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#Post#: 17956--------------------------------------------------
Re: Abortion Is Murder - Change My Mind
By: guest116 Date: September 24, 2020, 7:46 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
I got hate mail for a college newspaper column I wrote on
abortion. Neither side then or now likes facts they just want
to defend a made-up controversy from way back that one party
needed to deflect the news to something else.
The bottom line for me is while I do not like abortion, I will
not force my feelings on others that I know nothing about their
situation. That is not how I was raised as a Christian, not to
force others to conform with my thinking.
I am however pro-education. If we as a nation would suck it up,
make young men responsible for their actions, make both genders
have good sex education including reproductive and history
information including the horror of abortion you could reduce
abortion by as much as 85%.
That is a fact that has existed for a long time everyone wishes
to avoid. That said I think Roe v Wade needs upheld strictly
on health reasons. I am from era of back alley abortions that
killed lots of ladies. Neither should have had to die, baby or
mom. But I think some strong common sense regulations need put
in place country wide and not longer leave it to the states.
Just a humble opinion.
#Post#: 17957--------------------------------------------------
Re: Abortion Is Murder - Change My Mind
By: patrick jane Date: September 24, 2020, 7:58 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Chaplain Mark Schmidt
link=topic=53.msg17956#msg17956 date=1600994762]
I got hate mail for a college newspaper column I wrote on
abortion. Neither side then or now likes facts they just want
to defend a mde up controversy from way back the one party
needed to deflect the news to something else.
The bottom line for me, is while I do not like abortion, I will
not force my feelings on others that I know nothing about the
situation. That is not how I was raised as a Christian to force
others to conform with my thinking.
I am however pro-education. If we as a nation would suck it up,
make young men responsible for their action, make both genders
have good sex education include reproductive and history
information including the horror of abortion you could reduce
abortion by as much as 85%.
Thank is a fact that has existed for a long time everyone wishes
to avoid. That said I think Roe v Wade needs upheld strictly
on health reasons. I am from era of back alley abortions that
killed lots of ladies. Neither should have had to die baby or
mom. But I think some strong common sense regulations need put
in place country wide and not longer leave it to the states.
Just a humble opinion.
[/quote]Thank you brother, good post.
#Post#: 18737--------------------------------------------------
Re: Abortion Is Murder - Change My Mind
By: patrick jane Date: October 11, 2020, 10:20 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=patrick jane link=topic=53.msg17957#msg17957
date=1600995517]
[quote author=Chaplain Mark Schmidt
link=topic=53.msg17956#msg17956 date=1600994762]
I got hate mail for a college newspaper column I wrote on
abortion. Neither side then or now likes facts they just want
to defend a mde up controversy from way back the one party
needed to deflect the news to something else.
The bottom line for me, is while I do not like abortion, I will
not force my feelings on others that I know nothing about the
situation. That is not how I was raised as a Christian to force
others to conform with my thinking.
I am however pro-education. If we as a nation would suck it up,
make young men responsible for their action, make both genders
have good sex education include reproductive and history
information including the horror of abortion you could reduce
abortion by as much as 85%.
Thank is a fact that has existed for a long time everyone wishes
to avoid. That said I think Roe v Wade needs upheld strictly
on health reasons. I am from era of back alley abortions that
killed lots of ladies. Neither should have had to die baby or
mom. But I think some strong common sense regulations need put
in place country wide and not longer leave it to the states.
Just a humble opinion.
[/quote]Thank you brother, good post.
[/quote] :'(
#Post#: 18827--------------------------------------------------
Re: Abortion Is Murder - Change My Mind
By: patrick jane Date: October 13, 2020, 4:46 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[img]
HTML https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/119792.jpg?w=700[/img]
HTML https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/october/trump-covid-fetal-cell-lines-regeneron-vaccines-pro-life.html
Amid COVID-19, Pro-Lifers Push to Avoid Abortive Fetal Cells in
Medicine
Despite the ethical challenges, most still concede to using old
cell lines in life-saving drugs.
President Donald Trump has praised the treatments he received
for the coronavirus, including an experimental COVID-19 drug
cocktail, as “miracles coming down from God.” But in the week
after his hospitalization, some questioned the president’s
endorsement of the medication—which he says he wants to make
more widely available for free—since it was tested using aborted
fetal tissue and his administration promotes a pro-life
platform.
