sour grapes?

Abortion is a hot button issue for most of us. Sure enough, the recent announcement of substantial gifts to fund anti-poverty work by Warren Buffet that I blogged on this week, is under fire by some Christian activists. A small amount of money the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donates goes to Planned Parenthood. Both Gates, and now Buffet, have stipulated that the money they give cannot be used for abortion services, a substantial aspect of the work of Planned Parenthood.

What we have here is an opportunity to see the real world in action. When you support any cause financially, you end up supporting, either directly or indirectly, causes you do not support. Whether it is something as basic as taxes and political contributions, and something as complex as leaving your children an inheritance, we always hope our gift is used wisely, but know that we will never be completely satisfied.

Now, I don’t know why the Rev. Thomas Euteneuer, a Roman Catholic priest who is president of Human Life International, chose to use this opportunity to criticize Buffet and Gates. It sounds like sour grapes. Had to include a Nazi reference, as well. I, too, have grave concerns about the practice of abortion, but perhaps a different approach would have been more helpful.

If I were public relations director for Human Life International…

“I am encouraged that people who have accumulated so much wealth, like Masseurs Buffet and Gates, have attempted to give back by providing some hope for people in the most desperate of situations. Their support of anti-poverty causes does not go unnoticed. There are certain specifics we would strongly disagree with, such as funding organizations that advocate abortion, like Planned Parenthood, but all in all, they are moving in the right direction of seeking to serve “the least of these.” We applaud their progress.”

Guess what? CNN would never have used that quote and we still wouldn’t have heard of Human Life International. Being provocative in a negative way gets you noticed.

Who knows? In some situations, maybe there are more important things than to get noticed…