-worker, Linna Rapkins. Between these personal accounts are the following 30 questions and their answers about death, dying, and the afterlife:

Is there life after death? How do we know? If life continues after physical death, where is such life lived? What is a near-death experience ? Is going to the spirit world automatic? What is the spirit world like? Can spiritual growth take place on the other side ? Are people on the spiritual side aware of our passing? Will we know and be with our relatives and friends who have passed on before us? What will we look like in the spiritual world? What will we do in the spiritual world? Do we have to be religious? If we are not religious, what happens? Does what we believe and practice in different religious traditions make a difference in terms of quality of life in the spiritual world? Will we meet God and other religious figures? Of what significance are repentance and making amends before we die? What about heaven and hell? What could we do while still living in the physical body to make a better transition at death? After entering the spirit world, can we return to loved ones on earth? Why can't people on earth see or hear the spirit if it is still alive and trying to make contact? Do our prayers for the deceased help? Is there time and space in the spiritual world? Can we still enjoy physical and sensual pleasure in the spirit world; for example, food, drink, and sex? What happens to one who commits suicide? Does suffering on earth have spiritual value? What about reincarnation? Are angels different from spirits of people who have lived on earth? Are there demonic spirits and angels? Do we pass through some kind of judgement on our earthly life? Are there marriages in the next life? If I'm married now, will our family be together? What are some guidelines for disposing of one's estate?

Mrs. Spurgin sees this as a piece of literature which can be used in door-to-door witnessing; an excellent piece to send to our parents and relatives; it could be used by doctors and in nursing homes; in AIDS programs, and by ministers. The booklet is written with simple, succinct answers to some of the great questions and mysteries of life. Hopefully, it will open a way to share many of the truths we have been taught in the Principle.

In the introduction, the author states, "My heart aches for the many who die without preparation without a sustaining philosophy of life, or death. This is the primary reason that I asked a few close friends of Linna's to help me in preparing this little booklet to share what we have learned through our experience with her, and through our own reading and searching. If there is life after death, and if our earthly life is preparation for that then we have come to believe the greatest thing we could do for humankind is to share this understanding.

"For the format for this informative booklet, I have chosen 30 commonly asked questions with answers that you will hopefully find simple and clear. These answers are presented without specific religious doctrine and dogma and are for the sole purpose of enhancing life both on earth and beyond. This booklet is for those who are in the full bloom of life; for there is still time to prepare. For those who are terminally ill, maybe it can make a difference in the quality of the final years or months and help the new arrival into the spiritual world.

In the conclusion, the author states, "Our life on earth is a precious growing opportunity. All of us, in living, are preparing to die. Some know that it will be soon, others will have many more years to prepare, and there will be those who die far sooner than they expect. It is a fact of life that everyone will pass on and no one of us knows exactly when. Many will not be given an opportunity to prepare to make their passing a new celebration of life.

"This booklet is to educate people about the next life in order to provide guidelines for a more meaningful life on earth, offer enlightenment and comfort, and dispel the fear of death and the next life."

Mrs. Spurgin would appreciate hearing from anyone who has an interest in helping to write more such booklets. For example, if given a list of questions on topics of family life, etc., would you like to try your hand at answers? If so, please contact the WFWP office. Maybe a small committee for each of the booklet topics could be formed.

Wake Up In Waco

by Erling Lea-Austin, TX

April 19 was one year since ATF raided David Koresh in Mt. Carmel. I attended two memorial services for the 86 men, women and children who died there.

What is the most shocking is to see how even some church members whom I've spoken to actually believe the media's point of view, and do not understand that by looking at the Davidians, we can see some of the same issues our church faced in the beginning. Like us, they struggled without money or media to defend themselves.

There are now many religious and political leaders and organizations, such as the ACLU, standing up for them, realizing what really happened in Waco. I do some work on the access cable TV in Austin, and decided to get some footage of the event. It was a heartbreaking experience to see how these people were crushed to death by the government and ATF. Practically all the surviving members hate the world and the media now. They only respect one newspaper in the whole world now, The Washington Times, which exposed the fact that the so-called tear gas used by the ATF is poisonous and has been banned by the Geneva Convention.