This is an ethical dilemma that pro-life Christians have
wrestled through long before the coronavirus. Given the role of
old fetal cell lines in more than half a century of vaccine
development—including options for a COVID-19 vaccine—many have
been able to reconcile the use of fetal tissue from decades-old
abortions while opposing the use of fetal tissue from new
abortions for further testing.
That’s actually the current position of the Trump administration
as well. Last year, the US Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) announced plans to discontinue research “that
requires new acquisition of fetal tissue from elective
abortions,” though it will still allow the use of abortive fetal
tissue through older cell lines, of which there is plenty in
supply.
Trump’s treatment included an antibody developed by Regeneron
Pharmaceuticals, which used a fetal tissue cell line from an
abortion in the 1970s to test the efficacy of the drug. Several
COVID-19 vaccine candidates also use this cell line.
The actual drug cocktail contains two antibodies. The first uses
embryonic mouse stem cell lines—not human ones—genetically
altered to contain human antibodies from previously recovered
patients, a research technique often termed “humanized mice.”
The second antibody is produced in hamster cells.
The Charlotte Lozier Institute, affiliated with the pro-life
Susan B. Anthony List, deemed it an “ethical treatment” because
of the composition of the drug. The institute has not advocated
against the use of animal stem cells.
As far as the testing, “there are ethically derived cell lines
that could be used instead,” said David Prentice, the
institute’s vice president and research director. “It’s
disappointing that they chose to do the tests with the old fetal
cell line.”
But Lozier, like other religious groups that oppose abortion,
sees a distinction between testing a treatment using the old
cell lines and using abortions to obtain further fetal tissue
for research.
Researchers sought fetal tissue from elective abortions dating
back to the 1960s, creating cell lines that are still used
today, after having been multiplied in a lab and frozen. Two of
these older fetal cell lines are used mainly to manufacture
vaccines, including those for rubella (in the MMR) and
chickenpox. The other two are immortalized cell lines, meaning
they will grow continuously. Some of these are used in current
COVID-19 vaccine candidates.
The Lozier Institute tracks pharmaceutical companies’ use of
these abortive cell lines in the development, production, and
testing of COVID-19 vaccine options; some use them throughout
the development process, and others only in testing.
Prentice felt that the same reasoning for the moral good of
vaccines holds true for the Regeneron treatment the president
receivd.
Though a growing number of individual Christians refuse vaccines
on moral grounds, many institutions, such as the Southern
Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and the Catholic
church, support immunizations while acknowledging their
dismaying history. They make the case that the use of older
fetal cell lines, while not ideal, is not creating additional
harm. As the Catholic church concluded for vaccines:
Beneficiaries of the drug are not culpable in the original sin
of the abortion.
In a previous CT interview, Francis Collins, the director of the
NIH and a committed Christian, suggested comparing it to an
organ donation after a tragic shooting, saying that the giving
of tissue would still be considered “a noble and honorable
action” even though we acknowledge an evil was done.
An evangelical Protestant, Prentice weighs other ethical
questions against arguments to refuse vaccines: “Is there a
grave reason to use it (such as preventing death or serious
illness)? If yes, is there any alternative?” If not, he says,
people should feel free to ethically receive the vaccine or drug
in question.
The Catholic church wrote that doctors and families may
determine it necessary to use vaccines developed using the fetal
cell lines to prevent illness and death. It suggested that they
also have a duty to oppose the use of the fetal cells and
pressure the medical industry to use alternative methods.
Prentice offers a similar support. “Future directions for use of
fetal tissue from ongoing abortion will hopefully be to move
swiftly to better, modern techniques that do not use fetal
tissue from elective abortion,” he said.
While most pro-life groups remain unenthused about the use of
the abortive tissue in the COVID-19 vaccine candidates, as with
other vaccines, they have not suggested people to refuse
treatments or immunizations that are developed with the cell
lines.
Prentice, who joined the first fetal tissue ethics board formed
by a presidential administration, said those who feel the use of
abortive fetuses is morally repugnant “should also feel a duty
to advocate for a licitly-produced alternative.” That board
includes many others who have publicly expressed pro-life views.
