“Repent America: Calling a nation in rebellion toward God to repentance.” Repent America is an evangelistic ministry based in Philadelphia. They are the group responsible for the enlarged images of what they claim to be aborted fetuses who visit our campus each year. However, I believe that the posters are photoshopped pictures that only turn everyone’s stomach, and most actually depict second and third trimester abortions. (Third trimester abortions are illegal in most cases, anyway.)Fortunately, this time I missed when Repent America visited campus last Thursday, but I heard about it. I remember the very first time I saw them with their enlarged posters, making people sick to their stomach as they walked out of Sykes, some from just eating in the food court.
I took one of their pamphlets, which I still have, because I wanted to see what they were professing.
The cover reads “The American Holocaust Photo Display: Why we show the bloody photographs of the murdered unborn.”
Inside, there is featured the very same bloody photographs as they use for their posters. “Our photographs stand as a haunting indictment upon our nation. What a pathetic people we are if we want to tolerate the oppression of an entire people group, but then become outraged at someone for displaying the suffering of that people group.” A fair statement. But does this not ring hypocritical of them?
How about gays being an oppressed “people group?” Repent America, as can be seen on their Web site, www.repentamerica.com, is against gays. They believe that “homosexuality,” as they always refer to it, is a sin. They believe it is abnormal, and many of their posters and rhetoric consists of wanting to save homosexuals from eternal damnation. Their statement about being against oppression of a certain “people group” is hypocritical. What about atrocities such as the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard? Or just the fact that being gay is not hurting anyone, yet gay people face scrutiny and non-acceptance every day? If they run into Repent America, they face something worse: they face rhetoric full of hatred and condescension. They are told they are going to hell.
Repent America is not concerned for this group of oppressed people because they believe that the Bible tells them homosexuality is a sin. I could recite many passages of the Bible that I’m sure they do not take literally, but should if they are going to take one aspect of it literally, not to mention the fact that there’s no proof any God exists, and no reason at all to follow some old book. But that’s another editorial.
One thing that has been troubling me lately is the struggle between peoples’ differences in opinion of “Right” and “Wrong.”
What causes me to believe that not killing people is right, and that violence is wrong? What causes Repent America to believe that showing bloody pictures and condemning homosexuals is a good way to get their message across?
What actions are really “Right” or “Wrong” in this world? Until some apparition or metaphysical manifestation appears to tell me the “Eternal Truth,” I will always question my beliefs. People on either side of any debate tend to believe that their opinion is correct.
I keep trying to understand why I feel the way I do: that any sort of violence is wrong, and that includes any forms of racism, sexism, homophobia, heterosexism or any oppression and violence towards of any group of people based on who they are or what they do. Shouldn’t I, then, not judge the group Repent America?
Shouldn’t I take them into my arms lovingly, try to understand them, and simply take our differences with a grain of salt? I should, and so should others who profess nonviolence and understanding of differences. Since this is a free country, where we have the freedom of assembly and protest, it is beautiful to see two sides who oppose each other doing so in a peaceful manner. It is difficult, though, because something in me innately feels that abortion should be legal.
I believe it is the fact that I did not choose to be born a woman, as well as the number of valid reasons I can see for making the choice to not be pregnant. Most every person will say they do not condone murder, which is why the question of the point at which life begins is the crux of the abortion debate. At this point, science must enter the picture. Many of us do not know science well enough to make a judgment based on it, so it requires research on our own parts, lest we believe the things that others tell us.
But here we are again trying to prove that our side is correct.
I believe in freedom of speech, but I hate to see those bloody pictures which stir emotions, yet do not disclose the fact that they depict second and third trimester abortions, and that most abortions happen before the second tri-mester. Images may be the most powerful form of expression that humans react to, because they can look real. However, as much as I am against the killing of innocent people in Iraq, I would not enlarge bloody images of dead children and plaster them on a poster to make my point.
Does the use of violent imagery make a difference in persuasion? Will young women be less likely to have an abortion if they need to make that choice after having seen Repent America’s posters? I would like to know that statistic.
I believe that the use of violent images does nothing but cause disgust toward the group showing them, makes people sick to their stomach and simply add more bloody images to what we already see every day the media and perhaps in real life. There are many more ways to get a point across and attempt to persuade others without using violent images and hateful rhetoric. I do not know why I do not believe that abortion is wrong.
Perhaps morals are innate in us, yet I know some that only make decisions based on how they were raised and what their parents taught them. I realized in high school that I am my own person, that I do not have to believe in the same things my parents do. If I did, I would be against interracial couples, for example. However, I realized that the values they taught me are to be scrutinized, as every source of authority should be questioned. It is the same that every one should question what they believe to be true. What we do believe to be true should be presented to others respectfully in nonviolent ways. However, that is only what I believe to be “Right.” Others, such as Repent America, obviously disagree, and I will make every attempt not to judge them for that, because it is what they believe is “Right.”
Sally Cramer is a senior majoring in fine arts with minors in communication studies and women’s studies.