There are many things to go into here, but the facts now suggest that CAN and AFF (American Family Foundation) were ultimately behind the raid.

Now to some facts: I have a book, From the Ashes: Making Sense of Waco, by James R. Lewis, and a video, Waco: the Big Lie, by the American Justice Federation, which is a video of the raid itself which will make your hair stand on end.

David Koresh was a self-proclaimed prophet like many other prophets, and he was struggling with problems with which we can identify. We both have difficulties especially because of ex-members who spread false rumors and go to the media. Of course, everyone believes these rumors except the current members of the Branches Davidians. All the headlines and rumors come from these apostate members, many of whom have been deprogrammed by CAN. They spread the same rumors True Father dealt with in the earlier days. None of the current members gives such testimonies.

David Koresh did something that I will say was not wise. He dealt in weapons. He did not plan a raid on the city of Waco or anybody else. he made money by buying and selling weapons in accordance with the laws of Texas. However, this was used as an excuse to raid the place.

He had permits and he had a good relationship with the sheriff and marshall in Waco. These people were farmers and made good money buying and selling weapons the way other people sell cars. During the raid David Koresh was shot without any questions asked. The ATF knows how he was shot, because the government men came to the door, David Koresh opened it, and ATF opened fire before any exchange of words could take place. David Koresh slammed the door, and dialed 911. A recording of his call can be heard on the video Waco: the Big Lie. He said that there were 75 (there were actually 100) men surrounding his house. He told them to stop firing because of the women and children. The video clearly shows that all the bullets in the front door were shot from the outside in, contradicting the ATF report which claims that the gunfire from within was os heavy that the door bowed outward under the strain of the fire. The 100 men surrounding the building were special forces agents performing a forced entry. The helicopters overhead, which were reported to be Coast Guard helicopters, were in fact U.S. Army helicopters equipped with machine guns which fired directly onto women and children. It is a bold lie that the ATF, as their spokeswoman claimed, bumbled the raid not due to poor planning or the loss of the element of surprise, but because they were outgunned. There were four ATF agents killed, but the evidence is strong that they were shot by their own men, and not by the Davidians. The tapes released to the press were highly edited and deceiving. These edited tapes are analyzed in The Big Lie, along with several still shots and tapes from unbiased sources.

As law-abiding citizens we question the sanity of anyone who engages in a standoff with the police, but we become more sympathetic when we learn that the accusations of child abuse, fabricated by ex-members and supported by CAN, were used to place any of the children who left the church complex in foster homes.

On the morning of the raid, one member was on the way to work. He heard about what ws happening back home on the radio and returned to the "compound". He was checked by the police for weapons, and then tried to enter the building. On the way in, he was shot in the back. CAN had influenced ATF so badly that David Koresh and his followers had no human value at all in their eyes, and the orders were to shoot to kill. The Mt. Carmel church was surrounded by snipers who shot anyone trying to escape the burning buildings.

Again, we all have heard the ATF claim that the fires were started by Koresh, but again, there is a large body of evidence to the contrary. During the raid, the tanks they used, according to Soldier of Fortune, have a flame-thrower built into the barrel, and we can see clearly on the videotapes that wherever the tank makes a hole in the building, smoke comes from that place within seconds. There is even one shot showing a small flame in the front of the tank. One reporter questioned this at a press conference, and of course no ATF or government spokesperson could explain this mystery. Another mystery is that some agents showed up in fireproof suits before a single strand of smoke was seen that morning.

The ATF targeted the exits and stairwells. It was in these strategic places that the poisonous gas was used. The ATF was not trying to smoke anyone out to force them to leave the complex, but instead used the gas and flames to trap the people inside the buildings.

After everything was burned down, the place got bulldozed, and most of the evidence was destroyed. The Texas Rangers were not allowed to inspect the site, and it is fenced in now, guarded 24 hours a day by security. It is called a contaminated area because of lead poisoning- because of the ammunition used by David Koresh, it is claimed.

Ironically, on the day of the fire, David Koresh made his concluding prophecy on a computer disc which was found with the date on it.

