Good and faithful servants Mt.25:21

Convinced as I am that the pre-born are "the least of our brethren" (Mt.25:40), my favorite charities are of the pro-life flavor. The following are, in my opinion, the most worthy that I have come across:

Jesus taught "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.". This shows us that the key to any pro-life progress is in how much it costs us. "Follow the money" is good advice, and not just in a worldly sense. Specifically, pro-life people ought not be paying for abortions. How can we pray for life and then pay for death? For this reason, I rate Life Decisions International (LDI) near the top for their pro-life efforts. Briefly, these folks are leading the boycott of abortion-friendly corporations, and have succeeded in 'converting' over 100 corporations to an abortion-neutral corporate policy. This is a significant blow to the abortion juggernaut, and an essential part of the battle. More importantly, it is a way to purify our other pro-life prayers and labors. (It is this idea which eventually inspired the next step, that of resisting the tax-funding of abortion. Same principle: why pray for life and pay for death? See the Pro-Life Strike site for more on this.)

The most crucial pro-life battles are in other parts of the world. For this reason, I nominate two groups that focus on the international scene. Human Life International (HLI) is the only pro-life presence in many countries, and are single-handedly, with God's grace, challenging and holding back the forces of death in these locations.

In the same vein is The Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-FAM), who do yeoman's work in pro-life advocacy at the United Nations. Two posts below [1] [2] tell just a little of their vital efforts in defending human life around the world, and the real impact they are having.

Rounding out my list of personally vetted charities are two Chicago-based organizations with whom I have had personal involvement. They are Miles Jesu, a lay religious order, and The Women's Centers, with its series of free clinics. And my friend in Canada, David Little, whose unique mission has been the subject of earlier posts. See this article for the most recent development.

Idea blog

As indicated in its descriptive heading "Random rantings on faith, culture, life... ", Dogpatch, Ergo Sum is an ideas blog. As opposed to a journal type of web log, in which news and events are reported at regular, timely intervals, the articles in this blog are mostly about ideas, concepts, principles, truths. With few exceptions, they are not tied to current events; they can be read and commented upon at any time or season.

But (speaking of time) over time, one idea has come to dominate: that of a pro-life strike. So much so that in January 2009, after about two years of Dogpatch, Ergo Sum blogging, I launched ProLifeStrike.org. Now I've recently attached a new blog to that site, based upon that single idea: that pro-life folks ought not be paying for abortion, and therefore ought to seriously consider not paying their taxes.

Please check out this new blog and the whole site associated with it. I'll leave a link to it in the left side bar here. If my level of posting various ideas to Dogpatch, Ergo Sum begins to subside, it may be because I am focusing upon that one idea, and its associated blog and website.

Pro-life boycott

I just received a mass-mailed email urging a boycott of the new U.S. one dollar coin, because this coin omits the long-standing motto "In God We Trust".

I am a big fan of boycotts. My current (somewhat radical) stance started out several years ago with a boycott of corporate sponsors of Planned Parenthood, as proposed by the people at Life Decisions International (LDI). These folks, as their work and ministry, investigate and report in a fair and balanced manner those corporations which donate to or support Planned Parenthood (PP). Subscribers to this LDI boycott list can then respond accordingly. For example, since Johnson & Johnson is on the LDI list, you would buy Curad bandages and Oral-B dental floss rather than the Johnson & Johnson products, writing to the CEO of Johnson & Johnson to politely indicate this. Ditto for Microsoft, eBay, Time Warner, Walt Disney, and a slew of other corporate PP sponsors. (Some non-profits also support PP. See, for example, the "Pink deception" post below). As a result, many corporations have dropped their support for PP, and that becomes a significant blow to the abortion juggernaut in both financial and public image terms.

As noted elsewhere, this evolved for me into a way to purify other pro-life efforts and prayers. The corporate boycott became a way to avoid even indirect material participation in the crime of abortion. In simple language: Why pray for life, and then pay for death? By the same logic, why voluntarily surrender tax dollars that will fund PP, abortions, or embryonic stem cell research? Thus, the idea of a pro-life strike or pro-life tax resistance. Search this blog for "Pro-life strike", and read about David Little's tax resistance efforts in the previous post.

Here's my point: It is indeed laudable to want to retain the "In God We Trust" motto on U.S. currency. But even more importantly, let's take that motto to heart, and take to heart not only "Render to Caesar..." but also the companion command "Render to God...". That is, let us begin to pay attention to how our dollars are spent, and make a serious effort to defund the ways in which our money kills innocent human lives and blasphemes the motto that we revere.

If you are not yet ready to engage in full-fledged strike or tax resistance efforts, at least you might prayerfully consider entering into a boycott that is already engaged, has yielded some concrete results, and may yield more, with your cooperation. Call the LDI people at (540) 631-0380. Get their PP boycott list, and start making a real difference.

O, by the way, it is reported that the new coin does indeed contain the revered motto, but this time on the coin's edge.