It’s Not Just the Unborn Who Are ‘Voiceless’ in the Fight for Life
A majority of America’s pulpits may be silent on the issue of abortion, but a new movie seeks to change that through a harrowing and inspiring story of forgiveness, courage, and hope. “Voiceless,” an upcoming film from American Hero Movie, LLC. and C3 Studios, tells the story of a man whose bold stance for unborn life nearly costs him not only his job, his freedom, his life, but also the respect and support of his church and his family.
Jesse Dean, superbly portrayed by Rusty Joiner, fits the familiar archetype of a recently discharged combat veteran shouldering the physical and psychological scars of his time overseas. His newfound faith in God drives him to move to work at New Life Fellowship, an old Philadelphia church whose membership is declining.
While Jesse’s focus is initially focused on a boxing ministry outreach geared towards the neighborhood youth, his routine doesn’t last long after he notices the women coming in and out of an abortion clinic located right across the street.
After a distressed woman who comes to him for help decides to abort her child, Jesse sets out to turn his pro-life beliefs into action through sidewalk counseling and local activism. But, long after being discharged, Jesse finds himself trapped in a two-front war on the streets of Philadelphia.
From the outset, Jesse’s struggle is not unknown to those in the pro-life movement or anyone who has ever taken the time to pray silently outside a clinic. Local government cronyism, media slander, and vitriolic insults wear Jesse down as expected. The emotional pain — resulting from rejection and the knowledge that this rejection means a loss of innocent life — contributes to Jesse’s depression: He becomes disheveled, dejected, and slightly erratic by the middle of the film. But what really wears on our hero is a near-complete lack of support, timid silence, and round criticisms by his fellow Christians, specifically his wife, Julia, and his congregation.
Throughout the film, these voices manifest in near constant streams of criticism and concern about what Jesse’s pro-life activities could mean for the church’s image.
This pressure takes the form of pastors and church elders asking him, “Do you know what this sort of thing does to a church?” The sentiment is echoed by fellow members who persistently argue that the church’s focus should stay out of “political” battles and instead focus on more PR-friendly forms of ministry like feeding the hungry.
“You mean with signs?!” asks one member when Jesse brings up the issue of addressing the clinic as a church. “We shouldn’t get political,” says another. “We should be saving souls, not pushing them away,” says yet another church member.
It is in these scenes that the film’s title takes on a second meaning: Not only are the children who are being killed across the street voiceless, but so also are the members of New Life Fellowship.
Art Imitates Real Life, Unfortunately
But the timid, silent leadership of Jesse’s church is more than a phenomenon of fiction. Recent polling suggests that it represents a real and troubling majority of congregations in cities, suburbs, and parishes across the United States.
A recent Pew Poll found that only 29 percent of more than 4,000 adults interviewed said they recently heard about the topic of abortion from the pulpit. Even more despairing for the cause of the preborn is the fact that of the two groups who heard the most — white Evangelicals and Catholics — only 36 percent claimed to have heard the subject touched upon. Furthermore, in an America, where a black child is five times more likely to be killed in the womb than a white child, black Protestant churches have fallen especially silent on the issue of abortion. The study finds that only 16 percent of respondents said that their pastor had openly discussed or preached on the issue.
If Christians aren’t even hearing about this from the pulpit, how can any but the most dedicated ever be expected to take action?
But the film also shows how this sort of “comfortable” public witness is the kind that leaves the body of Christ spiritually starved. The missional poverty of this kind of “comfort” Christianity is the kind of beige thinking satisfied with easy ministry but unwilling to stand against grave injustices like the taking of unborn life.
“I’ve been to enough pot luck dinners,” Miss Elsie, a founding member of the church but who has stopped coming, says to Jessie. Ultimately, however, what brings Miss Elsie back into the fold is not the comfort of self-congratulation but the courage and action required for the beauty of life to prevail against a culture of death.
Yes, “Voiceless” is definitely a film by pro-lifers for pro-lifers, but in this case that’s a good and necessary thing. Unlike other pro-life movies like “Bella” or “October Baby,” this film does not spend too much of its time on pro-life apologetics. Rather, it speaks to an audience, which may see the truth of the life argument and holds up a harsh mirror to those who dare not profess that belief in any meaningful, public way.
This is the sort of message that is meant to remind churches how to seek justice truly in the public square: to drive out timidity from the corners of our hearts and the comfort of our pews, to be courageous, and to defend the defenseless.
After all, “In the end,” reads the famous quotation by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, “we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” (For more from the author of “It’s Not Just the Unborn Who Are ‘Voiceless’ in the Fight for Life” please click HERE)
Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.
