The last time I wrote about Tim Tebow and anti-gay activist James Dobson teaming up to produce a Super Bowl commercial, I was admonished by reader Eric to “repent.” His comment:
Rick: Could you be a little more subjective. Tebow is a great kid who loves God; loves Family; loves children; loves life. Dobson is the same. Repent and believe the Gospel. — Eric, Jan 21,2010 1:29 PM ET
As the Good Book tells us (and by that I mean the dictionary), to repent is to feel sorry, self-reproachful, or contrite for past conduct. I already do that on a daily basis, so sorry in advance for this post; in which I point out that the New York based Women’s Media Center has launched a coordinated attack today to try and stop CBS from airing the ad.
Today, in an email to its supporters that LifeNews.com obtained, NARAL is also urging its members to lobby CBS and, surprisingly, used the term “pro-life” to refer to it.
“CBS has cleared the way to subject nearly 100 million people to Focus on the Family’s extreme agenda by agreeing to air its new pro-life ad during the Super Bowl,” the group’s president Nancy Kenen said.
“Focus on the Family has an unmistakable anti-choice … agenda,” Keenan continued. “If that isn’t bad enough, its views on women are just plain insulting and dangerous.”
NARAL cited as an example it’s referring women to pregnancy centers to find abortion alternatives and tangible help and assistance during pregnancy.
“We can’t just sit by while CBS lets Focus on the Family place a political ad during the Super Bowl, when millions of people are watching ads,” Keenan said. “Ask CBS to drop the ad and stick with its original ‘no advocacy in advertising’ policy.”
This is the first Super Bowl ad in memory that has generated controversy before it even airs. Several sources have reported that the ad will focus on the story of Tebow’s birth, and the decision by his mother Penny not to have an abortion. This would make it a political ad, say some women’s groups, who are concerned with a perceived lack of consistency in CBS policy. The network has turned down at least four other prospective Super Bowl ads for what it perceived as political content.
Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America, a pro-life women’s group, has a difference take.
“NOW’s outcry over Tebow’s pro-life ad is nothing less than hypocritical. Where were they when CBS has aired programs like Dexter, in which the protagonist is a serial killer?” she asked.
“I find it laughable that NOW has a problem with Tim Tebow sharing his own story. If NOW really cared about women they would stop flacking for the abortion industry and start working on behalf of women and resolving our concerns about real problems such as sexually exploitative and violent content on television,” she told LifeNews.com.
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Women’s groups urge CBS to jettison Tim Tebow Super Bowl ad [USA Today]
Pro-Life, Pro-Abortion Groups Clash on Tim Tebow Super Bowl Ad, Lobby CBS [Life News]
Tim Tebow Super Bowl Ad: Anti-Abortion Commercial to Air [ABC News]
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- Help the poor among us - Jan 27, 2010 at 8:56 PM
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stuck in the middle says “reformed, you seem to equate all Christian religions with the Catholic church…they are not one & the same, and James Dobson/ Focus on the Family have nothing to do with the Catholic church or priests or the pope.”
To which I add they also have nothing to do with Jesus or Christianity or brotherhood or helping the poor… the thing that most often in the Bible you guys thump. Over 3000 references to helping the poor as the primary lesson taught by Jesus.
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- Riley - Jan 27, 2010 at 8:56 PM
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thumbs up, Troy – I’m interested as well. I may not agree with Focus on the Family but if CBS is going to air the ad, then quit complaining. It just as easily could have been a NARAL ad or some such organization. Let it go – unless you’re that insecure in your beliefs that you need to go into attack mode whenever someone brings it up.
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- DJ - Jan 27, 2010 at 9:01 PM
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One question- when you strut around and declare that there is no God, no consequences to say…murder, and you shout from the roof tops your own thoughts on what is and whats not what in the universe, have you ever considered…what if you are wrong, and there is a reaction to your every action. Think about it. Are you very, very sure that you have everything figured out? Without a doubt? You will have a chance to make your pitch one day, everyone does eventually, only you’ll be talking one on one with your creator.I’ve noticed that one name comes up when the unthinkable is happening to us…God. People always call on him in time of trouble. Thankfully He is merciful.
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- small town america - Jan 27, 2010 at 10:08 PM
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Okay Rob, I’ll give you the fact that murder is not a good choice the way you are looking at it, but if you believe that life begins at conception, then that is exactly what you are doing – taking someone else’s life without their consent. I don’t think that your response is very good: = that “If you do the drug then own up to your behavior.” If you have sex then own up to the your behavior – the result of sex is often pregnancy. The problem with pro-choice individuals is that they don’t want to own up to their responsibilities; they want to indulge themselves in something that feels good without getting pregnant. They are affecting someone else – an unborn child, whether that child is dependent upon the mother for life does not change the fact that life begins at conception. If you don’t want a baby, don’t have sex. Bottom line, problem solved.
As far as taking away your choice – the Bible is full of rules that are to be followed and if those rules are not followed there are consequences. I believe that there should be a law against abortion, that doesn’t take away your right anymore than speeding, drugs, etc. – you have the right to choose to break the law or not.
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- gruntersdad - Jan 27, 2010 at 10:12 PM
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Where was Tebows God when he was crying like a girl when Alabama kicked his butt? I am so tired of hearing about this thumper I am about to scream. Play football and shut the hell up.
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- Old Man - Jan 27, 2010 at 10:33 PM
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Both sides of the abortion argument are correct – or wrong if you wish to be negative. You either believe that women have control of their bodies or that women do not have control over their bodies. While I am pro-choice, I see nothing wrong with this ad, as it does support both sides. It is easy to take a negative and ignorant position and be opposed to it on the grounds that you know the intent of “Focus on the Family”. That ignores that the Tebows experience is a heart warming story. Or the pro-choice person could take a more positive position and embrace the Tebow experience, recognizing that the Tebows would take a very narrow view of the events, as the alternative is unthinkable once you have avoided the alternative. It should be obvious that the anti-choice message is that there would be nothing wrong with the death of the mother, as long as she avoided an abortion.
The reality is most are supportive of abortions where the mother’s life is in danger from the pregnancy. The basic argument is over the regulation of abortion, unfortunately, the anti-choice supporters have not yet figured that out. Because the conservative mantra is regulation is bad when in this case, regulation is good.
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- GoodGolly - Jan 27, 2010 at 10:49 PM
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Looks like I’l be aborting the Super Bowl this year.
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- queenie - Jan 27, 2010 at 10:57 PM
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Maybe if Tim TeBLOW spent more time concentrating on football then on sticking his nose into other’s private and LEGAL lives he’d actually make it to the NFL.
And really would the world have been such a bad place if we’d never of even heard of this DONKEY?
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- Not-So-Innocent Bystander - Jan 27, 2010 at 10:58 PM
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(GOLFCLAP)
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- Not-So-Innocent Bystander - Jan 27, 2010 at 11:00 PM
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And what if we started with you? Hmmmmmm?
No one is completely expendable, even a hateful sourpuss like you.
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- Rob - Jan 27, 2010 at 11:33 PM
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Couple of points to make here.
1. Abortion is not murder because you are not taking the life of a separate human being. You are killing a part of yourself. Until birth babies are attached to the mother and therefore a part of them. This has nothing to do with my opinion of whether abortion is right or wrong, simply how I see the reality.
2. You are grouping all women who seek abortions into a single category. That is fairly typical of pro-life people. You have totally dismissed all necessary reasons a woman might obtain a abortion.
3. You cannot set legal precedent through religious rules. Anyone who doesn’t see the danger there is hopelessly naive or fanatically biased. Also at the end of the day your God still gave you free will. Did you ever wonder if the bible was just a test to see if you were stupid enough to jump through a hoop, like a hamster on a wheel?
Have a nice day.
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- Golden Rule - Jan 28, 2010 at 2:48 AM
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I cannot fight against abortion because I cannot provide each child with the love they need and they deserve.
KJV Gen 16:2-4 “And Sarai said unto Abram, ‘Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her.’ And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband, Abram, to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.” Thus Hagar was an Egyptian slave (concubine Gen 25:6) that was raped by Abraham. Gen 15:3-6 “And Abram said, ‘Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and lo, one born in my house is mine heir.’ And behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, ‘This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.’ And he brought him forth abroad, and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them:’ and he said unto him, ‘So shall thy seed be.’ And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” Abraham “counted it to him for righteousness,” thus why did he ever go in unto Hagar? Just because it was the behavior of the times doesn’t make Abraham’s behavior right, yet God did not judge him. Peradventure someone that has an abortion feels the same way that Abraham probably felt—“What else can I do?” I have never heard the physical voice of God by ear, as Abraham did.
