THEISTWATCH FOR AUGUST 15, 1995 Contents: Texas - +quot;JANE ROE+quot; BAPTISED, CONVERTS

THEISTWATCH FOR AUGUST 15, 1995

Contents:

Texas--"JANE ROE" BAPTISED, CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY
United States--CHRISTIAN MEN'S ORGANIZATION THRIVES
World--THEISTWATCH SHORT SHOTS

____________________
____________________



"JANE ROE" BAPTISED, CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY

Litigant in famed decision on abortion rights said to
recant for her participation in the pro-choice movement

by Conrad Goeringer

     (Correspondent's Note: Where DID TW go for the last
two weeks? Actually, the SYSOP, Ms. Robin Murray-O'Hair,
took a well-deserved break from her multiple chores which
include management of this and other electronic mailings.
It also gave your humble correspondent a respite as well
to take care of chores around the house and catch-up on a
backlog of "stuff" which badly needed doing. But like the
guy in some movie once said . . . I'm baaaack!)
 
     Last week ended with the sobering news that Norma
McCorvey, the famous "Jane Roe" in the Roe v. Wade Supreme
Court decision which legalized abortion for American
women, has changed her mind about this controversial
issue. There appears to be a gap, however, between what
headlines reported and what McCorvey really said. It
appears that during an interview on Dallas radio station
WBAP, McCorvey declared "I'm pro-life, I think I've always
been pro-life, I just didn't know it." She added that "I
think abortion's wrong. I think what I did with Roe vs.
Wade was wrong. I just have to be pro-life."

     All of this appears to be rooted in complications
within Norma McCorvey's life. The former alcoholic and
domestic abuse victim had been working in a Dallas
abortion clinic as a marketing director. She had also
become involved in a fundamentalist congregation lead by
the Rev. Philip Benham, an organizer for Operation Rescue.
Even McCorvey admits that her friendship with Benham was a
"pretty bizarre relationship."

     Even more bizarre, however, is what she told CNN
news. McCorvey said that following Roe v. Wade she
"converted" to Atheism, then joined "a satanic cult." Even
more perplexing was her decision last Tuesday to undergo a
baptism in the company of 35 "close friends." "Jesus
Christ has reached through the abortion mill wall and
touched the heart of Norma McCorvey," declared Rev.
Benham.

     Although anti-abortion forces claimed a victory,
McCorvey's own statements concerning abortion and her
religious conversion seem to be at odds. CNN and other
media sources quoted "Jane Roe"-McCorvey as insisting that
she still defended abortion rights during the first
trimester of pregnancy, a major part of the famous Court
decision. Meanwhile, pro-choice activist Kate Michelman of
the National Abortion and Reproduction Rights Action
League said that McCorvey's change-of-heart would have no
major significance. "The real threat is not her, but the
radical right, which is control of Congress."

     If anything, Norma McCorvey's latest statements
reflect her own confusion about the manifold aspects of
abortion and the psychological turmoil within her own
life. "Jane Roe" was a role on the stage of American
history which took courage and just plain guts; how much
harassment and threatening did McCorvey endure?

     Perhaps just enough to stir up the anxiety, guilt and
psychological angst that, at least for some, is
obliterated by transforming yourself into the very
opposite of what you once were.




CHRISTIAN MEN'S ORGANIZATION THRIVES

Promise Keepers draws crowds of more than 50,000 men to
stadiums

by Conrad Goeringer

     Promise Keepers, a Christian "men's movement"
organized by former football coach Bill McCartney, is
getting more national media exposure and drawing more
"fans" to its men-only religious spectacles. Two weeks
ago, 52,000 "godly men" packed RFK Stadium in Washington,
D.C. for a two-day prayer marathon. There was a full
twelve-hours of preaching, singing and praying before
"Coach" McCartney stepped up to the podium in front of the
emotionally charged-exhausted throng to deliver his
sermon.

