By SJ Otto
It's hard to say how much news coverage Operation Save America deserves for their week long attempts at disrupting Wichita 's only abortion clinic, Trust Women South Wind Women's Center with their so called “Summer of Justice.” But The Wichita Eaglehas given them generous coverage.
They deserve some coverage for making waves in Wichita , but not out right promotional information. The Wichita Eagle has given out a lot of information for those who want to attend these events, such as which churches supporters can go to and the times to go to them. One part of the article I strongly disagree with is about a man to came to these church and political leaders to get off drugs.
As someone who has written on the subject of drug abuse and treatment I strongly oppose the idea of just joining up with one of these fundamentalist religions as a way to get off of drug use. The Wichita Eagle has such a story in their article under "Prayer vigil, church rally kick off week of anti-abortion activism in Wichita ." In it a man has ended a 12 month treatment program after doing only 10 months. Church leaders from Operation Save America took him in, calling him a prodigal son, under the sub-heading "Prodigal sons welcome." I'm sure the church leaders told him to just turn to god and join their religion. Now he doesn't think he needs the treatment so he can join their political cause and spend all of his time obsessed with his new religion and that new religion will magically free him from the drugs.
There are two problems with that. One is that he is just trading one dangerous and reckless obsession for another. He won't be healthier, because if he gets away from that religion and those people for any length of time, he will relapse right away.[1] It is not a cure, it is a substitution for the addiction he had. Second, he will be taking up a destructive political path, selected by these leaders and base on THEIR interpretation of the Bible. The path is not chosen out of a sincere belief in the cause, but simply a way to stay off drugs. That kind of roping in addicts is just not ethical.
Overall, Operation Save America is extremely anti-tolerant of other people's religions.
One of their activist, Ante Pavkovic, a North Carolina pastor, was arrested some time back for disrupting a Hindu prayer in the U.S. Senate. The group's members have also burned Qurans and flags they deemed as representing homosexuals. From their own website:
The question has been asked, “Have you burned the Quran? The answer is yes. But not the Quran alone....
....In 2004, we added the homosexual flag and the Quran as we saw the rise of Islam, the normalization of homosexuality, and the continued shedding of innocent blood through abortion as a sign of the judgment of Almighty God upon a nation who had ignored His warnings. Today, September 11, we remember the horrific moment that thousands of innocents died and blood ran through our streets. We also need to remember that on that same day, more innocent blood was shed through abortion than as a result of the terrorist attack in NYC. God hates the shedding of innocent blood and it brings His judgment upon a nation.
It is hard to understand why this group is not treated as a terrorist organization, as with certain Muslim groups. They are a fanatic groups, they are intolerant of other people's religions and sometimes these groups endorse violence against abortion doctors and clinic workers.