Per the new direction of the HHS, the board met in July to
review present-day research proposals requiring acquisition of
fetal tissue. It recommended only one proposal out of 14, though
final decisions lie with the HHS. The recommended
proposal—approved by two-thirds of the board—planned to use
existing tissue, and if successful, wouldn’t require its future
use.
The criteria the board used included review of the procedures
for informed consent, which were not satisfying to some members
in a number of cases. Though there are National Institutions of
Health procedures in place today, to some, lack of consent
tainted the process of obtaining the original fetal cell lines.
Some also raised issue with an NIH call for research proposals
that originally required scientists to use fetal tissue to
compare their treatment with alternatives. “This was an
unfortunate specification, as there is neither ethical nor
scientific justification for a specific fetal tissue
comparator,” said Prentice, suggesting there are other
possibilities.
Kathleen Schmainda, a Catholic and a biophysicist at the Medical
College of Wisconsin who also served on the ethics board, said
that alternatives “are proven to be scientifically viable and
often scientifically preferable.”
She pointed to the list of COVID-19 vaccine candidates in trials
that do not use fetal tissue cells as evidence that scientists
are preferring not to use them in some cases. For example,
several Chinese vaccine candidates use vero monkey cells. The
Moderna and Pfizer candidates use no cells in the design or
production instead creating the vaccine with a genetic
sequencing on computers, though they use fetal cell lines in lab
testing.
One avenue for ethically obtaining fetal tissue could be the use
of banks that maintain fetal tissue from miscarriages, said
Schmainda. While some scientists will say they prefer abortive
fetal tissue because it is healthier, Schmainda maintains that
most miscarriages are due to pregnancy complications, not
genetic abnormalities.
Board chair Paige Comstock Cunningham, who is also the interim
president at Taylor University, could not be reached for
comment. The ethics board is dissolved each year. If President
Trump is reelected, a new ethics board will assess proposals in
coming years.
#Post#: 18841--------------------------------------------------
Re: Abortion Is Murder - Change My Mind
By: patrick jane Date: October 14, 2020, 9:41 am
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUhzyvNeSrU
#Post#: 18947--------------------------------------------------
Re: Abortion Is Murder - Change My Mind
By: patrick jane Date: October 16, 2020, 8:16 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=patrick jane link=topic=53.msg18841#msg18841
date=1602686493]
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUhzyvNeSrU
[/quote] :'(
#Post#: 19029--------------------------------------------------
Re: Abortion Is Murder - Change My Mind
By: guest73 Date: October 18, 2020, 8:40 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=patrick jane link=topic=53.msg18947#msg18947
date=1602854203]
[quote author=patrick jane link=topic=53.msg18841#msg18841
date=1602686493]
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUhzyvNeSrU
[/quote] :'(
[/quote]Terribly sad
#Post#: 19635--------------------------------------------------
Re: Abortion Is Murder - Change My Mind
By: patrick jane Date: October 27, 2020, 10:37 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[img]
HTML https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/120046.jpg?w=700[/img]
HTML https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/october/john-deberry-tennessee-pro-life-democrat-state-legislature.html
Ousted by Party, Former Democrat Holds to Pro-Life Platform in
Tennessee
Longtime state legislator and Memphis pastor John DeBerry is now
running as an Independent.
Editor’s note: This profile is the fourth in a CT series
featuring Christian candidates who are running for legislative
office in November.
John DeBerry insists he is not the one who changed; the
Tennessee Democratic Party did.
The 69-year-old politician and Church of Christ pastor has
represented part of Memphis in the state House of
Representatives since 1994. But this year, after 13 consecutive
victories in Tennessee’s 90th District, DeBerry was removed from
the ballot and prohibited from running for reelection as a
Democrat.
The Tennessee Democratic Party chair said DeBerry, who has voted
according to his pro-life stance on abortion as well as in favor
of school choice, “demonstrated more loyalty to the Republican
Party than to the Democratic Party.”
DeBerry insists his voters have always known where he stood on
abortion and other social issues; they sent him to Nashville
again and again. “Life has mattered my entire career,” he told
Christianity Today. “My principles have not changed, and I am
not changing my principles because I have a D behind my name.”
