rock for life

there are lots of different tents with stages at Cornerstone, each of them are alternately sponsored by magazines or record labels, depending on who is playing. There is one tent that kind of sponsors itself, and it seems like the bands that play there are playing there to sponsor it as well. It is the "Rock for Life" tent. It's mostly an anti-abortion group, but they deal with other right to life issues to. They have seminars during the morning as well, some of which I was really tempted to sit in on, one was about Terry Schiavo and "end of life" questions, and then another was stem cell research and in vitro fertilization and "beginning of life" questions. All of them are very ethically intriguing topics, but alas I was too tired, or too busy seeing movies to sit in.

I struggled all week with the idea of the Rock For Life tent, just with what it stood for and the "agenda" they seemed to be pushing. There were lots to T-shirts that boldly proclaimed "Abortion is Homocide" and other such loving messages, and initially I was uncomfortable with the open embrace of such a typical Christian "hotbutton" topic. Surely they would be teaching people how to picket at abortion clinics and how to plot the takedown of Planned Parenthood and spouting over and over how it's so wrong to kill the unborn.

I am not at all saying that I think that abortion should ever be legal or an actual option given to a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy, I think the idea is revolting and soulless and I can't imagine the pain and anguish that a woman goes through who has had one, or the justification required for people to actually believe that it's a good idea and should be protected. I guess I just got a little squeamish at the idea of legions of pro-lifers swarming the campgrounds, maybe I've been swayed a little by the unloving, ultra-righteous view that the secular world has of those people. It just seemed a little "cliche" for me.

So I was constantly thinking about it over the 5 days we were there, seeing the t-shirts, going to the tent to see shows. There was also a major push by another group about freeing the Dalit people in India, those of the "Untouchable" group, too low to even be considered in a caste. They are looked down on by all, left out and ignored and maltreated. It's a sad situation, and it's admirable that people thousands of miles away are fighting for attention and action on their behalf...and then I was thinking - why are they admirable, but the Rock for Life people are scary? They are doing the same thing - speaking for a group of people who don't have a voice. Standing up on behalf of the overlooked and undervalued. Offering the unborn a fighting chance by lobbying for change. I still don't know what all the methods are that they use to speak out and accomplish their goals, that does make a difference in how praiseworthy a group is, I think. But I left thinking better of them, and I kinda like their logo on their t-shirts - in the "O" in ROCK, there's a little fetus playing a guitar. It's pretty cool.