[VYholden]

I am going to say something a large number of people will not listen to (because it is terribly inconvenient) I have PERSONALLY spoken to some of the most conservative members of the American Supreme Court (when they came to visit where I work). They universally agree that while some minor modifications to Roe v Wade as law might be possible (even liberals admit that there are some legal difficulties with the decision)... abortion on demand will NEVER (did you see that word?) NEVER become illegal in the United States.
I know that. Abortion is also legal in other countries such as Greece. Abortions will always happen, legal or illegal. Most abortions in th is country are sought by unmarried young girls and women. In Greece, one hears of abortions by married women and married men think nothing of asking their wives to have one. That is sad. All abortions are sad. However, a young girl giving birth to a child (notice Sarah Palin's daughter) is ostracized by society, her church community, her friends, and even by her family and/or her family will also be the object of ostracization, gossip and shunning...the unmarried young girl is the object of ridicule, shame, and become a pariah of sorts...that is sad, and very hypocritical. I remember with great sorrowt how many Christians (Orthodox and other) were scandalized and critical of Sarah Palin's daugher's pregnancy...which brings us to the real root of the problem of abortion which is the sexual culture we live in and the blinders some older people have to what is really going on out there. I blame Hollywood for this culture of sexual promiscuity, and its tentacles of promoting all that is sinful have reached Orthodox and Catholic countries as well...

So, diverting a bit from the Manhattan Declaration, which I find to be an 'effort' to combat sin and an effort to be heard, (and I believe that God is as pleased with our righteous and noble efforts to combat sin, both privately and publicly), I believe the real enemy we should all be fighting (but nobody is anymore) is the filth, the garbage, and the sin which Hollywood presents, television presents, magazines of all sorts present, advertising wherever the eye looks present, etc.....this influence is great, just as the influence of wholesome family values was great when my generation of baby boomers were young. We watched television and emulated the characters, and whether we want to accept it or not, the characters our collective children and teens and young adults see and the way those characters act and the things those characters do, are the ones which influence and set society's standards.

Just some thoughts on a unusually chatty day for me.

May God bless us, one and all, in the new year,
Alice