I\u2019ve been thinking about cartoonists, abortion, and theological liberals lately.<\/p>\n
My friend Diane was sitting in a doctor\u2019s office when a young woman came in to ask about an appointment.\u00a0 She wanted an abortion, she said, because she had plans for Labor Day weekend and wanted to get this done.<\/p>\n
After a quick conversation with the receptionist, she left.\u00a0 My friend sat there in shock and then began to weep.<\/p>\n
Diane and her husband Mitch are in line to adopt a baby due soon.\u00a0 To say they are excited and prayerful does not begin to describe them. Seeing the callousness with which that young woman wanted to be rid of her baby because \u201cI have plans for the weekend\u201d left Diane broken-hearted.<\/p>\n
At this point, some in our audience will quit reading.\u00a0 They already \u201cknow\u201d where it\u2019s going and know they do not wish to go there.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why there is little authentic conversation about abortions today.<\/p>\n
And, may I say, I understand that.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Personally, I happen to be closed-minded on this subject. As far as I\u2019m concerned, this is one of those issues in life with only one side: protect the lives of everyone, mother and child.\u00a0 (When a fellow said to me, “You’re so dedicated to saving these lives, why don’t you adopt them?” I answered, “My wife and I have adopted three.\u00a0 How many have you adopted?”\u00a0 I’m still waiting for his answer.)<\/p>\n
Theological liberals refuse to consider even the possibility that the fetus inside the woman may actually be a human being and thus to abruptly and intentionally end its life may be the most brutal act of which we are capable.\u00a0 If it’s not murder, it surely must be manslaughter.<\/p>\n
Those who are hardened on the subject turn a deaf ear to such and mark the speaker (moi!) down as a right-wing nut or ignoramus who refuses to come into the 21st century.<\/p>\n
In Your Face: A cartoonist at work<\/em> is Doug Marlette\u2019s 1991 memoir and how-I-do-it. This prize-winning cartoonist had his life tragically cut short in an automobile accident some seventeen years ago and we are much the poorer because of it.<\/p>\n Marlette began doing editorial cartoons for the Charlotte Observer<\/em> at the age of 22.\u00a0 Later, he moved to the Atlanta Constitution-Journal<\/em> and from there to Newsday.<\/em>\u00a0 Much of this time he was also turning out a daily syndicated comic strip.\u00a0 Kudzu<\/em> chronicled life in the small town of \u201cBypass, N.C.,\u201d and gave the world the wonderful character of \u201cWill B. Dunn,\u201d a caricature of a lot of southern preachers.<\/p>\n Doug Marlette was sometimes mentioned as a Christian.\u00a0 That always gave me a little pleasure since so few believers seem to work in his field.<\/p>\n When an irate phone caller accused everyone at his newspaper of being \u201ca bunch of Jews,\u201d Marlette countered, \u201cActually I was raised Southern Baptist.\u201d\u00a0 In the book, he gives no testimony of faith or mention of church affiliation.\u00a0 The Will B. Dunn<\/em> strips certainly showed a familiarity with Scripture and with the foibles of the church crowd. That strip adorned the bulletin boards of many a church and the office door of a lot of seminary professors I know.\u00a0 When he died, his funeral service was held in a United Methodist Church in North Carolina.<\/p>\n I conclude that Marlette was a confessed Christian. Whether he was a practicing one I have no idea.\u00a0 (I\u2019m bending over backward to make no judgment one way or the other.)<\/p>\n If he was a Christian, I think he would have been quick to identify himself as a liberal. The indications are all there.<\/p>\n My observation about theological liberals is that they champion themselves as the defenders of the weak and oppressed (a position dear to the heart of our Lord) while \u201ctaking on\u201d the establishment, whether political or religious or cultural.\u00a0 Most cartoonists proudly admit this to be their approach, and I find that admirable.<\/p>\n The single case where liberals can be depended on to abandon the weakest and littlest has to do with abortion.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Liberals seem to be uniformly pro-abortion.<\/p>\n Not that they would call it that.<\/p>\n Liberals in political and religious life speak of protecting \u201ca woman\u2019s reproductive rights\u201d and \u201cher right to choose,\u201d euphemisms which camouflage the stark reality: Abortion terminates the life of a human being.<\/p>\n The theological liberal never quite seems to know whether abortion ends the life of a human or (ahem) a potential human.\u00a0 To quote one of their champions, that is \u201cabove (their) pay grade.\u201d<\/p>\n I find it incredulous that a thinking adult would say, \u201cI don\u2019t know whether this is a human being or not, but I\u2019m in favor of killing it.\u201d<\/p>\n Their single concern, they keep insisting, is with the poor woman (she\u2019s always poor and oppressed in their scenarios) who is being denied basic human rights by large cigar-chomping bullies who are almost always men, Southern, Christian, fat, calloused and powerful.\u00a0 (Let me interject to say I get this. Editorial cartoonists admit that they oversimplify. The drawing on the editorial page cannot get into subtleties and all the extenuating factors.\u00a0 However, in the attempt to simplify it\u2019s so easy to misrepresent and slander.)<\/p>\n On page 6, barely into his narrative, Marlette introduces us to \u201cMrs. Mackey, the abortion lady.\u201d She loves to call his desk at the newspaper office early in the morning.