This is a commentary on Franky Schaeffer's speech on July 24, 1992, in Brookfield, Wisconsin to antiabortion supporters and activists of Missionaries to the Preborn. For instructions on how to display the one-hour plus video, click here.
Franky Schaeffer sets the stage for equating the right to choose with the outrages of the Nazis in this way: he quotes Margaret Sanger, whom he correctly identifies as the founder of Planned Parenthood. He claims that Margaret Sanger asserted that "great chunks of our population are human weeds, unfit for life."
Further, he maintains that the Nazis were great fans of Margaret Sanger, out of a sense of agreement with her eugenic theories.
In the course of his presentation, Schaeffer spins out this thread, the supposed congruence of Planned Parenthood's origins and Nazi ideas. Undoubtedly he is pointing to evidence of a disturbing, deeply wrong idea that was very popular in the early years of this century in the U.S.: eugenics.
But if we wish to ask, who else was attracted to or attractive to the Nazis, the list must include Charles Lindberg and Henry Ford. Both these men developped considerable enthusiasm for the Germans' role in advancing science and industry. Ought Franky Schaeffer never to fly in an airplane, nor ride in a Ford automobile, in protest and outrage?
Schaeffer spends some time on the topics of slavery and civil rights. If he pursued the same line of reasoning here, all would be impossible. The Founding Fathers were both patriots and slaveholders. Lincoln led the Union, yet he also held ideas that, by today's standards, are intolerably racist toward Black people. And do you mean to tell me that among the denominations that today are the backbone of the antiabortion cause, that they were not once warm supporters of slavery, complacently preaching "Slaves, obey your Masters."?
Claiming to have laid out a through-line, a clear connection that passes through Satan, the Nazis, Bill Clinton, and Planned Parenthood, Franky Schaeffer has set the stage for two astounding assertions in the second tape of the series of three:
"There is no way that the truth about abortion can be told to the American people without causing a general insurrection."
"What we are enagaged in, Ladies and Gentlemen, is not a conflict of civil disobedience, it is not a political debate, it is not even a religious debate ... We are engaged in the beginning of the Second American Civil War."
Now excuse me, Brother Franky, but I do believe that a "general insurrection" refers to wide-spread, organized armed violence aimed at overthrowing the state. And don't go all wishy-washy relativistic on me, and claim that in the depth of your moral revulsion at the evil world around you, yak, yak, yak, and so on, you have reached for the strongest imagery available. I hold you to the same standard that you propose for the interpretation of Scripture: the text means exactly what it plainly says. While your carefully constructed oratory may offer you some wiggle-room, you obviously mean to inspire some poor schlepps to pick up their AK-47s and Do the Right Thing.
In the concluding section of this essay, I will devote some attention to Franky Schaeffer's speaking style, his choice of imagery, and his understanding of his audience. Further I will try to interpret the audience's response to his message.
Inspiring the Troops
