WATCH: Protesters Storm Baptist Church, Harass Children, Assault Parishioners: ‘How’s Your Head...

Capt Gregory Prickett - Now-regarding abortion. I cannot say that I hold with many of the statements attributed to this particular minister... if they are accurate as published, I decidedly do not. I'll even admit that as these facts emerge, it paints the entire incident at the New York church in a different light. However, neither the intimidation tactics used by some "claiming" to be serving the will of God... or those used by people claiming to oppose racism... are viable within this country. If the message BLM wanted to convey was that they opposed THIS congregation, the message that was received is that ANY congregation is a target. If Christianity is obliged to take responsibility for the one... BLM is obliged to take similar responsibility.

I'll also grudgingly agree that "secular" societies may have fewer issues with abortion... but I cannot do that without offering my theories as to why. Secular society has demonized marriage, belittled parenthood, marginalized tradition, and celebrated introversion. In my opinion, they have destroyed the nuclear family, indoctrinated us against the fulfillment of a broader sense of responsibility, and fostered an untenable outlook on life that cannot last long without collapse. However... that's just me.

Capt Gregory Prickett - I'm going to apologize for that last part; it's a bit rhetorical, unsupported, and not my best work... or worthy of the arguments you presented. I would delete it, but that's bad forum etiquette-and clearly my deepest "feelings" on the subject, therefore-my true opinions. Please allow me to "refine" that last paragraph a bit out of courtesy and respect.

No-I know plenty of happily married, "secular" couples, and no-there has been no universal "demonization", "marginalization", etc. I spoke hastily, and with emotion. What I should've said is that secularism likely sees less unplanned pregnancy from all causes due to the separation of sexuality from spirituality. No doubt, the repression of sexual activity in many ways creates illicit, even dangerous forms of sexual abuse, infidelity, etc. However, this is not the form of sexual morality and responsibility I see in Scripture either... and it is a topic of deep discussion with faith communities I assure you.

To my mind, this does not however make the secular approach superior... Why? Because as I believe in the dogma of faith, so too do I believe in the reasons it exists.

Sexuality and marriage are sacred acts. Just because we've made sexual alternatives "routine" and removed stigmas that "can" lead to problems doesn't mean we've conquered the obligations therein. We have perhaps "cheapened" the bond between man and woman, made too complicated the role of parent and child-ultimately reducing the value and sanctity of both. This is the essence of my former comments, distilled through some level of understanding that speaking in strong generality is almost always a mistake.

Capt Gregory Prickett - With respect, your suggesting that the propensity to commit violent crime is equal based strictly on ethnicity. That simply isn't so; the proclivity to commit crime is based on a multitude of factors... from economic status and education, to the concentration of organized crime and gang operations within a specific community. In that regard, I'm certain the statistics would also support the notion that within the city of Chicago, there is a disproportionate number of African-Americans living at or below poverty levels, being afforded inferior opportunities at education, and living in communities dominated by gangs and organized crime entities. It's one of the few points often suggested in the debate on equality that I'll "buy into" that these factors directly contribute to increased levels and severity of crime. We have police shootings here in rural Tennessee as well... care to guess the ethnicity of the last three such "headline" incidents here in my local area? They were all Caucasian, and one was an off-duty corrections officer. In two of these cases, the suspect had a weapon... in the third, the man was allegedly shot while unarmed simply for trying to flee. My review of each incident would lead me to believe that in the first two, the shootings were justified... and in the third, the officer involved acted inappropriately due to a lack of training and a toxic department culture. What do I infer from all of this? Simply that the larger the population, and the larger the incidence of violent crime... the higher the likelihood of police shootings. Some will be justified, and some will not. I cannot infer anything "racially motivated" or "endemic" from these facts.

Capt Gregory Prickett - Having known several "Wiccans" and "Neo-Pagans" closely (including having been romantically involved with one some years passed), I absolutely agree that they share a "spiritual" view on the subject of sexuality. Anachronisms and inaccurate perceptions of ancient pagan beliefs aside... I've found that almost universally, such people are looking for a form of escapism; usually "escaping" prior toxic relationships, abuse, or in at least one case I'm intimately familiar with... repressive "cult" experiences had under the guise of Christianity. In that sense, you might say I have a great of "sympathy" for those who have been victimized by people or organizations using sexuality as a form of control. Of those I've known personally... the ONLY one's to have found any peace were those who ultimately settled for more conventional relationships and marriages.

Obviously, I cannot "prove" sex to be a "sacred" act... but I still believe it to be so. However, I will agree that the impetus is procreation (as well as forging the bond between a couple towards mutual survival). I'll also readily admit that much of our "modern" understanding of marriage is a "social construct" adapted for our times. That neither makes such "constructs" negative, or devoid of spiritual importance.

There is and has always been much debate within the Abrahamic faith communities regarding things such as polygamy and extramarital sex in context of Scripture as yes... King David, Solomon, and others are detailed as having multiple wives and "concubines". My personal sense of it is that if David had as many as 600 such "wives", he was either spending a large part of his time engaged in intercourse every day at a relatively advanced age... or many of these women rarely even saw the King, let alone shared a bed with him. That said, I'm certain each was provided the things traditionally demanded of a husband, and afforded respect as a member of David's household. This, in exchange for power and wealth....not "sex".... was probably the purpose of such polygamous unions. During a time and in a culture where males not only dominated society... but were dying at a higher rate due to an almost constant state of warfare; it makes "sense" that females would "need" greater forms of social security than relying on "romance" and a single, monogamous marriage for life. To the best of my knowledge, there is no scriptural reference discounting or condemning these practices prior to the New Testament... and even THEN, it's largely implied monogamy is a choice reserved for those whose ecumenical leadership demands more of their time outside their own family.

Ultimately, while I would not choose it for myself, neither will I condemn polygamy out of hand. From what I witnessed first-hand in Afghanistan, it is not as "common" as one might expect, and where it is found... there appears to be as many examples of it being a "positive", and there are for it being a "negative". What I believe God condemns isn't the fact a man may procreate with multiple females... but the fact that in our modern times, this is normally motivated by lust or empowered by empty and meaningless notions of dominance.

Capt Gregory Prickett - I haven't seen one of them do this in a church, and that is not the topic at hand.
Straw man argument.
You can do better.

Capt Gregory Prickett - abortion clinic protesters have used poor tactics in the past. But that does not make all of them bad; it makes the people who do things like harass patients or assault doctors or damage the clinic what they are - criminals.

But they aren't in the news right now.
These YOLOs are. And what they did was wrong, straight up. There are lot's of videos of them behaving badly, so identifying who the perps are and getting restraining orders should not be too challenging.
But the church won't do that, because they are good people and will forgive those who trespass against them.

Capt Gregory Prickett - Don't know him.
But our faith is very specific on how we should treat those who do us wrong.
And it is also specific about how curses uttered in God's name are judged.

I'm not sure why you are casting about looking for examples of people doing wrong in order to distract from the actions in this specific situation. You know, the subject of the thread.

Capt Gregory Prickett - "Other people do it too" is a specious and weak argument.
Wrong is wrong.

The thing is, given the history of abortion in America, those protesters should be on the same team as the pro-life people, as the African American community has been very disproportionally impacted by the practice.