Civil Disobedience ... Arrest outside Abortion Clinic for Praying ...

The American philosopher Henry Thoreau wrote an essay entitled ‘Civil Disobedience’ after spending a night in jail for refusing to pay his taxes as a protest against slavery. One line reads “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.” 

Earlier this year, a man (in a wheelchair) was arrested outside the Marie Stopes abortion clinic in Ealing, London for praying for an end to abortion and for the mothers and babies inside. This followed a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) which bans ‘engaging in any act of approval / disapproval towards abortion outside the facility- including prayer.’ The charges were later dropped. 

This is a new phase in the hardening of intolerance towards Christianity and the Pro-life movement, one that we should be greatly encouraged by though. In trying to ban prayer the face of the industry is further unmasked. On the days when pro-lifers are praying outside an abortion clinic, women turn back and go home, both mother and child are spared the horror of abortion and the clinic loses its revenue. 

It is an abuse of power to arrest people who are praying, but even under this PSPO there must be clarity that an offence has been committed before an arrest can be made, so perhaps it can be countered by raising a reasonable doubt. A group of people standing outside without photos or placards, remaining silent and retaining their composure, rosaries concealed in their pockets perhaps, showing no approval or disapproval to the activities going on inside cannot be legitimately moved on or arrested. And I doubt if anyone could prove they were praying other than by the miracles that proceed forth. 

The Muslim civil rights leader Malcolm X was successful because his congregation was so disciplined; controlling their emotions, and acting as one with an almost military precision. As he pointed out ‘for one to control one's thoughts and feelings means one can actually control one's atmosphere and all who walk into its sphere of influence.’ 

One thing was quite disturbing though. Christian Hastings, the man arrested outside Marie Stopes, was the only one. Where were the rest of the Parishioners from his church? Where were the rest of the parishioners from his Diocese?

‘The Measure of his Sacrifice’

In this centenary year of the RAF the ringtone on my cell phone is the roar of a Spitfire’s Rolls Royce Merlin engine as it flies by. Its era is before my time but there is much to gain from a look at that period of history. In particular it reminds me of an extract from a letter written by a young pilot to his mother; left in the care of his CO in case he failed to return from a mission. His bomber went down over Belgium as they supported the evacuation of Dunkirk and bought time for the men on the beach. In it he writes “the universe is so vast and so ageless that the life of one man can only be justified by the measure of his sacrifice”. He was 23. 

I wonder how far you would have to walk to meet a young man (or an old one) of such quality; with that kind of wisdom and clarity of thought. Other lines in his letter revealed how he saw the Germans as ‘the greatest organized challenge to Christianity and civilization’ and felt honoured to be part of the RAF and to ‘throw my full weight into the scale’. 

He found his part in the ‘larger story’. He knew he was made for something more than this life; that our life in the flesh is where we prepare for the eternal spiritual life, here we must forge our legacy and our future by sacrificial love. 

What he, and the many other defenders of those traditional values, died for has now been largely swept away. That Christian civilisation that the Nazi’s failed to destroy, successive governments have undermined as public opinion was swayed and the Christian witness was muted. 

Recent anti-Christian developments include the insistence on Catholic adoption agencies to allow gay couples to adopt children or close down altogether and now I understand that praying and counselling outside abortion clinics may be prohibited by law soon. Now the enemy is no longer a hostile nation but a godless generation. 

Many thought it wise to compromise or collaborate with Hitler, as was seen in France with the Vichy government, and perhaps there are those who try to do likewise here with the new regime too, compromising beliefs for a quiet life without confrontation. 

But our only course can be to stand firm and fight on against these and the future attacks on the heart of Christian civilisation which is the family. Christians who don’t compromise or collaborate will find themselves in conflict with these new ‘values’ that we have allowed to gain traction. 

What legacy will we leave, what will be the measure of this Catholic generation’s sacrifice? Perhaps another old soldier can lend his counsel from beyond the grave “Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in... Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” (Churchill) 

(reference :- Flight Officer Rosewarne's letter)