Gen 31:38 “This twenty years have I (Jacob) been with thee (Laban, his father-in-law); thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten.” God saved ewes’ and she goats’ without souls from casting their young, thus why has God taken millions of children by miscarriages from mothers that desperately wanted them? And why has God not given children to millions of women that desperately wanted them? And why has God given children to women that don’t want them or can’t even take care of them? God knows when a child is miscarried or aborted. And God knows when anyone returns a gift.
Exodus 4:11 “And the LORD said unto him, ‘Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?’” Leviticus 21:17-23 “Speak unto Aaron, saying, ‘Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God. For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous, Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded, Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken; No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God. He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy. Only he shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify them.’” It is said that, “Life is not fair.” This is so even without blemishes and may be even more so with blemishes.
Again, I cannot fight against abortion because I cannot provide each child with the love they need and they deserve.
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- Josh - Jan 28, 2010 at 9:26 AM
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Here’s a passage from the Bible on when God first sees us as humans. No woman should have the choice to murder. Psalm 139:13-17.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
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- Chris - Jan 28, 2010 at 10:57 AM
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Al, You are asking a very good question worthy of consideration. I do not think you can deny the fact that Christ did walk on this Earth. Time itself was divided because of Him (BC and AD). If you really would like to know if there is truly a God then I would invite you to read the book of John. If you a serious about REALLY wanting to know I would suggest you pray for direction and guidance when you read the book of John. God does business with those who mean business. If you truly seek His face then you will know that there is a God, a loving God who wants to have a relationship with you.
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- Jim Guida - Jan 28, 2010 at 12:02 PM
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>>”Need a bible thumper … There’s an app for that!”
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- Golden Rule - Jan 28, 2010 at 12:19 PM
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KJV Psalm 139:13-19 was written by King David: “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.”
2 Samuel 11:3-27 King David killed Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, because David conceived a child with her in adultery, and he also wanted Bathsheba as his wife. 2 Samuel 12:1-24 God took the 1st child (this child was not wicked) that Bathsheba bore to King David, and then gave him Solomon, who became wicked even after God blessed him with great wisdom. King David & King Solomon both heard the physical voice of God before they did wicked things.
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- Stinger - Jan 28, 2010 at 5:26 PM
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I’d love to see a pro-choice ad asking what if…
Charles Manson’s mother
Jeffrey Dahmer’s mother
Adolf Hitler’s mother
Sadam Husein’s mother
had had an abortion. Just how better off would the world be today?
There are always two sides. I’m happy whenever a woman chooses to have a baby instead of abort one – because she has a choice!
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- John - Jan 28, 2010 at 5:36 PM
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Wow! This has really turned into a weird, convuluted, ridiculous, stupid, ignorant, unbelievable, assinine, etc………. discussion/argument. I don’t think the real issue (which is whether to run the ad or not) here is abortion; it’s CBS allowing a political statement to be made (for $$$$) when they claim they don’t do that type of stuff. I do not find it offensive that Focus wants to run their ad. I would find it offensive if another group with an opposite view (or any view for that matter) was denied by CBS. Let’s face it, our airwaves are saturated with differing viewpoints and a 30 second spot during the Super Bowl is not going to do a whole lot. This “controversy” has given th ad all the impetus Focus wanted to begin with.
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- John - Jan 28, 2010 at 5:43 PM
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Oh, and by the way………if you believe the message that implies babies are a “gift from God”, would the pro-life crowd feel the same if their wife, daughter, mother, or girlfriend was raped and impregnated with this “gift” from god?
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- Golden Rule - Jan 28, 2010 at 7:04 PM
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It’s often said & written in cards that babies are “a gift from God.” Like John noted, I do not want to be forced to have a child conceived by rape. When God can give a baby to a woman that is conceived only by love, but doesn’t, it makes me ask why; and when God takes a baby by miscarriage from a woman that wants a child, it makes me ask why. For both situations, it is often said, “God knows best.” Many parents tell their children, “I love you unconditionally,” but mean, “I love you because you are my child.” Many people only adopt another’s baby when they cannot have one of their own when there are many children available that only want love. I rarely see unconditional love.
