In response to, “Planned Parenthood: the dangers of soapbox Christianity,” by Jessica Fraser
By Molly Myhand
Let me just say that I thoroughly enjoy reading The Collegian. I think it has wonderful student-journalists and a wide assortment of articles. However, I must say I was rather surprised by the tone of the opinion piece by Jessica Fraser that appeared in the Sept. 13 issue. In fact, I’ll go a step further and say that I think her focus was off and her argument against the chalk-writers was rather, shall we say, abrasive.
“Why would anyone ever waste his or her time campaigning for pro-life on an already pro-life campus?” Ms. Fraser wrote in the opening paragraphs of her article. She goes on to imply that the chalk-writers are “soapbox Christians” who only display “how ignorant Christians can be.” If I may be so bold, I’d say that Ms. Fraser missed the point of the chalk-writing. Yes, I’d warrant a guess that Asbury is a pro-life campus (although just because the campus is Christian in nature doesn’t necessarily mean everyone is pro-life), but I personally didn’t think the chalk-writers meant to sway anyone to their position. The chalk-writing was meant to push people to think about a big issue and take action instead of just taking a stance. As for Ms. Fraser’s wonder that someone would “ever waste his or her time campaigning for pro-life on an already pro-life campus,” I have to ask: Why does a Christian campus “waste time” having a Revival Week every semester? Why do they waste time talking about the importance of mission work? Couldn’t we assume that the Christians on campus see the importance of these things, and therefore forego them? The point isn’t to convince the student body to take a stance; the point is to bring about an action, to challenge the complacency into which we are, unfortunately, prone to sink.
I have not researched Planned Parenthood enough to take a stance on whether or not I support their organization, and I certainly see Ms. Fraser’s point about the need to research your cause and take care in the way you go about protesting. I agree that we, as Christians, should seek to meet people where they are regardless of the situations in which they find themselves. I suppose I wish that she had taken the time to put a little more thought into her rash characterization of the chalk-writers before writing them off as soapbox Christians. In the end, after reading a string of assumptions made about people she didn’t know, I couldn’t say the writer of the article was any different than the people against whom she spoke.