Abolish Human Abortion Group Starting to Implode
I have written about the AHA group in the past attempting to point out their strong anti-Catholicism as a warning for innocent pro-lifers to avoid them. Basically, they are a loose association of evangelicals, with a strong hatred for Catholicism who have suddenly discovered that abortion is a grave evil (about 40 years too late I'm afraid). Here's a direct quote from one of the leaders fb page:
"We do not consider Catholics brothers in Christ or Christians at all. We will not seek unity with a Satanic religious system."
Now that they have realized that being pro-life is an integral aspect of being a Christian, they have taken to criticizing and publicly maligning Catholics ( Protestants as well ) who don't share their particular kooky view of how to be pro-life. For example, calling woman who have aborted "murderers" to their face is a frequent tactic of theirs outside aborturaries. They go to Catholic pro-life marches and use bull horns to ridicule and verbally attack marchers. They charge lots of money for merch with their insignias on it. (Not to mention using good ol' American advertising methods )
They have no specific church affiliation and thus are under no leadership or authority other than their own personal interpretation of Holy Scripture. They have defined for themselves what the gospel is and once again, this illustrates the bad fruit of sola scriptura. They are the "Westboro Baptists" of the pro-life movement and ultimately and sadly will go down in history as an odd and perverse group of misguided individuals who did more harm than good in trying to save babies. If only that youthful energy and enthusiasm could have been linked to the successful pro-life activities of the Catholic Church, rather than turning into screed preaching hate-mongers who resemble Jack Chick and Fred Phelps in their theology and methods.
The good news is that even Protestant bloggers who share their particular theological bent are starting to pull away realizing the danger of association with the AHA group.
Check this post (Running Around Without Church) by Frank Turk of Pyromaniacs.
And this one (Why I no Longer Endorse Abolish Human Abortion) by Justin Edwards on Born To Reform.
And this one by Clinton Wilcox.
And this one by Ed Dingess
There's a Catholic fb group attempting to increase awareness of this troubling AHA group. Check them out here.
"We do not consider Catholics brothers in Christ or Christians at all. We will not seek unity with a Satanic religious system."
Now that they have realized that being pro-life is an integral aspect of being a Christian, they have taken to criticizing and publicly maligning Catholics ( Protestants as well ) who don't share their particular kooky view of how to be pro-life. For example, calling woman who have aborted "murderers" to their face is a frequent tactic of theirs outside aborturaries. They go to Catholic pro-life marches and use bull horns to ridicule and verbally attack marchers. They charge lots of money for merch with their insignias on it. (Not to mention using good ol' American advertising methods )
The good news is that even Protestant bloggers who share their particular theological bent are starting to pull away realizing the danger of association with the AHA group.
Check this post (Running Around Without Church) by Frank Turk of Pyromaniacs.
And this one (Why I no Longer Endorse Abolish Human Abortion) by Justin Edwards on Born To Reform.
And this one by Clinton Wilcox.
And this one by Ed Dingess
There's a Catholic fb group attempting to increase awareness of this troubling AHA group. Check them out here.
posted by Russ Rentler, M.D. | 8:33 PM
26 Comments:
Thank you! The more people are informed the sooner this bigoted cult will implode. It's a shame that their slick graphics attract unsuspecting pro-lifers into their clutches. May everyone soon become aware!
For Catholic Pro-LIFE memes check out my Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/GIAZUB
And my Catholic, Pro-LIFE blog:
http://designsbybirgit.blogspot.com/
That is good news!
I read the pyro link--too bad they he wouldn't address how hateful to Catholics ol' Rhology and the gang are.
Pat v
Hey, Dr. Rentler:
I am one of those Protestant pro-lifers they rail against because I believe incrementalism is the best strategy for ending abortion in the U.S. (and incrementalists are in good company, especially if anyone actually understands the history of abolitionism on any topic).
Anyway, I responded to your note on my blog, but I wanted to respond here so you know that I read your article, too. :)
You are welcome Birgit, thanks for the work you do for Life!
Hey Pat! Yeah, for sure.
thanks Clinton for stopping by! Are you the gent from the old Catholics are Christians fb discussions? Glad you are able to cross the aisle with us on pro life initiatives. God bless you.
I didn't know that, and now I understand. However, non-affiliated groups are sometimes the more effective depending on the locale and the people involved. There is more to a cult than those two qualities, which I'm sure you know, but it wouldn't hurt to flesh that part out a bit.
Shame, their graphics are mostly good and as a Catholic I would love to see more non Catholics involved in the pro life movement. I have been praying for them and hoping that they would eventually grow up and settle down. Maybe they will yet, but it is an individual journey.
