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Team Thinking: When Loyalty Goes Bad

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If you’re an American, it’s almost guaranteed that you know someone who cares a lot about football. (Maybe that someone is you!) Imagine watching that person watch their favorite team play their biggest rival. The quarterback makes a pass, both a receiver and a defender jump up toward the ball, their bodies collide, and the ball falls to the ground. Is it pass interference? You know for sure what your friend’s answer is going to be even before they inevitably yell it at the top of their lungs—if the defender’s on their rival’s team, then obviously it’s pass interference, and if the defender’s on their team, then obviously it’s perfectly fine.

Now, clearly this is irrational. Just because a defender is on your favorite team doesn’t mean it’s impossible for him to commit pass interference, and just because a defender is on your rival team doesn’t mean it’s impossible for him not to commit pass interference. But the irrationality isn’t a big deal. We do lots of really dogmatic and irrational things when it comes to sports, and it’s fun and exciting and not a big problem, because in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t actually matter who wins a football game (sorry).

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
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Abortion and Resurrection: An Easter Reflection

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The following article is a reflection about abortion in the context of resurrection, as told by the Easter story. While the vast majority of ERI’s training content is secular in nature, we believe it’s valuable for each individual to speak to those who share a more specific worldview because they will be able to reach them in certain ways a more general approach can’t. Andrew speaks from a Christian worldview; not for all Christians, and certainly many Christians would disagree with several aspects of his theology, but in a distinctly Christian way. We hope it will be profitable for those of you who are Christian, and educational for those who aren’t.

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
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I’m pregnant: The hot takes and musings of a pregnant pro-life advocate

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I’m pregnant.

Thank you for all the well wishes; my husband and I are indeed thrilled to be awaiting the birth of Baby Geiger in August. (In case you missed the byline, this is your favorite ERI gal Emily Geiger, formerly Emily Albrecht. I got married last November!)

Anyways, I’m thrilled about my pregnancy.

But what if I wasn’t thrilled?

In the days after two little pink lines on a stick announced that there is a tiny human growing inside my body, I couldn’t help but imagine what life would be like if I wasn’t pro-life; if I didn’t know what I do about pregnancy and abortion; if my life circumstances were different and more challenging.

Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
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Compassion works. Bullhorns don’t.

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As an officer of Titans for Life at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (one of our wonderful Affiliate Groups across the country), Sally Windler knows ERI apologetics forward, backward, and inside out. Recently, on the way out of a pro-choice panel discussion on her college campus, Sally stumbled upon an all-too-common scene: two men with cameras strapped to their bodies, holding a giant image of a bloody, dismembered baby doll. A camera on a tripod nearby recorded the small crowd that had formed around the pair as they screamed Bible verses at the appalled students.

Unfortunately, this scene is all too familiar to the pro-life advocates we train. In fact, one of the most common questions we receive from sidewalk counselors is how to handle “abolitionist” activists who act like this (or worse). It is often the case that no matter what the more gracious pro-lifer says;, the abolitionist will often get argumentative or just refuse to talk to the advocate at all, making progress nearly impossible.

Yet, after only one conversation with Sally, these two abortion abolitionists abandoned their bullhorns and walked away!

So, how did she do it?

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes