Simon Cox Blog: Abortion, Black Lives Matter, and Wheaton

Monday, 14 January 2019

Abortion, Black Lives Matter, and Wheaton

Let me shed a little light on the situation with Wheaton College and Ryan Bomberger.

A tempest has arisen in the teacup that is the conservative blogosphere.

Let me try to shed a little light in the midst of the heat.

Last month, black pro-life activist Ryan Bomberger spoke on the Wheaton campus about abortion and race. A link to his speech is below, but what is not seen in the video is a question-and-answer session in which Bomberger made comments that several students found objectionable, and said so publicly. Bomberger took exception to their objections and said so publicly.

The blogosphere has taken it from there.

Pro-Life

As I said, let me try to shed some light.

First, Wheaton College is doctrinally pro-life.

That’s correct—life “from conception” is in our community covenant. Faculty and students agree that we will, “uphold the God-given worth of human beings, from conception to death, as the unique image-bearers of God (Gen. 1:27; Psalm 8:3-8; 139:13-16).”

Wheaton has demonstrated its commitment to this deeply-held value. It was Wheaton College that sued the Obama administration over the HHS contraceptive mandate. And we won. That lawsuit came from our pro-life commitments. Forbes reported:

“We are grateful to God that the court recognized Wheaton’s religious identity and protected our ability to affirm the sanctity of human life,” said Philip Ryken, president of Wheaton College.

You can’t teach or go to school here if you don’t affirm life, from conception forward.

So any “Wheaton College is not pro-life” comments (as I’ve seen in some places on the Internet) are simply false.

Black Lives Matter

Second, I believe black lives matter.

People can go ahead and take my statement out of context. I’m fine with that. And, not only ...