BE A FACTIVIST.
By Ryan Bomberger, Factivist/Co-Founder of The Radiance Foundation
People are often praised for their willingness to become activists for a cause. It’s laudable that people choose action over apathy. But there are dangerous consequences when we act without facts.
We need less activism, more factivism.
However, in a soundbite world where few choose to savor the meatier substance of truth, it’s scary how ill-equipped many are with buzzwords and bumper sticker mantras. If only technology were advanced enough for us to have no excuse to be manipulated by the gatekeepers—mainstream media, public education, politicians and even some pastors. If only there were a device that were smart enough to be both a phone and a computer that could access more data than ever before in human history. Hmmmm…
Do people really think that there is an epidemic of police killing black lives in this country? Do people really think transgender people are the victims of widespread acts of homicide? Do people really think Planned Parenthood is the only healthcare option for women? We would know if we just bothered to do our own fact-checking. We could bypass much of the emotional propaganda and get to the heart of today’s issues if people chose to distinguish between opinion and objectivity.
For instance, more black babies are aborted in Manhattan (where Planned Parenthood is based) than are born alive. In 2018, there were 1,226 aborted for every 1,000 born alive. Among whites, 335 were aborted for every 1,000 born alive. Among Hispanics, 530 were aborted for every 1,000 born alive. The black community is the only demographic in NYC where there are more deaths than births, yet no “woke” activists are talking about this systemic racism. These same “social justice warriors” aren’t talking about hundreds of thousands of unarmed black lives being snuffed out, every year, by systemic racism of the abortion industry. There are no marches, no die-ins, no demonstrations (except by prolifers, of course).
There’s a lot of talk about vulnerable communities being targets of the more powerful. There is no group more vulnerable and less powerful than the unborn. But our society has shown that senseless violence is okay if we can dress it up in “equality” euphemisms so we can hide the mutilated trafficked aborted body parts, right Planned Parenthood?
#WEWONTGOBACK
Speaking of abortion moguls, Planned Parenthood’s former president–Cecile Richards has massive “privilege”–and boasted about it. She never got questioned or challenged by mainstream media, and liberal activists who constantly decry “white privilege” literally applauded her privilege. What would liberalism be if there weren’t plenty of contradictions? Planned Parenthood, if the GOP can get its act together (and grow a spine), is facing imminent defunding. They should. They not only kill over 340,000 human beings each year, they’ve defrauded Medicaid (aka taxpayers) of millions by filing false claims for reimbursements. In Texas, alone, they paid back $4.3 million which was only a fraction of the total fraud. They campaign on fear, lying to the American public that if they’re defunded, women will have nowhere else to go. Activism says women have no health options but Planned Parenthood. Factivism says there are 13,000 better taxpayer-funded comprehensive options. Yes, 13,000 other taxpayer-funded real medical facilities (that don’t commit abortions and provide healthcare to everyone regardless of ability to pay) that far outnumber the abortion giant’s 600 abortion and abortion referral centers.
Planned Parenthood, using our tax dollars to fund their many campaigns of misinformation, issue dire warnings that #wewontgoback, waving those iconic hangers. Problem is, the abortion biz debunked its own hanger myth back way before Roe v. Wade. Their own medical director claimed at a 1959 Planned Parenthood conference: “In 1957, there were only 260 deaths in the whole country attributed to abortions of any kind…Call them what you will abortionists or anything else, they are still physicians. They must do a pretty good job if the death rate is as low as it is.” Planned Parenthood, always portraying itself as a victim, doesn’t care how many real victims’ lives are taken…just that the abortion money train keeps chugging along.
Planned Parenthood is fake health.
HIJACKING THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Nowhere is victimhood more invoked than in the pro-abortion LGBTQ activist community, that constantly compares their plight to the blood-bought civil rights fight of black Americans. They are not the same. In the debate about binary biological gender (as if it doesn’t exist), our nation is embroiled in a false debate about access to bathrooms and “tolerance”. Everyone has access to bathrooms. In denouncing common-sense legislation, LGBTQXYZ organizations promote the lie that there is an epidemic of murders of “transgenders”, blaming it on “hate”.
According the pro-LGBT UCLA Williams Institute, 0.6% of the U.S. population “identifies” as “transgender.” Forty-one “transgender” deaths among last year’s reported 14,014 homicides (since there are no final FBI 2020 stats yet) equates to just under 0.3% of all murders. That’s not an “epidemic”; that’s an underrepresentation.
But facts don’t engender sympathy.
What happens when the “hatred” comes from within? According to numerous studies intimate partner violence (IPV) is twice as high in the transgender population. But it’s easier for people to blame others than to shine a light on themselves. LGBT powerhouse groups like HRC and Lambda Legal are also heavily pushing for one of the most prevalent forms of violence on the most vulnerable in the LGBT community: prostitution. Both HRC and Lambda Legal fight to legalize what they call “sex work”—an industry where sexual and physical violence are endemic.
Just like pro-abortion radicals, it’s never about the truth. It’s about advancing an agenda, no matter the lie.
WHICH #BLACKLIVESMATTER?
Speaking of lies…#BlackLivesMatter has become a powerful force. Even noted evangelical colleges, organizations and respected leaders like John Piper have chosen to give the Gospel reassignment surgery to justify the theological acrobatics it takes to embrace such a movement. I deeply respect John Piper but even he promotes the wrong statistics and denies that #BlackLivesMatter is a political Marxist movement, suggesting it has now been co-opted. It is what is has been from its inception. I lay out my reasons for rejecting the unbiblical #BlackLivesMatter movement here. Sadly, once-strongly evangelical Wheaton College is one of those “woke” schools, and some on campus reacted bizarrely when I dared to challenge the BLM movement and its hostility to the unborn and Christianity in a multimedia talk at the school. We’re called to “love one another”…not love the lie. Don’t fall for the #fakenews narratives. They diminishes those who truly are victims of injustice. The most recent update regarding police-involved deaths is provided by a database from the Washington Post (who then ignores their own numbers): 459 whites, 244 blacks and 171 Hispanics killed. An astonishing 86% were armed with a deadly weapon.
EMOTIONS DON’T SET US FREE.
But we’re a society who doesn’t want to be bothered by the facts. They get in the way of our emotions. As a Christian, I believe in being driven by love and compassion. That never negates needing to know what’s really going on. Bitterness, anger, and division are only compounded by emotions unchecked by the truth.
Ephesians 4:14 says: “Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.” This is exactly what’s happening today. We hear lots of accusations and blame, but few calls for and acts of forgiveness (like we saw beautifully displayed after the massacre in a Charleston, SC church). None of these issues our culture grapples with can experience healing without forgiveness. Ephesians 4:31-32 continues with the Divine prescription: “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”
Today’s activism is often reckless and baseless, perpetuating pain and forcing people to choose sides. I always want to be on the side of Truth. Ephesians 5:11—the foundational verse for the organization my wife and I co-founded (The Radiance Foundation)—is what compels us to illuminate the truth in creative and uncompromising ways. “Have nothing to do with the wicked deeds of darkness but rather expose them.” These are the words that challenge me to be a factivist, no matter how inconvenient or unwanted those facts may be.
Silence on these culture-shifting issues only allows people to remain shackled. There is freedom. We just have to be willing to find it beyond the emotion, rooted deeply in Truth that will fight relentlessly, and peacefully, to set us free.