Jes.
Dr. Rentler:
Yes, I was in that FB group (I think I still am, just haven't really been active in it). Through my work in the pro-life field, I have actually made many Catholic friends (one who is actively trying to make me Catholic).
ennes: This non-affiliated group is a detriment because they are attacking the very Church that started and continues to lead the fight to end abortion. They are a cult because they make up their own definitions of what the gospel is, and have frankly stated that they believe that most of "western Christianity is dead and not Christian at all. Sounds like "cultspeak" to me.
Hey Clinton, I shut the Catholics are Christian site down several months ago. Yes will find many devout Catholics in the pro life field. If you ever heard of Dave Armstrong? He's a Catholic apologist and author who started out as an evangelical Christian but converted to Catholicism partly as a result of the witness from Catholics he spent time with after being jailed with them in a pro-life March.
It looks like AHA has posted your blog post in a screenshot onto their main page on facebook trying to sound all good and holy now to their fans. Just arrow down on their page, and look at all the slander they allow toward Catholics. They encourage it. That should be an indicator to anyone what kind of Christians they are. They always post their "cry wolf" screenshots when websites or blogs call them out. They have done the same thing to the Patheos website, too.
To anyone reading this, don't you DARE be deceived by these people. They are not all they are cracked up to be.
AHA used to align themselves with the group "Babies are Murdered Here" and both AHA and BAMH were two peas in a pod - agreeing that calling women murderers out right to their faces would do good in front of abortion clinics. But then both AHA and BAMH had a spat and thus AHA and BAMH separated. I'm not sure what the spat was over specifically but they were both enthralled with each other at one point in time. BAMH and AHA both also agreed upon the fact that it's okay to outright call post-abortive women, murderers too. My mother was a victim of BOTH organizations foul tactics, and I then turned a victim when I let them know I was a post-abortive sibling.
I additionally had an AHA leader of an "Abolitionist Society" directly telI me that I wasn't calling sin "SIN", if I didn't adhere to AHA's ways. I was then related to the devil for disagreeing with them!
Behind the scenes of their FB page, I do not believe that AHA has separated from these disgusting tactics. They post a lot of youtube videos of them using their bullhorns and bickering with women in front of abortion clinics (even bickering about off-topic issues like smoking). The owners of AHA and their members are very defensive when you tell them its wrong to throw the term murderer in front of womens faces like they do. It's okay to use it obviously, but it's not okay to throw it at women! They have tunnel-vision, and are egoists. They just don't care who they harm.
I've seen many people attacked by the leaders of AHA in particular.. they have told Catholics directly that if AHA were to yoke together with Catholics to try to abolish abortion -- that AHA would be sellouts to Jesus. Additionally they have even gone as far as to pray for severe harm to come onto Catholics (and non-believers! This is what the Patheos website was speaking about in regards to a particular leader of AHA: when he wished that a meteor would strike and kill pro-lifers of all different beliefs, who were partaking in a Walk for Life. Tulsa March for Life I am sure could tell you more about their nasty tactics they were even faced with.
AHA is deceiving their followers flat out. They have no plan to abolish abortion when you look past their 7 Tenets and come back to reality. Their Tenets are a pipe-dream and they are wasting away precious time. Their plan is to convert everyone to their 1/43,000 Protestant beliefs (yuck), and then they claim they can abolish abortion (somehow) with just their beliefs. the Pro-life movement has been trying this for 40 years of ALL different beliefs! They need to re-focus themselves to work with laws for an all out ban. They are in for a 1,000+ year war of 0 accomplishments at the rate they are going.
I would like to personally add that I find it funny how they bash the Pro-life movements progress ANY chance they get, but yet AHA STILL has none to show for.
They need to shape up and take the boulder out of their eyeballs.
Anon: thanks for your insights. May God use your words to help others steer clear of this mis-guided cult.
Yes. That group NEEDS to go. They are blatantly anti-Catholic, and I had no clue they were till someone told me about it. I am a convert to the Catholic Faith myself, and so I of course normally never like such anti-Catholic rhetoric. I think "Pro-Life Rocks" is likewise another anti-Catholic one, and I believe I went on there and confronted them about it, and, despite my being calm, respectful as possible, and non-profane in what I posted, they ended up blocking me instead of giving me a straight answer to what their deal was. But I had no idea that either of these two groups, until I investigated myself, were so anti-Catholic. So all Catholics and anyone who can think logically, I implore you to avoid these groups like the plague. Not kidding. The sooner they are gone, the better off the world and of course, Facebook, will be.
