JFA Blog — Justice For All

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Radio Broadcasts: JFA Stories & Upcoming Events in MN

Steve Wagner facilitates an open mic dialogue with students at the University of North Texas.

Steve Wagner facilitates an open mic dialogue with students at the University of North Texas.

Two Minneapolis area radio shows featured the work of Justice For All this month, gearing up for two area JFA interactive workshops (9/30 and 10/1) and JFA campus outreach at the University of Minnesota (10/2 and 10/3). (Find event details and registration information by clicking here.)

Click below to listen:

Recent/Upcoming Events and New Student Guide

Please pray with us as we release our new guide for pro-life students: Conversations Change Campuses.  Pray that it helps more student clubs create outreach events and conversations.  Pray also that those clubs will invite us to partner with them.  Pray for our upcoming events, that God will cause hearts and minds to change as a result of conversations created by our staff, volunteers, and audience members:

JFA staff members and student volunteers create conversations in front of JFA's "Stop and Think" Exhibit at Purdue University in September.  See more photos from this outreach in the JFA Photo Archive.

JFA staff members and student volunteers create conversations in front of JFA's "Stop and Think" Exhibit at Purdue University in September.  See more photos from this outreach in the JFA Photo Archive.

West Lafayette, IN:  9/4— Interactive Workshop — St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church

West Lafayette, IN:  9/5,6 — “Stop and Think” Exhibit Outreach Event — Purdue University

Lawrence, KS:  9/24 — Interactive Seminar — St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center

Chanhassen, MN:  9/30 — Interactive Workshop — St. Hubert Catholic Church

Minneapolis, MN:  10/1 — Interactive Workshop — University of Minnesota

Minneapolis, MN:  10/2,3 — Ten-Foot Kiosk Outreach Event — University of Minnesota

Atchison, KS: 10/12 - Interactive Seminar - Benedictine College, Ferrell Academic Center

Albuquerque, NM:  TBD

See All Events and Register to Attend 

Photos from Recent Events

Conversation Starter - "One Tiny Free Speech Board Comment"

See the Featured Conversation Starter for this month (a small comment hidden in this free speech board) by clicking on the image above or the links below. 

See the Featured Conversation Starter for this month (a small comment hidden in this free speech board) by clicking on the image above or the links below. 

Hiding in the corner of a JFA Free Speech Board (pictured) at our Colorado State event in April was a tiny gem of a comment that’s also a great conversation starter you can share with pro-choice advocates and pro-life advocates alike.  The comment helps people with different positions on abortion clarify where they really disagree, start with common ground, and give each other the benefit of the doubt.  You can find the post titled “One Tiny Free Speech Board Comment” at the links below.  Go check it out, and then share it on social media.

Ten Easy Ways to Start Meaningful Dialogue

"Ten Easy Ways to Start Meaningful Dialogue," an article by Steve Wagner (JFA's Executive Director), was featured in a a recent blog post by Amy K. Hall for Stand to Reason.  You can read it by clicking on the image nearby.

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Are you looking for a way to put these principles into practice?  We invite you to participate in the JFA training program, which includes a university campus outreach experience.

Quick Links:

Read the Article
Read Steve's Book 
Invite Steve to Speak
Learn about Upcoming JFA Events

Notes from my Interview with Rediscover Hour on Relevant Radio in MN

I just finished talking with Patrick Conley of Rediscover Hour, a radio show based in Minnesota.  (Update: You can now listen to the interview here.)  Here are links to some of the resources, events, and stories I mentioned on the show: 

Learn more about the Chanhassan Workshop on Sept. 30 on our Calendar page.

Register for upcoming JFA events: Sept. 30 Chanhassan Workshop or Oct. 1 UMN Workshop.

Read Steve Wagner's Book: Common Ground Without Compromise (Free eBook Available).

JFA's Learn at Home Program gives you four fifteen-minute exercises to prepare you for your first conversation. 

Read about Catherine's experience with her first JFA event and then equipping Amanda to help save a life.

See our Stories page for more stories of conversations, changed hearts, and saved lives.

