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Author: Barbara Anderson
Date:  May 18, 2009

Topic category:  Other/General

Disobedience at Notre Dame


Almost fifty years after the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. employed the technique of civil disobedience and non-violence, another Black man has stepped into the arena of the world spotlight. This man is Alan Keyes, who has taken up King's mantle of civil disobedience by protesting Notre Dame's honoring the president by having him speak and by bestowing an honorary degree. Keyes was arrested twice over this weekend.

Keyes was not alone. Several others were given the same fate. They were told not to come onto the campus. A lofty reason was given in inviting the president, although his abortion and stem cell positions were directly against the Catholic official stance. It was said it would be good to have a discussion. However, those arrested were not given any chance to discuss and the considerable voice of the president of the United States allowed no discussion on that date.

Also arrested was a Catholic priest, a Reverend Norman Weslin. The 78 year old clergyman asked, logically, “Notre Dame is arresting a priest. Why are you arresting a priest for trying to stop the killing of a baby?” He was carried away by three officers, after being handcuffed and put on a stretcher. He must have looked very dangerous to have received this treatment.

Rick Scarborough, president of Vision America, said he wept when he saw his friends arrested and taken away to jail. “They almost broke the arm of a priest who appeared to be in his 80s, by dragging him on the ground.”

“Millions of Catholics who were persecuted in their countries of origin came to these shores for religious freedom”, Scarborough noted. “These hard-working folk built institutions like Notre Dame to educate their children and strengthen their Church”.

Scarborough is a Southern Baptist preacher and stood in solidarity with the Catholics making peaceful protest. This ecumenical stance is becoming more popular as non-Catholics also work to bring about the end to abortion. They work on other issues, such as the resistance to same-sex marriage. It seems they have truly found issues to co-operate and advance. It is becoming stronger by the day. In all the initiatives and other voting venues across the states, Mormons and evangelicals work together on moral issues, along with their fellow Catholics.

Way of Life Christian ministry, president Reverend Lester L. Sumrall, was charged with resisting arrest and trespassing. He was released Friday, after posting bond. He said that he felt the need to take action because of the evil of abortion, comparing it to the horror of the Holocaust. He said that because they were aborted before birth, fifty million of his peers are not alive.

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. knew he did not have physical might on his side when he started. He was arrested almost twenty times and was assaulted at least four times. He did have an eloquence that persuaded. He had right on his side. He knew that nobody has the right to determine the destiny of another person by might. He was martyred because of his strong convictions and leadership.

So, today we come to another eloquent speaker, Alan Keyes. He could be the point person for this emerging movement for life. He considers this the over-riding issue of life and death. He has stood up and made a sacrifice by the means available to him.

The Bible says that no greater love has a man than to lay down his life for his friends. King gave the ultimate love as he lay down his life for his friends. Some are stepping up because of his example. Civil disobedience and non-violent actions have been modeled for us. The cause is serious; the means are just.

Barbara Anderson


Biography - Barbara Anderson

Barbara regularly writes for CapitolHillCoffeeHouse. She also appears in California Chronicle, Border Patrol, and Citizens Caucus. Her primary interest is illegal immigration, but she writes about other subjects as well.

Barbara lives in a large city on the West Coast. Her loyalties are with God, family, country, heritage and borders.

She enjoys music, painting, poetry and song writing.


Copyright © 2009 by Barbara Anderson
All Rights Reserved.


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