So here you have it, brothers and sisters. At the memorial service, I carried a little cross to hang on the fence while the freedom bell rang. A reporter came to me and asked what I have to do with this. I answered that I could have been in that pile of rubble and ash. I know exactly what they went through, but because of True Parents' hard work and strong foundation, the government is a little more wary of doing things like this to us anymore.

Please write for the video WACO: THE BIG LIE. It costs $20, and you can order it from:

American Justice Federation 
3850 S. Emerson Avenue, Suite E 
Indianapolis, IN 46203 
Ph (317) 780-5204/Fax (317) 780-5209

Also, you can order From the Ashes: Making Sense of Waco for $20 from:

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 
4720 Boston Way 
Lanham, MD 20706

At the memorial service, I wanted to walk around Mt. Carmel, or rather the rubble left of it, but I hesitated because I'm spiritually sensitive. I was thinking that most likely I would feel the anger and resentment the Davidians had towards humanity, but I went around anyway. Instead I felt a good spirit around the place. I was kind of surprised, and when I thought about it, I think it may have been because we were the only ones helping them when they needed it the most. Another reason may be that it was in parallel with many things in history, such as the holocaust. Interestingly, the opening of the Holocaust memorial museum in Washington was on the very day of the raid.

True Mother Speaks at Chicago State University

March 13, 1994 
by Marie Hudson

On a rainy Sunday morning, Chicago members had the honor to receive True Mother. WFWP, Campus Ministry and CARP, working together, prepared Chicago State University for Mother's arrival. With Rev. Hong's guidance, we rolled up our sleeves to prepare for the 100- campus tour. Rev. Purnell Spicer worked with the ministers who went to ICC, to bring their congregations to this event. WFWP, Campus Ministry, tribal messiahs and CARP worked on the campus at Chicago State.

On the day of the event, as we watched the room fill, members got the feeling that this was entirely different from the other events that we held here in Chicago. Michelle Dunlap, graduate of Chicago State, and Rev. A.I. Dunlap's daughter greeted Mother on behalf of the students of Chicago State. Dr. Morton Kaplan introduced True Mother. As Mother spoke, you could feel how serious she was to convey her message to the college students who were there. You could see in Mother's eyes and hear in her voice the love that she had for each person attending there. The room was so quiet that you could not tell people's reaction to True Mother's words. After Mother finished her speech, the crowd gave her a standing ovation, and you could feel that their hearts had received Mother's words.

As Mother left Chicago, I could feel the weight of the responsibility True Parents and True Family are taking on to restore the college campuses to God's side.

With all of our hearts we would like to thank True Mother for coming to the "Windy City" and bringing God's love to us.

The Summit Council Report

by Frances D. Ichijo

I had the honor and privilege of being invited to help with the Summit Council Conference in Seoul, March 26 through March 29, 1994. The participants of this conference were of the highest caliber and well- respected worldwide, so it was indeed an honor to serve not only them but also our True Parents.

Upon arrival, many first-time guests were a bit skeptical, distant, or cool. But after being greeted at the hotel by friendly and professional Caroline Betancourt, witnessing the opening plenary session with the Little Angels singing, and hearing opening remarks by Father and President Gorbachev, their hearts and minds really opened up. My responsibility was "director of hospitality" so I was able to see this substantial change in people firsthand. I was able to have lots of give and take with the guests and provide for their needs whether it was procuring an aspirin or telling them where to shop in Seoul. It was partly through this personal give and take with our members that the guests could be moved and welcome our True Parents readily.

One distinguished guest, the Prince Ali-Khan, brought some very precious holy water from his Muslim tradition to offer to Father. He asked me to find a small but nice container in which to put the water. As it was for Father, the receptacle had to be the best and most beautiful and appropriate, so my staff and I struggled to find just the right object. The prince knew how hard we worked to help him make this offering and he was very touched.

To see President Gorbachev, the austere, serious socialist, just melt as he heard the Little Angels sing was another precious moment to see. Surely Father had a great vision and purpose when he created the Little Angels.

