Tuesday, December 13, 2005

The worst response of all: "I don't care."

(Related: 1, 2)

Abe Lincoln: "I don't care. I don't care."

What's this? Abe Lincoln said, "I don't care. I don't care?" No, not that Abe Lincoln. I'm talking about UBF Abe Lincoln (also mentioned in my personal story). Someone courageous recounts a conversation with Lincoln at a UBF summer conference in 2004:

Here are a few things UBF people had to say:

Abraham Lincoln (fellowship leader in Chicago UBF & sorry to say, a disgrace to the name Abraham Lincoln): When I told him about the ordered abortions & divorces, he kept saying, "I don't care. I don't care". I replied something like, "WHAT? How can you say you don't care about those people who suffered so much?" He kept on saying, "I don't care". When I tried to say to him, "The Bible says... (about abortion - Psalm 139, Jeremiah 1:5 and God hates divorce - Malachi 2:16)" Lincoln said, "This conference is not about the Bible." Again, I couln't believe his outrageous statement. I said, "WHAT? This conference is not about the Bible?..." In the end I just said to him, "You're right this conference is NOT about the Bible...

Disregard and contempt for UBF victims from people like Sarah Barry and John Jun is to be expected. UBF is their life's work after all. You wouldn't expect them to admit things that would serve to tear down their creation. Plus, they're just plain cult leader types, having amply demonstrated their inverted morality in propping up someone who was just plain evil in words and deeds. You expect them to defend UBF with all their strength, blame the victims, twist the scriptures, lie, all with a sick smile. You can't expect them to feel compassion for the victims of what they built up. They're now beings who are incapable of such compassion.

Then there are those who know better, who know the extent to which UBF has victimized people, who know the stories are true, whose friends have left UBF due to abuse. What keeps them in UBF? "I don't care. I don't care. Those things didn't happen to me. I don't care. I personally wasn't treated like that. I don't care. I was only abused a little bit a long time ago. I don't care. I don't care..." I'm not saying that Abe Lincoln fits in this category. He may very well fit in the Barry/Jun category. But his words capture perfectly the self-centered attitude that "overcomes" compassion and conscience, the attitude that disgusts me most.