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Red Envelopes Send Message Of Life To Washington
By Erin Maguire, The Bulletin
Hundreds of thousands have joined a grassroots campaign to send empty red envelopes to Washington in an effort to change President Barack Obama’s pro-abortion stance.
The goal of the Red Envelope Project is to get 50 million envelopes to the White House, representing the more than 50 million abortions performed since Roe v. Wade. This campaign has gained momentum since its inception inspiring Red Envelope Day on March 31.
More than a quarter of a million red envelopes were already sent to the White House. YouTube, e-mail and at least six Web sites have publicized these efforts and have motivated more than 200,000 to join various red envelope Facebook groups promising to mail envelopes on Red Envelope Day. A search yesterday yielded only one opposition group, Blue Envelope Day, in which 16 members pledged to send blue envelopes representing their view to keep abortion legal.
The original instructions for the red envelope campaign were to send an empty red envelope addressed to the White House with the following message on the back: “This envelope represents one child who died in abortion. It is empty because that life was unable to offer anything to the world. Responsibility begins with conception.”
Due to mass publicity online, the message has been adapted and altered by various participating pro-life groups, religious congregations and personally convicted people, but the central message and red envelope has remained consistent.
The back of blue envelopes says, “This envelope represents a single voice requesting that you allow women to keep their rights concerning abortion.”
The Red Envelope Project began at the end of January after New England-based Christian missionary Christ Otto said he got a mental image in prayer to send red envelopes to the White House. At that time, he outlined his idea in an e-mail to 120 ministry supporters. These people forwarded the e-mail to their friends. The campaign, which has no one organization backing it, swelled from there.
“In the beginning my goal was to see if anybody would actually participate,” Mr. Otto said. Now that the country has responded, he added, “The larger goal would be that the president’s heart would change. He has the most aggressive pro-abortion policy in history.”
Mr. Otto noted President Obama’s plans to change the country’s policy toward life are “tucked into all kinds of bills.”
“I can understand him reversing things President Bush did, but he’s going back to the early 1970s and making changes beyond everything on the books in our country — this is not a political thing,” he said.
“If you start killing some part of your society, before long there isn’t anyone who is safe,” Mr. Otto added, explaining the affect of legal abortion. “The Obama administration is already talking about euthanasia. Then comes the handicapped, then different races, then political opponents … we’ve been through this in history.”
The immense response from Mr. Otto’s e-mail only solidifies the country’s true feelings toward abortion, he said. The inter-religious aspect also shows the universality of life, he added — a Catholic church in San Diego and an Anglican church in Northern Virginia were the first to print thousands of envelopes for their congregations.
“Most people really think abortion is wrong,” Mr. Otto explained. “This anonymous protest coming from all over the country has touched a nerve and has kept growing for over a month.”
Of the thousands of e-mails Mr. Otto received he said “only about two dozen” were negative, which put forth arguments without “intellectual feet.”
“There is no real will among the people to fight for abortion,” he said of the overall response, “but there is a will among people to fight against it.”
Erin Maguire can be reached at emaguire@thebulletin.us
The goal of the Red Envelope Project is to get 50 million envelopes to the White House, representing the more than 50 million abortions performed since Roe v. Wade. This campaign has gained momentum since its inception inspiring Red Envelope Day on March 31.
More than a quarter of a million red envelopes were already sent to the White House. YouTube, e-mail and at least six Web sites have publicized these efforts and have motivated more than 200,000 to join various red envelope Facebook groups promising to mail envelopes on Red Envelope Day. A search yesterday yielded only one opposition group, Blue Envelope Day, in which 16 members pledged to send blue envelopes representing their view to keep abortion legal.
The original instructions for the red envelope campaign were to send an empty red envelope addressed to the White House with the following message on the back: “This envelope represents one child who died in abortion. It is empty because that life was unable to offer anything to the world. Responsibility begins with conception.”
Due to mass publicity online, the message has been adapted and altered by various participating pro-life groups, religious congregations and personally convicted people, but the central message and red envelope has remained consistent.
The back of blue envelopes says, “This envelope represents a single voice requesting that you allow women to keep their rights concerning abortion.”
The Red Envelope Project began at the end of January after New England-based Christian missionary Christ Otto said he got a mental image in prayer to send red envelopes to the White House. At that time, he outlined his idea in an e-mail to 120 ministry supporters. These people forwarded the e-mail to their friends. The campaign, which has no one organization backing it, swelled from there.
“In the beginning my goal was to see if anybody would actually participate,” Mr. Otto said. Now that the country has responded, he added, “The larger goal would be that the president’s heart would change. He has the most aggressive pro-abortion policy in history.”
Mr. Otto noted President Obama’s plans to change the country’s policy toward life are “tucked into all kinds of bills.”
“I can understand him reversing things President Bush did, but he’s going back to the early 1970s and making changes beyond everything on the books in our country — this is not a political thing,” he said.
“If you start killing some part of your society, before long there isn’t anyone who is safe,” Mr. Otto added, explaining the affect of legal abortion. “The Obama administration is already talking about euthanasia. Then comes the handicapped, then different races, then political opponents … we’ve been through this in history.”
The immense response from Mr. Otto’s e-mail only solidifies the country’s true feelings toward abortion, he said. The inter-religious aspect also shows the universality of life, he added — a Catholic church in San Diego and an Anglican church in Northern Virginia were the first to print thousands of envelopes for their congregations.
“Most people really think abortion is wrong,” Mr. Otto explained. “This anonymous protest coming from all over the country has touched a nerve and has kept growing for over a month.”
Of the thousands of e-mails Mr. Otto received he said “only about two dozen” were negative, which put forth arguments without “intellectual feet.”
“There is no real will among the people to fight for abortion,” he said of the overall response, “but there is a will among people to fight against it.”
Erin Maguire can be reached at emaguire@thebulletin.us
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