<\/p>\n Mrs. Mackey has been writing and calling me steadily ever since I drew an anti-death penalty cartoon years ago. She sends me literature and leaflets to persuade me to do pro-life cartoons.<\/em><\/p>\n He describes her approach.<\/p>\n She begins in a soft whispery voice that is meant to ooze Christian charity and patience but is actually pushy, insistent, and much like a fork on a blackboard.\u00a0 I have become Mrs. Mackey\u2019s personal responsibility.\u00a0 Her mission, for which she will no doubt reap rewards in paradise, is to convert the wayward cartoonist or at least force him to use one of her cartoon ideas.<\/em><\/p>\n It’s impossible not to notice the condescension which compliments Mrs. Mackey while dismissing her as a nut.\u00a0 We can imagine readers elbowing one another, laughing at the naivete of this simple-minded woman who is heaven-bent on saving the lives of the unborn.\u00a0 How foolish of her to think she can convince a sophisticated, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist to do anything.<\/p>\n Mrs. Mackey was well-known around that newspaper office.\u00a0 When a secretary rings Marlette to say he has a caller, she says, \u201cNo, it\u2019s not Mrs. Mackey.\u201d<\/p>\n On page 19, the dreaded anti-abortionist shows up again, this time with an idea for a drawing.<\/p>\n The phone rings again. \u201cNew York Newsday,\u201d I answer.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ve got a pile of dead unborn babies on the left and on the right a pile of dead bodies.\u00a0 Over the babies it says New York City, 1990. Over the bodies it reads Auschwitz, 1939.\u00a0 The caption says \u2018Progress?\u2019 with a question mark.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNot bad, Mrs. Mackey.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never seen this whimsical side of you before.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cDo you like my idea?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n When Marlette hedges, Mrs. Mackey is ready.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you know how many unborn babies died in New York City last year?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cGoodbye, Mrs. Mackey.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The single abortion cartoon which Marlette runs in the book was inspired by a Supreme Court decision making \u201cabortions tougher for the poor.\u201d\u00a0 He says, I began thinking of limos, yachts, country clubs, furs, jewelry\u2013which reminded me of the phrase \u2018If you have to ask how much, you can\u2019t afford one!\u2019 I drew a Supreme Court justice at the door of an abortion clinic greeting a poor pregnant woman with that line.<\/em><\/p>\n The cartoon is supposedly championing the poor.\u00a0 But what about the defenseless baby in the mother\u2019s womb? Too bad; he will have to fend for himself. No one but right-wing nuts speak out for that guy.<\/p>\n By the way, what dastardly act do you suppose the Supreme Court did to hurt these poor women? It ruled that the federal government was not required to fund their abortions. That’s all.<\/p>\n Such is the reasoning of the theological liberal, whether a politician, professor, preacher, or cartoonist.<\/p>\n Do not look to any liberal for consistency, but only for the accepted viewpoint of his group to be spouted. He is catering to his audience, preaching to his choir.<\/p>\n Do not look for a well-reasoned presentation.\u00a0 Do not wait for him to give an explanation and defend the charges against his position.\u00a0 What he will do is belittle the pro-lifer.<\/p>\n He will not attempt\u00a0a defense of his position\u00a0because there is no defense.<\/p>\n Some issues have only one side and this is one of them.<\/strong><\/p>\n I am quick to admit that \u201cpreaching to one\u2019s choir\u201d is a favorite past-time for all of us.\u00a0 A preacher at a “pastors conference” knows that to get a chorus of “amens” all he has to do is spout the party line.\u00a0 A politician seeking the votes of a liberal group will do the same.\u00a0 It’s called pandering.<\/p>\n Some may accuse me of slamming Cartoonist Marlette when he is no longer around to defend himself, of speaking ill of the dead. Not so.\u00a0 I\u2019m merely telling what he wrote,\u00a0 reporting what he drew.\u00a0 Our Lord said, \u201cBy your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned\u201d (Matthew 12:37).<\/p>\n Doug Marlette scoffed that Mrs. Mackey would no doubt be rewarded in \u201cparadise\u201d for championing the unborn.<\/p>\n Along about now, I expect he knows the truth of that.<\/p>\n There are no words to say how much I admire this woman.<\/p>\n Think about it\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n In Isaiah\u2019s day, the Lord God pleaded with His wayward people, \u201cCome now and let us reason together\u2026.\u201d (Isaiah 1:18).<\/p>\n That\u2019s my great hope, that people would think about this, even if they are unwilling to discuss it.\u00a0 We wish the young woman whom Diane saw in the doctor\u2019s office would give thought to what she is planning.\u00a0 We wish those who parrot the party line about \u201creproductive rights\u201d and the \u201cright to choose\u201d would just think about this and come to their senses.<\/p>\n Mrs. Mackey will indeed be getting her reward in paradise. As will many others I could name.<\/p>\n Let us bless all the children, especially the least of these.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve been thinking about cartoonists, abortion, and theological liberals lately. My friend Diane was sitting in a doctor\u2019s office when a young woman came in to ask about an appointment.\u00a0 She wanted an abortion, she said, because she had plans … Continue reading