Christian Action League
May 8, 2019
RALEIGH – May 7th, Tuesday evening, approximately 500 people gathered in the Bicentennial Plaza, directly across from the Legislative Building on Jones Street in Raleigh, for a pro-life rally.
Called “Stand for Life,” the rally’s purpose was to draw attention to Senate Bill 359, Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. SB 359 is legislation that would require medical practitioners to provide care to any baby born-alive as the result of a failed abortion.
The North Carolina General Assembly passed SB 359 in April, but Governor Roy Cooper quickly vetoed it. The North Carolina Senate responded within two weeks by overriding the Governor’s veto 30-20, leaving the fate of the measure with the state House.
Rally speakers and participants passionately called upon House members to override Cooper’s veto. They also encouraged both chambers to take up other pro-life bills. Still waiting to be considered by the full General Assembly are SB 51, Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment, SB 547, Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, and SB 52, A Second Chance for Life – Abortion Bill Reversal Act.
The rally featured several high-profile pro-life speakers from both the national and state levels. One of the speakers was Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League.
Creech’s speech lamented the fact that pastors and church leaders are too silent on the life issue. Based on the story of the Good Samaritan, he called on them to engage in the fight for the most vulnerable among us.
His speech was only about 3 minutes in length, but some said it was like a Gettysburg Address for adjuring priests, pastors, and lower churchmen not to ignore the injustice of the born-alive child or the unborn, but instead, seek to save them.
Below is Rev. Creech’s short but powerful speech:
“Among the many parables that Jesus told that stands out is the one about an unfortunate traveler ambushed by thieves and left for dead. Jesus said that a priest saw the nearly dead, wounded man, sprawled across the highway, but passed him by without helping. Later, Jesus said, a Levite, which might be described as a lower-level form of the priesthood in Bible times, also saw the helpless man, but passed by without offering any assistance.
“Well, you probably know the rest of the story. Along came a Samaritan, someone who was despised by Jewish society, and he took pity on the man. He dressed his wounds, helped him to a nearby Inn where he could receive care, and then personally paid for the man’s convalescence.
“The main point of the parable is that our concern for others should be wide in scope. It should cross the barriers of culture, race, politics, and creed. For if a Samaritan was neighborly to the Jew who hated him; then no one should be beyond the boundaries of our compassion. We must always be ready to act to assist or save the most vulnerable among us.
“I can think of no person more vulnerable in our own day than the infant near death but alive, bruised and wounded, ambushed by the abortionist’s knife and forceps, and helplessly sprawled across a stainless steel table as the result of a botched abortion.
“Who will help? Who will save this little one? – this one whom Jesus prized so highly that he warned it would be better to have a millstone hanged around one’s neck and tossed into the deepest part of the sea than to offend.
“Certainly, it should be the priest. Certainly, it should be the pastor. Certainly it should be a lower churchman that seeks to intervene, who does not ignore the injustice of the born-alive child or the unborn, but instead works to save the youngster.
“Yet, there is a craven silence from too many pulpits – too little engagement from the clergy – too few authoritative religious voices to speak for the voiceless. Pastors should be preaching about abortion. They and their lay-leaders should be organizing to bring their moral influence to bear on the issue politically. But too many are just passing by, offering, at least in principle, some of the same old tired and unacceptable excuses for their lack of involvement, that the priest and the Levite probably did for not helping when they should have.
“In fact, we see some clergy who support abortion. Our age is such a wicked one that today it is the mother and the abortionist who see the child as the thief, and while the child is ambushed in the womb or left to die on the table, the priest and the Levite, many of our religious leaders are not simply passing by but applauding. This is one of the most shameful things in the history of Christendom.
“It is my prayer that when you go back to your place of worship after this rally, you will encourage your priest, your pastor, your church leadership not to pass by the most vulnerable among us, but get into the fight to save them.
“I want you to visit the websites of the pro-life groups represented here and access some of their literature, download one of their handouts on the bill the Governor vetoed, and apprise your minister that little babies in North Carolina born-alive from a botched abortion have no protection by law and can be left for dead. And then, when you are finished sharing and encouraging your church leader to act, I encourage you to leave him or her with this quote from the great Christian pastor and reformer, Martin Luther, who said:
“‘If we are not fighting where the battle is the hottest, we are traitors to the cause of Christ.’”