     Despite the explosive growth of the Promise Keepers
movement, not everyone is joining in the religious "wave"
McCartney is orchestrating. McCartney has been criticized
for anti-gay and anti-feminist rhetoric. The Promise
Keepers goal of having males "reclaim their leadership"
within households and churches has even religious women
worried. McCartney's own obsessive and compulsive
lifestyle first as a gridiron coach and now as "founder"
and head cheerleader for Promise Keepers is attracting
some harsh criticism. Much of it stems from McCartney's
own guilt concerning his coaching career on the impact it
had on life with his wife, Lyndi. In a "mea culpa" to his
52,000 fans, McCartney wailed that "She (his wife) was in
so much pain . . . I became convicted (sic) that I was not
doing everything I could to bring my wife to splendor in
Jesus Christ. . . . For 32 years we had chased Bill
McCartney's dreams, not Lyndi's dreams. She was married to
a man who was so focused, so driven, so possessed. . . .
It was like God opened my eyes." Not so fast, Coach, warns
Mattingly. "Adding insult to injury," notes Mattingly,
"one of football's fiercest competitors has added another
obsession to his life Promise Keepers. . . . Just what
McCartney's family needed: a showdown with God and the
gridiron."

     Through "Coach" McCartney's tear-filled confessions,
along with the writings of Lyndi, the general public is
getting a double-dose of "Family Dysfunction Through
Football and Christ." All the sordid torment comes out in
the pages of Mrs. McCartney's intro to her husband's
autobiography, somewhat pompously titled "From Ashes To
Glory." Are we talking about the Rose Bowl here? Or
preaching? Or both? 

     There is a good deal of ambiguity in the Promise
Keepers movement. This "muscle" version of pop-
fundamentalism focuses mostly on married males; Ecumenical
News said that the organization aims "at making men better
Christians and, as a result, better husbands, fathers,
friends and church leaders." The preaching venue reflects
McCartney's obsession with athletics. Promise Keepers
meetings are held in large arenas and sports stadiums.
Local groups have been described as being organized on
"military" lines called "squads" complete with a "point
man" in charge of 10 or so members. One Promise Keeper
organizer said that the organization emphasizes the role
of the man as "spiritual leader of the home."

     But with all of the crying, shouting and public
pontificating that marks a Promise Keepers assembly, there
is still no clear statement on where the organization in
going in terms of social or political action. The
fundamentalist and "testosterone" nature of Promise
Keepers could very well reflect a conservative bent,
especially with the emphasis on "the role of men" in
"leading the household." Promise Keepers rhetoric has
little encouragement for gays, working-class people, or
civil libertarians. Nevertheless, Promise Keepers is
thriving. Participation at its rallies has been doubling
every six months; organizers are currently studying 36
possible venues for meetings in 1996. There are between
150 and 300 full-time workers (accounts vary) at Promise
Keepers headquarters, with an annual budget of over $22
million. Like past teams, McCartney's latest contender on
the playing field is just beginning to flex some muscle. 



THEISTWATCH SHORT SHOTS
 
by Conrad Goeringer
 

     The United States isn't the only nation where
citizens are at odds over the role of religious symbols,
icons and props in school classrooms. Thursday, August 10,
the German Supreme Court ordered the state of Bavaria to
remove crucifixes from classrooms. The icons, which depict
the carcass of the Christian messiah hanging from a cross,
"failed to guarantee philosophical and religious
neutrality as required by the constitution," according to
a Reuters press report. Bavaria is considered Germany's
"cradle of Catholicism" and for years has reflected the
social and political intrigues of the Jesuit Order. One of
the educational goals in that state is to teach children
"respect for the Lord."

***************

     The "culture wars" debate goes on with GOP
frontrunner Bob Dole and President Clinton slugging it out
on issues like violence, smoking and gun-control. Your
Humbl. Corres. had a good chuckle, though, after learning
that Mr. Dole recommended the movie "True Lies" as a film
which was "most friendly to the family." No kidding! "True
lies" was a spectacular money-maker for Republican tough-
guy Arnold Schwarzenegger, who flexed his own financial
muscle at the 1994 GOP Convention on behalf of George Bush
and Dan Quayle. According to the "Harper's Index," the
estimated number of killings (some of them in pretty
graphic and grisly detail) in "True Lies" was 94.