And another thing: I just looked on the Abolish Human Abortion page and realized that I can NOT post anything or make comments. Perhaps I was banned there as well. Either way, I remember on either Pro-Life Rocks or Abolish Human Abortion, if I am not mistaken, there was a woman I knew who was attacked in the comment section by the admin of the page/group who said that they "pray that your life [the woman's] will be so horribly wrecked that you will come to your senses and repent [meaning, turn away from and reject Catholicism, according to them]". So others on the page (a few, in addition to me) were infuriated and horrified by his threatening and patronising statements against her. These people do not consider the Church to be the Church Christ established, and they cannot provide sound, irrefutable arguments or other evidence to prove that it is NOT Christ's Church, but more just spiteful and vindictive statements and even threats along with their blasphemy and perpetual schism. These people are a blight on the entirety of the pro-life movement, and a great travesty that they are still even on Facebook, about on the same level as that other abomination of a page entitled "Virgin Mary Should've Aborted". Seriously, people, you need to avoid them, and let them implode on their own faulty logic, misinformation and bigotry about the Church and its members, and their propaganda. They are the ones who are going to have to ultimately answer for it in the end, not us.
"If only that youthful energy and enthusiasm could have been linked to the successful pro-life activities of the Catholic Church..."
...or no church at all, like the Secular Pro-Life organization. But A//A thinks WE are all evil and going to hell, too. XD
I am a Christian and very Pro-life working to end abortion and I honor the Catholic church for taking a stand this whole time in the abortion fight and I have friends who are Catholic and work with them to end abortion.....but the Catholic doc is almost not Christian and there is something wrong with the Catholic Faith. I appreciate AHA for calling out the false theology in the catholic church. Could they use more grace YES. But you guys believe some things that are not biblical. I see you are misunderstanding them completely. I do believe they should honor the Catholic church for pouring in money and fight this fight more but you Catholics should not be harsh against them because they are fighting a good fight, you should bless them,NOT CALL THEM A CULT. They are Christians and believe the bible more then the Catholic church. Most Christians know that Catholics Have really bad theology. Their movement is growing you guys won't end abortion alone so even if you feel like they are attacking you guys respond in love and bless them because of their work babies will be saved. But The truth of the gospel is even more important and they are calling you guys out for not believing the whole bible. I love Catholics for taking a stand and AHA for taking a stand.
Dr. Rentler:
Ah, okay. I was wondering what happened to that site as I haven't seen anything coming from it recently. I don't believe I've heard of Dave Armstrong, but I am a fan of Frank Beckwith (and have read his book Defending Life and several of his articles), and I believe he, too, is a former Protestant-turned-Catholic apologist.
Chris: I suspect based on your comments you have learned about the Catholic faith from non-Catholics. That is like learning Russian language and history from a Chinese trigonometry teacher who has never been to Russia or read primary Russian documents for himself. Before going into specific refutations of your incorrect assumptions about Catholics, I would encourage you to get a Catholic Catechism or go online and learn what the Church says about herself. You will be surprised to learn that the Catholic faith is much more aligned with Holy Scripture than Protestantism. Remember, the Catholic Church is the group of Christians who were led by the Holy Spirit to discern which books should be in the final Bible in the late fourth century. 1100 years later Martin Luther decided to remove 7 books of Holy Scripture because they didn't align with his personal new theology. He called the book of James "the epistle of straw and should be tossed into the stove." He didn't like that James tells us you are not SAVED BY FAITH ALONE. BEfore you make the erroneous assumption that Catholics don't follow the bible, I would ask you why you ignore Jesus words that say "Take and eat, this is my body." We take that literally, but Protestants like to not take that literally because it doesnt line up with their theology.