Dr. Hannan Ashrawi, the PLO spokeswoman, gave a deep, heart wrenching account of the Palestinian plight and was applauded heartily by all conferencees - yet this famous person was ever so humble, gracious and youthful showing me in her room what gifts she had brought for her friends and family.

Maureen Reagan was touched by the flowers she got at the airport and by Eunhi Smith's kind and natural way as she escorted her to the hotel.

Many of the guests, being former heads of state, were touched by the honor and respect we gave them, which they no longer receive in their own countries.

During the conference, all the staff simply applied Father's training and attitude of service. This attitude of service will eventually win the entire world over to God's side. Not violence nor economic sanctions, but love in its purest, true form will bring world peace as exemplified in this Second Conference for World Peace.

The Friendly Face Of Deadly High-Risk Sex Health And Human Services New $800,000 Condom Campaign Puts America At Risk

by William L. Bergman, MD-NYC

As part of an effort by the Clinton Administration to persuade young people to use condoms to "protect themselves from HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases", Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala announced a federally sponsored radio and television advertising campaign during the first week of 1994.

One television spot shows a condom that leaps from a chest of drawers just as a couple, whose sex is unclear, are about to have sex. Like a tiny superhero, the New York Times reported, the condom scurries across the room past a surprised cat and dives under the covers with the pair.

An article in the business section of the New York Times on January 5th, stated that "in producing a campaign that is the frankest, hippest and most provocative anti-AIDS effort ever by the Federal Government, the creative executives at Ogilvy and Mather South approached the work as product advertising rather than as public service advertising." (italics ours)

Here we have taxpayers hard earned money going to promote the very behavior that spreads disease and death, all in the name of disease prevention, and with the claim that it is justified because sex is "inevitable" for 18-25 year olds.

Just as Camel cigarettes are being promoted to young people by the cool "Old Joe" cartoon, we now have Americans of all ages watching condoms being promoted as harmless toys with no regard to the ethical dimension of sex or even an honest message regarding the true risks of so-called "safer sex." Also absent is any mention of responsible behavior, other than wearing a condom, or on healthy family relationships (are the people in the ads married?)

As a medical education and research organization concerned with the most effective means of containing the AIDS/STD epidemic and preventing HIV infection among our youth, the World Medical Health Foundation has been expressing our serious concerns regarding this campaign from several points of view:

1. It is suggested that there are "two ways to protect" oneself from HIV/STD infection: abstinence and using latex condoms correctly and consistently. Never mentioned are the numerous scientific studies indicating that there is between 10 and 20 percent condom failure rate for pregnancy making "correct and consistent use" more theory than practice. Also ignored is research indicating that 15 percent of couples using latex condoms experienced condom breakage and slippage. In addition, while abstinence is seen as "the best way" to prevent HIV, people are not told explicitly that abstinence apart from a committed relationship is virtual risk elimination while condom use is at best merely risk reduction.

2. Even more shocking, perhaps, is that the government's campaign is partly based on medical research which they say reveals condom effectiveness in preventing HIV infection is about 69 per cent; what they fail to emphasize is that this means a failure rate of 31 percent (or one-in-three). Would any rational person fly in an airplane if they were informed that one in three would crash? In one of the public service announcements called "Peer Educator/Condoms", Denise Stokes, AIDS education counselor, states, "And my message is simple, if you're gonna have sex, a latex condom used consistently and correctly will prevent the spread of HIV and other STD's. People out there gotta understand. That's why I'll go anywhere to talk about latex condoms. Even into your living room." This message, being broadcast and televised across our country, is blatantly false based on informed medical opinion. It is evident from a number of national experts (available from World Medical Health upon request) that condoms give no protection against human papilloma virus infection which can cause cancer, or chlamydia which is increasingly a cause of sterility among young people.

3. The expression in the ads stating that "if you are sexually active, as most people are," ignores the possibility that large numbers of sexually active young people would limit or reduce their sexual activity if their national leaders would put their free-sex ideology aside and the give them an honest message of the true risks involved. If then they still insisted on being sexually active, at least they would have the advantage of being accurately informed in advance.

