Anti-Cloning
Rally Energizes
Christians
By Jim Day
On Monday evening August 28th some 2,200
Christians gathered at Life Christian Church in South St. Louis County for a
rally against Amendment 2 - other wise known as the “Clone and Kill Amendment,”
which will be on the November 7th ballot. This was the third of five rallies held
around the state in the effort to defeat the Amendment which will
constitutionally protect embryonic stem-cell research and human cloning.
Rallies have thus far been held in Jefferson City, Cape Girardeau and Kansas
City, MO (which took place September 11th) and another is scheduled for Springfield,
MO on September 21st.
Featured speakers at the rally included: Dr.
Rick Scarborough, a Baptist minister and founder of Vision America; St. Louis
Archbishop Raymond Burke; former presidential candidate and pro-life speaker
Dr. Alan Keyes, and Dr. Shao-Chun Chang, an instructor in medicine at
Washington University in St. Louis who explained the scientific background of cloning
and embryonic stem-cell research.
Other speakers included: Phyllis Schlafly
the founder and president of Eagle Forum; Rich Bott, executive vice president
of the Bott Broadcasting Network; Pam Fischer, state president of Missouri
Right to Life; author and speaker William J. Federer; hotel developer Charles
Drury; Evelio Silvera of Joyce Meyer Ministries; Pastor Rick Shelton the pastor
of Life Christian Church, and Missourians Against Human Cloning board member Dr.
Robert Onder who is an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the
Washington University School of Medicine. Featured between the main speakers
were moments of praise and worship, with music led by Kim Noblitt, a nationally
known Christian recording artist and songwriter.
Pastor Scarborough made an impassioned plea
to the audience to get involved, make sure they vote, and make sure their
friends and neighbors got involved as well. He questioned the motives of the
Amendment’s
proponents asking why the Missouri Constitution had to be amended with a four
page document that no one could read. He then went on to compare the battle
to stop Amendment 2 with the biblical battle between David and Goliath stating,
“Remember — David won. We only lose when we don’t show up. This is about God’s
people standing for God’s truth. I urge you people of Missouri to stand for
truth and to not back away.” “You men and women are the key to turning this
thing around,” he said. “God has blessed you with the chance to reignite your
passion. You have the chance to do something good.”
Dr. Keyes began his presentation
by outlining the fact our Constitution derives its fundamental authority from
God and that Amendment 2 was actually an attack on God’s authority. He went
on to tell the audience that they cannot separate God and Christ from their
consciences. Rather, “we have the choice to remember that this nation was
founded on God’s authority — and we must not let that go.” Dr. Keyes was adamant
in his condemnation of the proposed amendment and brought many to their feet
with applause. One of his more poignant statements was, “You are having a
constitutional amendment in the name of medical advances to mandate the murder
of embryos in order to secure those advances. I think that’s highly objectionable!”
Keyes also noted that the amendment only serves to make embryonic human life
a commodity. “That’s slavery the last time I checked,” he said, “and slavery
was not rooted in racism. It was invented in human greed.”
Phyllis Schlafly called the rally “a great
ecumenical effort for people who share a common goal — to protect human life.”
She went on to relate that the destruction of human embryonic life is
equivalent to an early abortion and made the point that while the amendment
claims that researchers will prohibit the sale of human eggs, “there are ways
to get around money for eggs.” Mrs. Schlafly’s concluding remark was the fact
that “this is the most anti-woman amendment you could possibly have.”
The speakers received thunderous
applause during numerous parts of the evening, and some received standing
ovations on several occasions. Every speaker was truly outstanding.
As mentioned at the beginning of this
article, Archbishop Raymond Burke, the Archbishop of St. Louis, was one of the
primary speakers. I was blessed by having the opportunity to meet him face to
face for the first time during this event. He is truly a mighty, yet gracious,
defender of life and his presentations brought tears to my eyes. At the
conclusion of his first speech to the clergy at the dinner meeting that was
held prior to the main rally, I asked him if I could have a copy of his speech.
He was kind enough to e-mail me both of his speeches. Since there were only
minor differences between his two presentations I decided to print the speech
which he gave at the rally. I think you will find it truly inspirational.
My
brothers and sisters in Christ:
All
of us gather tonight with the deepest concern for our most innocent and
defenseless brothers and sisters whose human life, at the embryonic stage of
development, is threatened by a proposed constitutional amendment. It hardly seems possible to us that we have
arrived at a time when we, as Christian citizens of a free nation, would be
asked to vote to guarantee the constitutional right to clone human life, in
order to destroy the human life to obtain embryonic stem cells for supposed
cures. Yet, that is the situation in
which we find ourselves. We must be
realistic about it and recognize the gravity of it. No matter what euphemisms are used to describe
what the proposed amendment would provide, the reality is the horror of the
legalized wholesale destruction of human life.
For
us as Christians, the words of our Lord regarding the Last Judgment resound
deeply in our hearts, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least
of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt
25:40). Our tiniest brothers and sisters
are depending upon us to safeguard, defend and promote their most fundamental
God-given right, the right to human life.
Our Lord Himself teaches us the first of our responsibilities, namely,
the defense of human life, in the Holy Gospel, but the defense of human life is
a law written in every human heart by our Lord from the moment of
Creation. For that reason, as
Christians, we must call upon all of our brothers and sisters in the household
of the faith and all of our brothers and sisters of good will to recognize the
most fundamental demand of the natural moral law, the defense of human life.
There
is a tremendous amount of misinformation and disinformation surrounding the
initiative in question. The emotion of
parents, spouses and other relatives of persons suffering from diseases and
injuries, who could supposedly be effectively cured with the use of embryonic
stem cells, can easily cloud right judgment about the matter. The euphemisms used, together with the
emotional pleading, make it very easy for us to be deceived about the meaning
of a vote to favor the initiative. There
is no more effective means to counter such deception than the witness of family
member to family member, of neighbor to neighbor. For that reason, I commend you all and urge
you to be courageous in telling the truth, so that innocent and defenseless
human life will be safeguarded and protected in our state. Let it not be upon our consciences that we
participated in the violation of the God-given right to life of our brothers
and sisters, according to the criterion of their size or stage of development,
as the right to life of brothers and sisters in the past has been violated,
according to the criteria of racial, ethnic or religious difference.
The
battle which we face is fierce. The
victory belongs to Christ. Let us pray
daily that we may faithfully and generously follow Christ in the defense of
human life, in the care of “the least” of His brothers and sisters. I invite you to pray with me:
Almighty
God, You have blessed us with the gift of human life, made in Your own image
and likeness, and redeemed by the Most Precious Blood of Your only-begotten
Son. You have entrusted human life into
our hands as the first of Your gifts to us, so that we may serve You by serving
our brothers and sisters, especially those in most need. We beg you to assist us, by Your grace, so
that we may do all within our capacity to defend the inviolable dignity of
every human life, from the moment of its inception to the moment of natural
death. In the present crisis which we
face, bless us, dear and all-merciful Lord, with wisdom and courage to defend
the right to life of our brothers and sisters at the embryonic stage of
development. Help us to proclaim the
truth with love, so that our State of Missouri may fulfill its most fundamental
duty, to promote the common good by protecting and promoting all human life,
without limits or boundaries. We ask
this, all-loving Father, through Christ, your Son and our Lord, and in the
power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Archbishop Raymond L. Burke
Archbishop of Saint Louis