     Must be a pretty large "family" if the movie is that
friendly!

***************

     We're also told by the same Harper's Index that the
percentage of French respondents who say that "believing
in God is not necessary anymore" stands at a respectable
32 percent.

***************

     Senate testimony last week in Washington over planned
social services cuts included a representative of the
Family Research Council. Charmaine Yoest said that the
current family planning program is "ineffective" and
should be eliminated, and charged that Planned Parenthood
was "the bartender for irresponsible sexual behavior."

     But Health and Human Services director Donna Shalala
was quoted by Associated Press saying that cuts in family
planning would lead to an increase in abortions,
unintended pregnancies, higher rates of infant mortality,
and more parents and children living in poverty and on
welfare. Sen. Arlen Specter, head of the Appropriations
Subcommittee conducting the hearings, appeared to agree
and declared that events in Washington are leading to "a
virtual meltdown of a woman's constitutional right to
choose."

***************

     Speaking of families and "family values", it appears
that traditional religious customs of being plentiful,
multiplying, and over-running planet earth with swarms of
faithful MAY be hazardous to educational performance. An
Ohio State University study indicates that the more
children in a family, the lower grades are in schools.
"Parents only have so much time and money," sociology
professor Douglas Downey told USA TODAY (August 7). "The
more children they have, the more those resources are
diluted."

     The research is to be published in the October
edition of the American Sociological Review. It found that
as family size increases, parents seem to communicate with
each child less and less about school. Lower expectations
by parents, coupled with lower savings for college and
educational materials, then appear to result in a bad
influence on academic performance.

***************

     Think that trying to stop marijuana, cocaine or other
illegal substances as the U.S. border is an effort in
futility? What if the politicians and cops outlaw legal
abortion? The results may be stranger than anticipated.
Along with "underground" abortion clinics, there may be
some unanticipated consequences of bringing back illegal
abortion. Prisons may fill up with a new generation of
"criminals," including health personnel who, for either
profit or political purposes, end up providing clean and
safe abortions to women. There may be a whole "above
ground" infrastructure of organizations which screen and
then direct needy women to the "underground" health care
apparatus, all the while trying to defeat the machinations
of a religionized police force. And there may be a new,
thriving underground selling or dispensing the
controversial French abortion pill, RU486.

     That's not a new microprocessor for your PC. RU486,
also known as Mifepristone, is an effective "morning
after" pill which can be used as soon as pregnancy is
confirmed. Since last fall more than 2,000 U.S. women have
used this medication in a nationwide clinical trial. Most
have found RU486 to be convenient and effective, although
there have been some reports of minor pain, crams and
prolonged bleeding. The overwhelming number found the pill
to be preferable to an abortion procedure.

     But there's the rub. RU486 IS an abortive agent,
since it results in the miscarriage of a fetus and that
renders it a target for the anti-abortion movement. If the
Food and Drug Administration approves Mifepristone, the
drug could be on the U.S. market by next year. It's been
legal in France since 1989 and already accounts for a
third of the abortions in that country. But that's a big
"If." Outlawing abortion could result in the same social
and economic dynamic we already see with "illegal" drugs
and witnessed during the religious crusade known as
Prohibition. RU486 could become a new "black market"
product, easily smuggled into the U.S. and sold at high
prices and high profit. To compete, the pill would have to
be sold at a price roughly equal to that of any
"underground" abortion services. It may also be a lot less
riskier for both dealers and their customers. The
government may have double-trouble if the religious right
succeeds in outlawing abortion. Local police, state police
agencies, even the FBI and the Department of Justice would
be drawn into the nasty, expensive and time-consuming
business of tracking down a huge abortion underground,
shutting down illegal clinics, prosecuting doctors, nurses
and patients, and then finding enough prison space for
those convicted of this new "crime." And it might not even
work! Thanks to technology and RU486, relief from un-
wanted pregnancy will be legal or not just a pill away.

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