4. Claiming that this media campaign targets only 18 to 2,5 year- olds is specious. Ms. Shalala knows very well or should know that many teenagers in high school and preteens in elementary school will see these ads or hear them on radio. The underlying premise that premarital sex is a societal norm is a destructive message that will only promote and accentuate negative social trends. Several studies indicate that contraceptive sex education is linked to higher rates of sexual activity among teens. Network television is not a "targeted" medium; it reaches a very wide audience. These ads are not suitable for children.

5. This campaign is virtually devoid of any moral content. Society recognizes the evil of rape, child abuse and violent crime. Yet the federal department responsible for our national health cannot bring itself to see that sexual promiscuity is wrong and that the disaster of HIV, STDs and the psychological trauma of sex without enduring commitment and fidelity are the consequence of distorted values . In the name of AIDS prevention, the federal govecrnment has embraced a free-sex agenda, justifies itself with the myth of the "inevitability of premarital sex," advances condoms as our salvation, and proceeds to promote and encourage on national television the very behavior that created the problem to begin with. The sexual revolution began in the 1960's, but it appears that unless there is a widespread understanding of the important issues involved, the children of the 60's generation will be the major casualties.

It is important for parents to realize that, with regard to public school policy, whatever is promoted through television, or through Hollywood or the media, or even by the misguided direction of the Centers for Disease Control or other federal programs, the final decisions are made at the local level, through voting of the local school boards in each school district.

On this basis, parents of any community seeking to safeguard the health of their youXng people must be actively involved in defining school policy. The steps that need to be undertaken in this regard include:

1. determining what current sex education or AIDS prevention already exists in your school district; approach school authorities with an attitude of cooperation, looking for those from within the school system who are disposed to a abstinence approach because they hold as an ethical value that sex belongs in marriage, or at least is wrong for children and teens.

2. educating those within the school system and the community in general that informed medical opinion, when one looks at published medical research, including Planned Parenthood's own research as reported in Family Planning Perspectives, points clearly to premarital abstinence as a realistic and practical disease prevention strategy. Using World Medical Health's slide program and video," The Private Plague", can help a lot in giving you the facts that make the case in a professional, compelling and irrefutable way.

3. building a consensus that, however adults may disagree on the moral issues involved, in this age of AIDS and the epidemics of other sexually transmitted diseases, teaching young people to exercise self restraint is good for their character and good for their health; let parents look over a variety of abstinence programs, including Free Teens, Teen Choice, Sex Respect, Teenaid, and others so they can determine which program is best suited to the needs of their community.

Promote the idea that while billions will be spent on AIDS research and treatment, "premarital abstinence is the AIDS vaccine."

For information on receiving the newsletter of the World Medical Health Foundation for timely information on this issue and to order "The Private Plague" 95-slide slideprogram for work in your community, please contact the World Medical Health Foundation at 50 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. or call/FAX us at 914 961-5875.

Dr. Bergman is the president of the World Medical Health Foundation

School in Korea

by Sun Hee Mudgett

Coming to Korea for GOP was not my first time here. I was fortunate to be able to travel here in the summer of 1989 to visit my mother's relatives, who live here. This prepared me for what to expect in Korea. It does take time to adapt to life here after growing up in the west, so I was lucky to have had this prior experience.

When people first come here, they all have different first impressions. Some (especially those from the East Coast of the U.S.) think that staying here will be like a long workshop. As for myself, even though I had been to Korea, I had never been to a workshop or met many blessed children who were my age. So my first impressions were overwhelmingly in favor of going to and staying in Korea. Of course, it helped that my best friend was also going. The chance to live with, learn with and grow with blessed children was not to be missed.

Furthest from my mind when I came to Korea was studying, but it wasn't long before I had to change my plans! I learned several important things about studying here. I guess the most important is: don't put off assignments and stuyding till the last minute. I used to do this all the time, barely finishing anything in time. It saves time, trouble and sleep to start in plenty of time and to work consistently. Cramming for tests may work for some people, but it is more productive to work steadily over a longer time period. The bottom line is starting early enough. Almost every problem we have can be summed up in two words: too late! Unfortunately, although I know this to be true and have experienced it, here I am writing this article due to be submitted tonight!