DeBerry’s fight to stay in the race in Tennessee is an example
of the precarious political position a dwindling number of
pro-life Democratic politicians find themselves in. But DeBerry
wants to remain in the party because, knowing his constituents,
he believes he’s not alone; he says they too are Christian
Democrats who stand for life.
DeBerry has been a Democrat since 1968 when he voted in his
first presidential election. His parents were Democrats, but his
grandparents had been Eisenhower Republicans. It was Christian
leaders taking a stand during the civil rights movement—former
president Jimmy Carter, Martin Luther King Jr., and Ralph
Abernathy—that first spurred his own interest in politics.
DeBerry, who is also a pastor at Coleman Avenue Church of Christ
in Memphis, sees faith as the foundation for his career in
public service and how he thinks through policy issues.
He says you cannot fight for what is right based on political
labels, but most rely on deeper convictions. “Fashion changes,
style changes, laws change, but principles which are built on
the Word of God don't change,” he said.
DeBerry believes abortion violates both God’s laws and the
American principle that all persons have constitutional rights
not based on their place of residency—those rights extend to
those residing in the womb too.
The Tennessee politician, now running as an Independent, blames
state party officials for taking a fundamentally undemocratic
action to remove him from the ballot. He was already on the
ballot when the party announced their decision, and a few of his
colleagues spoke out on his behalf. House Minority Leader Karen
Camper, a fellow Memphis Democrat, called the party’s actions
“[an attempt] to nullify the choice of the people of the 90th
District.”
DeBerry’s conservative positions may have frustrated some of his
pro-choice colleagues, but they respect his leadership. They
voted for him to serve as minority leader pro tempore for the
entire Democratic Caucus. Legislators also passed a bipartisan
bill to amend the Tennessee election code, allowing incumbents
disqualified by their party’s executive committee, like DeBerry,
to file a new petition under a different party identification
past the standard filing deadline.
DeBerry has chosen to run as an Independent. On November 3, he
will face progressive Democrat Torrey Harris, who would be both
the youngest and the first openly gay member of the Tennessee
House. When asked why he did not simply run as a Republican,
DeBerry stated, “If I wanted to run as a Republican, I could
have, but the majority of the district consists of Christian
Democrats who share my pro-life views.”
According to Pew Research, young black Protestants have become
less rigid in their opposition to abortion than previous
generations, in part because they are more likely to view racial
justice for those who are born as paramount. Yet DeBerry’s
assertion that the majority of the black Democrats in his
district share his views is borne out by the fact that he has
beat out liberal African Americans in primary races twice since
his district was redrawn in 2012, including Harris, his current
Democratic opponent.
DeBerry is among state legislative candidates in ten states who
received endorsements from Democrats for Life of America in
2020; the group endorsed just a single candidate for US
Congress—Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota—this year.
Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life, believes
that “you do not have to be a Republican to care about life,”
and as the party of the vulnerable and marginalized, the
Democratic Party should take a stand for the unborn. Or at least
not exclude politicians for doing so.
Day has pushed for an “inclusive, ‘big tent’ party” that doesn’t
rely on abortion rights as the foundation of its platform and
wouldn’t target pro-life Democrats like DeBerry. On a national
level, US Rep. Dan Lipinski, a pro-life Democrat who served
Illinois’s 3rd District for 15 years, lost his primary earlier
this year to a pro-choice challenger who rallied more funding
and support.
DeBerry likewise believes that the issue of abortion isn’t as
starkly partisan as the “party elites” presume. According to a
2019 Gallup Poll on abortion, 24 percent of Democratic voters
and 44 percent of Independent voters identify as pro-life. He
says Democrats should not exclude that sizeable minority—many of
them, like him, are religious people whose faith leads them to
oppose abortion.
In evangelical denominations like DeBerry’s Churches of Christ,
the Southern Baptist Convention, and Assemblies of God, as well
as the historically black Church of God in Christ denomination,
most say abortion should be illegal in all or most
circumstances, per a Pew Research Center survey.
DeBerry cites one of his favorite verses, Matthew 22:21, “Render
therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto
God the things that are God’s” (KJV), as part of his reasoning
for his stance. For DeBerry, only God decides life and death.
DeBerry is unsure whether he will caucus as a Democrat or
Republican should the 90th District residents send him back to
Nashville as an Independent. But he pledges, no matter what side
he’s on, to always place principles over party and personality.