Thanks for being willing to acknowledge the Catholic Church's role in the pro-life movement. Keep in mind Chris, Protestants were asleep at the wheel for a good 10 years after ROE V Wade and actually supported abortion on demand, until Dr. Dobson and others became willing to read and learn from Catholic moral theologians. Any group that re-defines what the gospel is with a definition that is in variance with the teachings of Jesus' Church is a cult. Sorry to be blunt, but that's reality. That being said, I still acknowledge Protestants as my brothers and sisters in Christ (assuming they were validly baptized with the trinitarian formula and made a profession of faith in Christ.) God bless you
AHA operates like terrorist cells, each being its own entity. Now they are trying to charge a monthly membership to support their jobless ringleaders. I've seen T. Russell Hunter post requests for donations because he can't pay his bills. Awww, poor cupcake. T-shirts not selling? Get a job. Another one of their major players in Oklahoma, Jason Stover, had his 8 children removed by CPS, and just got the younger one back from a foster home a few days ago. The other 7 children are still with their other parent (being the result of divorces). Ryan and Carol Bouse of AHA Chicago are vehemently homophobic and don't have custody of a child Carol birthed. They have several court ordered eviction notices to their credit. If you have time to stand on the street with a bullhorn, you have time to get a JOB. Christiaan Hanson of AHA Wisconsin has a nice long rap sheet, (as does Stover) Jeffrey and Rebeka Fish of AHA Colorado Springs pretty much survive on welfare because it's easier to stand on the streets and hold a gory sign than it is to strap on work boots. They complain about tight finances and having to deal with Social Security over their daughter's disability, yet buy $50 boxes of drop cards and trash the environment with them pretty much daily. Plus they are blowing money on signs and T-shirts. It seems like many of these AHA clowns found Jesus in jail and decided to make abortion their target as a means of deflecting their own erroneous ways: THEY aren't a bad guys; THOSE MURDERING WOMEN are the bad guys.
Russ, I've heard the term "collaborative co-belligerence" from a Pastor Mark Dever in speaking about how different groups (Cs and Ps, Mormons, Muslims) can work together on issues like abortion without compromising their beliefs. I think AHA "dilutes" their message by attacking the Roman Catholic church while at the same time standing by them on this issue. I struggle with this issue(abortion activism), as I wonder is it better to spend the effort to win souls to Christ instead. I can't imagine how much injustice/inhuman behavior the Apostles encountered in the cities they visited. But they spent their time sharing the Gospel and discipling and not "soapboxing" against the social ills.
Mark: I personally think that one cannot separate the preaching from the gospel with attempting to address social ills. The history of Christendom is replete with preaching the gospel and helping the poor and un-protected at the same time. I think it was a Protestant missionary who coined the phrase "Empty bellies have no ears."
In the early days of Christianity, the pagan Romans would throw live new borns over the walls of the city, if they didn't want to keep the babies. The early Christians cared for these children.
That being said, it's not up to me to judge you if you are not called to march on Washington every January at the March for life or pray outside your local abortuary, or go to Haiti on missions for the poor. I wish more Christians did those things but how can I know what someone does in their personal life of prayer and devotion. There are entire religious orders dedicated to just praying for abortion to end, such as the Sisters of Life. Am I to condemn them if they choose to not hold signs outside of abortion clinics? (Though, some of them might I think)
If you ever get about twenty minutes, read the Encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) by JP2, it is a beautiful document that all Christians of good will could be enlightened by, and it addresses these issues nicely.
Dear Anon:
As much as I am tempted to post your comments, I'd prefer to point out the things that I do know for sure based on what the AHA'rs have said about the Catholic Church and "western Protestantism" direct from their own pages. My goal is not to illustrate what bad people they are, but to point out to the unsuspecting folks interested in saving babies, that AHA is a divisive posionous anti-Catholic organization that at its very core is led by folks with a pathologic hatred for Catholicism that blinds their ability to see the amazing work the Church has done to save babies and support women and families in crisis. But thanks for your comments and information about the AHA leaders, I suspected as much, unfortunately.
The AHA website is a joke. They say they "have farmed out" the cause to Catholics in the past. Ummm.... actually, they've done [almost] n-o-t-h-i-n-g. Their self-deception is so thick.
-Pat Vandapool
It;s so sad and pathetic. 40 years and many sects of protestants sat on their hands and did nothing. Now this hyper calvinist fringe group of kooks wakes up to the fact that were killing america daily and they want to blame us for it. Can you imagine the ignorance and arrogance. They cower in the shadows at Catholic pro life marches yelling that the Catholics aren't doing anything for abortion. check out the fb page "Abolish Abolish Human Abortion" They are telling it like it is there. God have mercy, the world is aborting itself and the hypercalvinists decide to further divide and distract the prolife movement. Great, it will save a lot of bablies for them to go around telling everyone that we are ssatanic religion leading people to hell, That is what the chief blogger,he calls himself, Alan Maricle just put up on their fb page! Nice, that will really save the unborn won't it?
Thank you for this post. I received religious abuse from them personally. I have first hand knowledge they are NOT abiding by the Oklahoma Tax Commission's rules regarding folks who are authorized to purchase merchandise via tax exemption. There is a complaint being filed, and if it they are found in violation, they could be fined $500.
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