Studying is not everything, of course. Even though it is a large part of our life, we do do other things. Think about it! You are in the Fatherland with 100+ other blessed kids! We do many things together, like going places, playing sports, praying and setting goals and conditions. Our constant struggle is to remember to be public-minded and to grow spiritually. Through morning and evening services and regular meetings with staff, we realize we are all part of True Parents' family and if we cannot get along together, we will have no chance at building the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.

So I am grateful that in coming here I have begun to appreciate more and more my responsibilities as a blessed child and to develop a better relationship with Heavenly Father. All these things have been so important to me. Without experiencing community life, I think it would have taken me longer to realize these things. Unfortunately, sometimes, we don't realize the blessings of our situation and fail to make the most of our opportunities. I have only a few months left her now before I return to America. I can say without hesitation that my 2 1/2 years in Korea have been the best of my life with many wonderful experiences and memories to look back on.

Public Access Cable and the Divine Principle: Last Days TV meets the Messiah

by Curtis & Sanae Martin

Have you ever been flipping through the cable channels and come across shows like: Atheists United, Hope Chapel, New Age Religion, The Arts and You, That Which Is: Process of Change, Navy News This Week, Superstition/Talking-Snakes/Taxes..., All Nations Forum IV, The Principle of Creation? If so, you may have encountered the phenomenon known as Public Access Cable.

Cable companies use city utilities to provide cable service to customers. So the cities require cable companies to provide local residents access to production facilities and equipment. Hence the term "Public Access." This is a prime opportunity for God and Satan to duke it out on your TV, as the random sample listing above demonstrates. Just as democracy allows God's children to cast their vote for true freedom, Public Access gives us freedom to cablecast our programs for true video, to let God's voice be heard above the grumble of satanic mutiny.

My wife and I have had Divine Principle going on Torrance Community Television (TCTV) for most of 1993. Unfortunately, there waS an old phone number recorded on the tapes we were using, and we didn't get any responses.

After passing the first production workshop, we were able to get in and edit our home phone number onto the tapes. We started the series over and began to get phone calls after the programs. After Creation, we lent someone a Divine Principle book and Twelve Talks II. After the Fall of Man, two Christian brothers came to hear In Jin Nim at USC.

TCTV has an Annual Video Awards in January. Michael Balcomb's Principle of Creation won second place out of seven entries in the Bicycle Category. "Bicycle" means to bring in a tape produced outside the local cable area as if on a bicycle.

We have been able to get raw footage of WFWP and Ocean Challenge events. Our first homegrown production, "Ocean Day 1993," was cablecast in April this year.

Steps to get involved in Public Access and put Divine Principle on your local Public Access Channel:

1) Call the Cable Company that serves your city. Ask for the contact name and phone number of the "Public Access Coordinator."

2) Call the Public Access Coordinator, and tell them that you want to participate in their Public Access Program. Ask: "What do I do to get involved?"

3) Attend an orientation meeting. This is where you will sign up for basic privileges: submitting bicycle tapes to cablecast, and placing alphanumeric announcements (non-profit classifieds), on the Public Access Channel in your area. You will also learn the rules and procedures.

4) Bicycle Divine Principle tapes for cablecast. As long as you are a resident of the cable area, you should be able to get these on the Public Access Channel. They usually need to be on 3/4-inch videotape, instead of the usual 1/2-inch VHS tape. (No, they don't play in your VCR!)

5) Attend video production workshops. Your local cable company will have studio facilities, video equipment, production workshops and staff available to help residents produce, edit and star in their own productions. During the workshops you will have a chance to get to know the staff of the P.A. facility and other members of the community. This is where you will make friends and form alliances for the final step:

6) Produce your own programs. This is the most difficult step, and it may not be for everyone. It is one way to contribute to tribal messiah work. Do new coverage of tribal events, such as WFWP, Ocean Challenge, Free Teens, USA, even Divine Principle workshops.