Kathryn Freeman is an attorney and former director of public
policy for the Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission.
Currently, she is a master of divinity student at Baylor
University’s Truett Seminary and one-half of the podcast
Melanated Faith.
#Post#: 19646--------------------------------------------------
Re: Abortion Is Murder - Change My Mind
By: guest8 Date: October 27, 2020, 7:52 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=patrick jane link=topic=53.msg19635#msg19635
date=1603813060]
[img]
HTML https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/120046.jpg?w=700[/img]
HTML https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/october/john-deberry-tennessee-pro-life-democrat-state-legislature.html
Ousted by Party, Former Democrat Holds to Pro-Life Platform in
Tennessee
Longtime state legislator and Memphis pastor John DeBerry is now
running as an Independent.
Editor’s note: This profile is the fourth in a CT series
featuring Christian candidates who are running for legislative
office in November.
John DeBerry insists he is not the one who changed; the
Tennessee Democratic Party did.
The 69-year-old politician and Church of Christ pastor has
represented part of Memphis in the state House of
Representatives since 1994. But this year, after 13 consecutive
victories in Tennessee’s 90th District, DeBerry was removed from
the ballot and prohibited from running for reelection as a
Democrat.
The Tennessee Democratic Party chair said DeBerry, who has voted
according to his pro-life stance on abortion as well as in favor
of school choice, “demonstrated more loyalty to the Republican
Party than to the Democratic Party.”
DeBerry insists his voters have always known where he stood on
abortion and other social issues; they sent him to Nashville
again and again. “Life has mattered my entire career,” he told
Christianity Today. “My principles have not changed, and I am
not changing my principles because I have a D behind my name.”
DeBerry’s fight to stay in the race in Tennessee is an example
of the precarious political position a dwindling number of
pro-life Democratic politicians find themselves in. But DeBerry
wants to remain in the party because, knowing his constituents,
he believes he’s not alone; he says they too are Christian
Democrats who stand for life.
DeBerry has been a Democrat since 1968 when he voted in his
first presidential election. His parents were Democrats, but his
grandparents had been Eisenhower Republicans. It was Christian
leaders taking a stand during the civil rights movement—former
president Jimmy Carter, Martin Luther King Jr., and Ralph
Abernathy—that first spurred his own interest in politics.
DeBerry, who is also a pastor at Coleman Avenue Church of Christ
in Memphis, sees faith as the foundation for his career in
public service and how he thinks through policy issues.
He says you cannot fight for what is right based on political
labels, but most rely on deeper convictions. “Fashion changes,
style changes, laws change, but principles which are built on
the Word of God don't change,” he said.
DeBerry believes abortion violates both God’s laws and the
American principle that all persons have constitutional rights
not based on their place of residency—those rights extend to
those residing in the womb too.
The Tennessee politician, now running as an Independent, blames
state party officials for taking a fundamentally undemocratic
action to remove him from the ballot. He was already on the
ballot when the party announced their decision, and a few of his
colleagues spoke out on his behalf. House Minority Leader Karen
Camper, a fellow Memphis Democrat, called the party’s actions
“[an attempt] to nullify the choice of the people of the 90th
District.”
DeBerry’s conservative positions may have frustrated some of his
pro-choice colleagues, but they respect his leadership. They
voted for him to serve as minority leader pro tempore for the
entire Democratic Caucus. Legislators also passed a bipartisan
bill to amend the Tennessee election code, allowing incumbents
disqualified by their party’s executive committee, like DeBerry,
to file a new petition under a different party identification
past the standard filing deadline.
DeBerry has chosen to run as an Independent. On November 3, he
will face progressive Democrat Torrey Harris, who would be both
the youngest and the first openly gay member of the Tennessee
House. When asked why he did not simply run as a Republican,
DeBerry stated, “If I wanted to run as a Republican, I could
have, but the majority of the district consists of Christian
Democrats who share my pro-life views.”
According to Pew Research, young black Protestants have become
less rigid in their opposition to abortion than previous
generations, in part because they are more likely to view racial
justice for those who are born as paramount. Yet DeBerry’s
assertion that the majority of the black Democrats in his
district share his views is borne out by the fact that he has
beat out liberal African Americans in primary races twice since
his district was redrawn in 2012, including Harris, his current
Democratic opponent.
