Mags GarganDear Editor, I am a Catholic lay person in the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois, and I have been involved in the pro-life movement for over 30 years. Each week I receive a good number of pro-life bulletins, newsletters, updates, e-mails and fundraising appeals.
As far back as 1986, I noticed that some Catholic pro-life groups were occasionally sending me reports on religious questions that were far removed from the cause of human life. One group in the US claimed that Muslims were breeding to take over Europe. The same organisation also claimed that Muslim doctors "loved the blood money" that they got from doing abortions.
Another organisation, based in Canada, reported that Muslims would take over the Vatican and turn St Peter's Basilica into a Mosque.
A Dublin-based organisation has frequently published quotes from a wide range of prominent people, all of whom disparage Muslims. The organisation is supposed to be concerned with pro-life, pro-family topics, yet only today (August 8) they have e-mailed me a whole set of articles about, or should I say against, Islam.
What concerns me about these articles is not only that they are an abuse of the pro-life cause to demonise Muslims, or that they encourage pro-life people to be afraid of Muslims, or that they have the effect of turning Muslims away from the pro-life movement, but that they are all emanating from North America, where Christian fundamentalism and Catholic imperialism have a stranglehold on some human rights organisations. One such group of organisations is the worldwide pro-life movement.
I would encourage pro-life people to object whenever they see the pro-life cause being abused for motives of religious bigotry. It is a mistake to give money or other forms of support to any such organisations.
Yours etc.,
David Logan,
Mohill,
Co. Leitrim.