Douglas Wilson, pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, and prolific author, wrote a column this week providing an ethical defense for the use of sting video operations—such as those used to record conversations with executives of Planned Parenthood.
In “The Ethics of Righteous Video Sting Operations,” Wilson gives accolades to the organization responsible for the videos:
“So what do I think of this operation? I think it is the best thing to happen to the pro-life cause since Roe introduced this bloody debacle into our national life. And I don’t just think this because God draws straight with crooked lines. In this case, He was drawing straight with straight lines. I believe that the next president should award the person who organized this operation with the Medal of Freedom. And prior to that, I believe pro-life activists should make a point of talking about this in superlatives. We should apply every accolade we can find.”
And what about the charge some are making that such an operation is only made possible because of dishonesty—posing as somebody they were not?
Wilson writes:
Another scriptural category that I find helpful here is the category of deceiving someone in order to be able to confront them with the truth. The point is not to deceive, and then to sneak off to enjoy the fruit of the deception. The point is to deceive, and then to unveil the deception in such a dramatic way as to unmask unrighteousness that is being confronted. The point of such deception is to subsequently tell everyone what you had done. The point is to reveal, not to hide. The hiding is merely a preamble to a great unveiling of the truth — in this case, the truth that Planned Parenthood has far surpassed Mengele in cold-blooded, reptilian ghoulishness.
I spoke briefly with Wilson about the topic of his blog post.
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