DeBerry is among state legislative candidates in ten states who
received endorsements from Democrats for Life of America in
2020; the group endorsed just a single candidate for US
Congress—Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota—this year.
Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life, believes
that “you do not have to be a Republican to care about life,”
and as the party of the vulnerable and marginalized, the
Democratic Party should take a stand for the unborn. Or at least
not exclude politicians for doing so.
Day has pushed for an “inclusive, ‘big tent’ party” that doesn’t
rely on abortion rights as the foundation of its platform and
wouldn’t target pro-life Democrats like DeBerry. On a national
level, US Rep. Dan Lipinski, a pro-life Democrat who served
Illinois’s 3rd District for 15 years, lost his primary earlier
this year to a pro-choice challenger who rallied more funding
and support.
DeBerry likewise believes that the issue of abortion isn’t as
starkly partisan as the “party elites” presume. According to a
2019 Gallup Poll on abortion, 24 percent of Democratic voters
and 44 percent of Independent voters identify as pro-life. He
says Democrats should not exclude that sizeable minority—many of
them, like him, are religious people whose faith leads them to
oppose abortion.
In evangelical denominations like DeBerry’s Churches of Christ,
the Southern Baptist Convention, and Assemblies of God, as well
as the historically black Church of God in Christ denomination,
most say abortion should be illegal in all or most
circumstances, per a Pew Research Center survey.
DeBerry cites one of his favorite verses, Matthew 22:21, “Render
therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto
God the things that are God’s” (KJV), as part of his reasoning
for his stance. For DeBerry, only God decides life and death.
DeBerry is unsure whether he will caucus as a Democrat or
Republican should the 90th District residents send him back to
Nashville as an Independent. But he pledges, no matter what side
he’s on, to always place principles over party and personality.
Kathryn Freeman is an attorney and former director of public
policy for the Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission.
Currently, she is a master of divinity student at Baylor
University’s Truett Seminary and one-half of the podcast
Melanated Faith.
[/quote]
;D
#Post#: 23984--------------------------------------------------
Re: Abortion Is Murder - Change My Mind
By: patrick jane Date: January 20, 2021, 8:46 am
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March for Life Plans Disrupted by DC Security Concerns
The annual event is asking participants to “stay home” for the
first time since Roe v. Wade.
The National March for Life, the biggest pro-life rally in the
country, has asked hundreds of thousands of supporters to stay
home for the January 29 event, citing the pandemic and security
concerns around the Capitol.
It’s the first January since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that
pro-lifers won’t be gathering in DC to march to the Supreme
Court to signal their opposition to abortion. In 2016, the march
went on despite DC shutting down before a blizzard that brought
nearly two feet of snow.
March for Life organizers shared the change in plans on Friday,
inviting participants to a virtual event instead. The National
Park Service had announced that the National Mall will be closed
through at least January 21, the day after the inauguration, and
DC is also under a state of emergency until then.
“The protection of all of those who participate in the annual
March, as well as the many law enforcement personnel and others
who work tirelessly each year to ensure a safe and peaceful
event, is a top priority of the March for Life,” said March for
Life president Jeanne Mancini.
While Catholics traditionally took the lead in organizing and
attending the rally, the Protestant cohort has grown over the
years, including the addition of a corresponding Evangelicals
for Life conference five years ago. This year’s speaker lineup
included prominent evangelical leaders Jim Daly, Focus on the
Family president, and J. D. Greear, the first Southern Baptist
president to address the event.
Organizers plan to have a small group of Christian leaders still
march in-person to represent the larger group that typically
descends on DC for the march, Mancini’s announcement said. As of
Friday, Daly was still planning on attending the event in
person, according to a Focus on the Family spokesperson. Tim
Tebow is scheduled to offer a keynote at a virtual gala
following the march.
Attendance was already expected to be down at the event due to
the coronavirus. Organizers had planned to require face masks,
display signs about social distancing, and urge those with
symptoms not to come.
Some state and local marches—including in Arkansas, Hawaii, and
Oregon—recently opted to cancel or postpone this year’s
in-person gatherings due to “political unrest and the continuing
COVID-19 pandemic.”
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