Blood cries from the ground

Why does the church do nothing? Why does it allow unspeakable injustice to occur? ... What shall we one day answer to the question, "Where is thy brother Abel?" The only answer that will be left to us is the answer of Cain, "Am I my brother's keeper?"

– Marga Meusel, Protestant deaconess in Berlin, 1935

On May 17 a notable Catholic institution of higher learning plans to honor the most pro-abortion president in American history. Unless Notre Dame University President John Jenkins decides to rescind his decision, President Barack Obama will be the principal speaker and receive an honorary degree at Notre Dame's 2009 commencement ceremony.

This after 54 percent of Catholic voters in 2008 cast their ballot for Obama, a man who as an Illinois legislator voted against a bill banning infanticide and was given a "100 percent" pro-choice voting rating by the Illinois branch of Planned Parenthood. His pro-abortion radicalism didn't soften during the presidential campaign, either, as witnessed by his statement that determining when life begins was "above his pay grade."

According to MSNBC, Jenkins defended his decision to let the president speak by saying, "We are not ignoring the critical issue of the protection of life. On the contrary, we invited him because we care so much about those issues, and we hope … for this to be the basis of an engagement with him." Jenkins failed to clarify how a one-sided commencement ceremony is a way to engage the president on behalf of the pro-life cause.

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Sadly, Jenkins chose a different kind of engagement for Catholics who disagree with his decision – having them arrested and jailed. Dr. Alan Keyes, joined by mothers, fathers and grandparents on the campus at Notre Dame, was arrested last week. Their crime? Peacefully walking along the sidewalk in prayer and sharing with others about abortion. The protesters are anticipating more arrests as they will once again peacefully walk onto the campus at noon on Saturday, confessing the atrocity of a religious educational institution honoring a man who disdains Catholic teaching in regard to the sanctity of life.

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"Notre Dame arrests Christians who defend babies, and honors a man who kills them," said Randall Terry, the founder of Operation Rescue.

Clearly, outrage is still alive and well. Like the Confessing Church that stood alone against the Nazi reign of terror in the 1930s and '40s, there are groups of godly Americans letting their voices of protest be heard.

An organization of alumni dubbed ReplaceJenkins.com is calling for Jenkins to resign, and masses of concerned citizens are withholding future donations, to the tune of over $14 million.

Father Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life, is standing with Notre Dame graduates who refuse to attend the commencement ceremony disgracing the unborn. Instead the Class of 2009 Vigil for Life will honor their graduation in a pro-life prayer gathering. "The seniors who do this are manifesting the real meaning of commencement: They are carrying out the witness to truth and service that their hard-earned degrees have prepared them to give in the world," Pavone said.

Bishop John D'Arcy, who refuses to attend the commencement ceremony along with many other well respected Catholic leaders, said this of Obama: "While claiming to separate politics from science, he has in fact separated science from ethics and has brought the American government, for the first time in history, into supporting direct destruction of innocent human life."

His words are chilling, since they depict all too well the state of many Christian churches today that insist on separating their faith from politics, education, science and culture.

America's is not the first government to support the destruction of innocent life, nor is it the first to insert itself into the affairs of religion and the family. In his classic book "Hitler's Cross," Dr. Erwin Lutzer describes a frightening parallel between the Germany of the 1930s and '40s and the America of today. He wrote, "The churches derived strength from the improved economy and giddy optimism about a new day for Germany. Many of the wiser church members were not deceived, but the majority did not ask many questions. For now, what was good for Germany was good for the church."

Lutzer states that many Christians today use the same faulty reasoning and retreat from cultural battles such as abortion, which are moral issues that have been politicized by the government. He writes, "What they forget is that as the state encroaches on our liberties, our spiritual sphere will continue to shrink until our very freedoms are taken away. No one will be able to run and hide."

The time to wake up is overdue.

Mocking Christianity is not new for this administration. At an April 14 address at another Catholic institution, Georgetown University, Obama's White House staff requested that the school cover up "religious insignia symbolizing the name of Jesus" during his speech, according to a Fox News report.

Not only does Obama support covering up religious imagery, but people of conscience are forced via this administration's policies and the actions of Congress to provide taxpayer support to fund abortions both here and abroad and to sacrifice unborn children in embryonic stem cell research.

Courts mandate that medical providers offer "morning after" abortion pills and other services that violate their moral and religious convictions.

On the campus of Notre Dame, kindly grandmothers peacefully walking the sidewalk in support of the unborn are arrested.

And many Christians piously continue to "preach the gospel" while pretending not to hear the silent screams of babies dying in their mother's wombs in America's holocaust.

Like Cain, they ask, "Am I my brother's keeper?"

How do you suppose God will answer that question?

Olivia St. John is a freelance writer with almost 20 years of experience as a home educator. Her work has been featured in several online publications, and she is seeking a publisher for her book promoting home education.