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- beerman - Jan 29, 2010 at 1:47 AM
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Reading these comments has been somehwat amusing. I’m agnostic, but also a “strict constructionist” when it comes to the 1st Amendment. WGAS? Let the ad run! “Right-to-lifers” will be happy, & the rest of us can react as we see fit. What the commentators have neglected to mention is that Tebow has a MARGINAL chance of making it in the NFL as a QB! The team that drafts him should make him a big part of a “wildcat” offense – he’s a good runner who can throw. But … if he decides to give up the $$$ to become a missionary, he’s had, via this ad, an extra “15 minutes” of fame before he vanishes from the radar by 2011.
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- willmose - Jan 29, 2010 at 7:53 AM
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How wonderful, quoting poetry for us. Of course, the Bible is not the Word of God. What you quoted was at best a translation of a transcript of an out of context partial syllable of the Word of God. The Word of God created everything and is continuing to accomplish Its purpose. Try forgiveness, not quoting and you might encounter the Word of God in your life. It is truly awesome.
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- EX Military and Proud American - Jan 29, 2010 at 9:11 AM
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This is commercial about personal choice and the right to do what you believe in. If it was not for the brave men and women in the military you would not have the opportuity to be so narrow minded and have the forum to speak your mind. Don’t start on the military when men and women are dying so you can live your life and have this freedom of speech. I personally do not agree with this ad but since I believe in freedom of speech, I let the other opinion speak their beliefs. I just don’t agree that the Superbowl is the right forum for this topic. I SUPPORT THE MILITARY.
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- njt221 - Jan 29, 2010 at 12:52 PM
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There are a few points that this thread has entirely missed.
1. Pro-life/pro-choice (both misnomers incidentally) is NOT, repeat NOT, a First Amendment issue. The RIGHT to an abortion is (to this point) settled law that falls outside First Amendment parameters
2.Do we as individuals or collectives have the right to say what we wish or express opinions that others disagree with? Absolutely! (moral relativism aside…Oliver Wendell Holmes…Fire in theatres etc)
3. I support the Military too, but your reasoning is syllogistic. This commercial is about freedom of speech not freedom of choice (see #1.) Although one cannot necessarily separate the speaker from the speech the right remains. You made the choice (I will for now assume – unless you were drafted) to join the Military. Do not use your choice as the arbiter as to my extensive rights to speak. The Military did not create my right to free speech. It is unalienable and subject to no restrictions other than #2. “I may disagree with what you say but I will fight to the death for your right to say it” is a CHOICE not a requirement ‘so you can live your life and have this freedom of speech.’ Surely we can all follow this logic
4. Are CBS providing a platform for politics and/or religion? Yes but they have the right to do so. There are no laws that prevent them from expressing any thing they so choose (subject to #2)
5. Do I agree with the CONTENT of the commercial?…No! (I haven’t seen it but the gist here tells the story). Do I agree with CBS’s right to air it Hell Yes! And if they want to air aetheism GO FOR IT
6. If CBS choose not to air alternate views then they may look a little biased; but hypocritical? NO NOT AT ALL! THEY ARE PROTECTED BY THE FIRST AMENDMENT. The CONTENT of the AD IS PROTECTED BY THE FIRST AMENDMENT. However the ads point of view is not consisitent with the 13th 14th and 15th Amendments
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- EX Military and Proud American - Jan 29, 2010 at 3:17 PM
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The way you replied to my posting makes me speculate that you are a lawyer….you remind me of my brother who thinks that emotions are not good in an discussion. He is also a lawyer.
At no time did I say that I say that I was trying to influence or make a judgement,I was responding to something I feel very stongly about – so much so that I was willing to die for, and that is the United States of America and the military that keeps it free! Can you say the same? However those rights that you said were “unalienable and subject to no restrictions other than #2(freedom of speech)” resulted from a revoluton in which men made the “choice” to be soldiers. And Yes I volunteered to be in the military – and I would do it again. I’m not going to argue constitutional law. I don’t how enough knowledge to debate you.
As to the reason I responded and posted a comment was the attack against the military by SDCZ, All I can say is that I am anti-abortion but pro-choice.
PS and pro-military
God Bless America – and all the choices we have as its citizens!