Don't be discouraged if you aren't producing programs in the first two weeks. I first heard of Public Access in 1981, and produced the first program in 1994. It may take a couple of years of steady investment of time and heart. Keep your eyes on the prize and it can be done.

Finally: encourage and support one another. We would be interested in hearing from other independent public access producers.

On Abortion and Original Sin:

There is cause and there is effect. The effect is babies; the cause is the act of procreation. In times past, the arena in which this aspect of human life was debated was that of "original sin." Today, the arena in which this aspect of human life is debated is that of "abortion." The abortion controversy and the original sin controversy are theologically the same: the question of the status of the newborn child.

In both these controversies, the issue concerns the definition of what is a human being, centering around the stage of life in which such definition is entirely imposed by others. How can adults define the status of infants or fetuses? Who can define the moment human life begins, the moment at which a collection of human-born cells becomes a person? There is no empirical way to locate that moment; the assignment is, from a scientific point of view, arbitrary. Nor can we empirically determine the status of innocence or sinfulness of fetuses or new-borns. The acquirement of personhood and the acquirement of sin are equally obscure, and arguments over this question may in fact be the means by which different eras attempt to define the same thing. Our forebears were concerned about status before God, hence the origin of sin. We moderns are concerned about legal autonomy; hence the origin of personhood.

In both cases the definition is based upon external ideological, faith and/or social considerations. In both cases, the contestants are missing the mark in the same way. They are displacing the focus of concern from the parents, and the act of procreation, to the child, the result of procreation. They are concerned with the effect and not the cause.

By neglecting the issue of the way of parenting, pro-life folk are for all intents and purposes giving up on the task of reforming society's standards which determine the context for men and women having babies. They are inadvertently committing the error of those who advocate the free distribution of condoms in schools on the grounds that teen promiscuity is inevitable and uncontrollable. Conservatives accept it as inevitable that there will be millions of unwanted pregnancies, i.e. irresponsible procreative acts, and the battle is therefore joined over what to do with all of these fetuses. Conservatives bemoan the millions of aborted fetuses, but do not address the billions of immoral acts of fornication, a small percentage of which produced those fetuses.

As long as pro-lifers concede this issue, they will be locked in the same no-win debate as that lost by those who argued that infants possess original sin but never took it upon themselves to examine or question the nature of the procreative act through which the infant inherited this sin. Once the procreative act is judged good, which American Protestants tacitly do, the resulting infant had to be good. Otherwise God was intervening to make an innocent baby evil. And this is exactly the way the anti-original sin argument went, and it won by appeal to the sentiments.

Similarly, without a radical questioning of the context of procreation, i.e., love and marriage in our society, the flood of unwanted babies will continue and the abortion debate rage. That is, as long as it is legitimate for men and women to enter into procreative acts with neither the intention of creating a child nor even the mutual sense of responsibility for the child which could result, the anti-abortion position is very weak. If man and woman are granted the "right" to have sex immorally and irresponsibly, why shouldn't they have the "right" to rid themselves of the fetus? Both rights have to do with the freedom to do what one wants with one's own body. If conservatives want to address the rights having to do with the effect, they must also address the rights having to do with the cause.

That is, the conservatives lose the battle unless they address the issue of parenting. In the case of original sin, if we say babies have original sin, then we must deal with how they received it in an intelligent way (not palming it off as an act of God). If we say people cannot have abortions, we must deal with the question of how unwanted babies come to be (not palming it off as the way of the world).

It is on this count that Protestants of all stripes are liberals, for the Catholics, in their encouragement of religious celibacy, at least maintain an implicit critique of the procreative act. However, popular Catholic conviction concerning celibacy is waning as Catholic exaltation of marriage rises. In this as in every other arena the Catholics are becoming Protestants.

The conservatives in both cases are accepting this liberal definition of the playing field and therefore are dooming their own cause. Once the liberal assumptions about the ways of parenting are accepted, that is, once we allow the ways of parenting to go unquestioned, we are accepting the liberal norm as to the cause. Once we have done so, there is no way to overcome the liberal argument for the effect, and the best we can hope for is to delay their inevitable victory: abortion is a valid option for sinless but unwanted fetuses.