New Website Targets Undecided Pro-Lifers with Facts, Emotion, Spiritual Adoption
by Staff
November 3, 2008
ATLANTA, (christiansunite.com) -- The "Undecided Voter" is typically used to describe a person who may still cast a vote either way in an upcoming election. Such a voter is usually targeted in the weeks before the election, since they can play the definitive role in determining the outcome.For Janice Givens, a mom and homemaker in Atlanta's northern suburb of Alpharetta, the lack of commitment to voting pro-life by those she always considered fellow pro- lifers was stunning. "As we got closer to Election Day, I found many pro-lifers - people I had known for years - were conflicted or misinformed on where the candidates stood on abortion, and therefore were still undecided or not voting to protect the unborn. I found people who I always considered pro- life wavering on the life issues because of current events and basic ignorance on what could happen if we lost this election," says Givens. "Last week, I gathered some friends together who I knew shared my discouragement and shock; we prayed for wisdom and were inspired to do something in the names of the nearly 49 million lives lost to abortion."
In less than a week, the ambitious group of six launched a movement to turn things around. Lisa Fiamingo, one of the co-founders of One Baby One Vote, states the facts, "Forty nine million babies have been aborted in the last 35 years. Twenty five million would have been old enough to vote on November 4. This movement is for them. If we can cast one vote for each of their lives, we can turn this election around."
The website, www.OneBabyOneVote.com, is the center of the grassroots effort. Pushing a very simple, yet powerful mission, the movement's potential to have a significant impact on this election is clearly possible through the hands of committed pro-lifers. There are three steps:
1. Adopt - Spiritually adopt a baby lost to abortion. Name the baby and cast your vote on their behalf.
2. Pray - Join the companion prayer effort - Operation Consecration - a nationwide simultaneous prayer to take place on November 2nd at 3pm EST. Prayer gatherings can happen in homes, churches, open fields or community-wide events in all 50 states.
3. Inform - Through the power of word-of-mouth, share the website and resources such as the Top Ten Questions on Abortion for Undecided Voters.
For many, the most powerful aspect of the movement will be the spiritual adoption. Says Fiamingo, "When the site launched last Friday, and I adopted and named my baby Claire; it was incredibly powerful. I actually wasn't prepared for the effect the simple act of naming one of these babies would have on me. I can't imagine what it will feel like to enter the voting booth on Election Day and cast my vote in Claire's name."
In addition to the spiritual adoption and commitment to vote, the movement includes a companion prayer effort which the six friends have named, Operation Consecration. The word consecrate is a verb which means "to make or declare sacred", and the mission of Operation Consecration is to consecrate every state to God before Election Day and reclaim the nation for the values on which it was founded. People in all 50 states are asked to gather two or more together at 3:00pmET on November 2 (the traditional day of prayer on the Catholic liturgical calendar for the souls of the deceased) and say a prayer of consecration. The website recommends the consecration prayers from 2 Chronicles 7:14-16:
"If my people, humble themselves and pray, and seek my presence and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and revive their land. Now my eyes shall be open and my ears attentive to the prayer of this place. And now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart also shall be there always."
The group is asking existing pro-life and faith communities to add Operation Consecration to their scheduled activities in the days before the election. A one-page planning sheet is available in the website. To download the resources, adopt your baby, or just learn more about the movement, visit www.onebabyonevote.com