See our Dialogue Examples page for newsletters including word-for-descriptions of conversations. 

Start conversations on social media by sharing posts from our 7conversations Twitter page or our "Start the Conversation" blog feed.

Bonus: Get JFA's monthly letter with stories, dialogue tips, and encouragement.

Bonus: See what happens when you drag a friend out of bed and attend a JFA training event, like the event coming up in Chanhassan (Miriam's Story).

We hope to see you at the upcoming events in Chanhassan and Minneapolis!

Two Buckets

Impact Report, September 2017

Tammy Cook, JFA Training Specialist

In this Impact Report, JFA dialogue artist and trainer Tammy Cook shares an approach to conversation that she’s found to be very helpful for people who are pro-choice because they are reluctant to tell others what to do.  Her “two buckets” concept helped Dixon think differently about abortion, even though seeing abortion as a harm had already been covered in the conversation once.  That’s one of the valuable lessons here: Many times, people need multiple passes at a concept from different angles in order to “see” the truth.  In the conversation, you’ll also see Tammy modeling other conversational approaches we teach in our seminar, including trotting out a toddler, asking questions with an open heart, and using visual aids.  - Steve Wagner, Executive Director

The Lory Student Center Plaza was buzzing with students on a crisp morning in April.  It was the first of three days in which Justice For All displayed the Stop and Think Exhibit at Colorado State University.  Hundreds of students glanced up at the 12-foot display as they rushed to class.  A student named “Dixon” stopped to ask a question.

Dixon:  What is this all about?

Tammy:  We are an organization named Justice For All.  We were invited by the Students for Life club to discuss the topic of abortion with CSU students.  We want to ask students what they think and then have a healthy and respectful dialogue.  What do you think?

JFA volunteer Bryan (above, second from right) talks with a student while Tammy (above, seated center) and another volunteer talk with Dixon.

Dixon:  I don’t think I have a say.  I don’t think we can tell other people what to do.

Tammy:  Thank you for sharing.  May I ask you a few questions to better understand your view?

Dixon:  Sure.

Tammy:  It sounds like it’s important to you to not tell others what they can or can’t do.  Do you mind sharing with me why that’s important to you?

Dixon:  Well, I don’t like people telling me what to do, and I think most people feel that way.

Tammy:  I agree with you – I think most people are sensitive to being told what they can or can’t do.

Tammy talks with Dixon while using the JFA Exhibit Brochure as a visual aid.  To see more photos from JFA's April 2017 outreach event at Colorado State University, visit the gallery page.

Dixon:  [nodding head] Right.

Tammy:  Let me give you a scenario and ask what you think about it.  Imagine that a woman has a two-year-old son, and she’s having a really tough life.  She can’t afford to feed or take care of her son.  This might seem like an odd question, but bear with me: “Should she be allowed to kill her two-year-old son, if that’s what she wants to do?”

Dixon:  No, absolutely not.

Tammy:  I agree.  Why can’t she kill him?

Dixon:  Because he’s a child.

Tammy:  Right.  Would you agree that he’s a human being like the mother?

Dixon:  Yes.

Tammy:  So if the unborn child is a human being like the two-year-old, then wouldn’t it be just as wrong to kill the unborn child through abortion as it would for the mother to kill her two-year-old?

Dixon:  I’ve never thought about it that way.  I guess that could change things.  [He paused.]  But I still don’t think we can tell others what they can or can’t do.  Each person should have the freedom to make his own choices.

Is abortion merely a personal preference, or is it a choice that harms? (“Two Buckets” Illustration by Joanna Bai)

Tammy:  I agree with you that freedom is important.  Maybe it would help to break down our types of choices into two categories.  Let’s picture them in two separate buckets.  Bucket number one contains choices that are our personal preferences.  My “personal preference” bucket would contain two of my favorite foods, strawberries and broccoli.  People can choose to eat or not eat strawberries or broccoli, but that choice does not harm other people.  Bucket number two contains choices that cause serious harm like murder, stealing, and rape.  Would you agree that people shouldn’t have the choice to do any of those three things? *

Dixon:  Yes.

Tammy:  Why not?

Dixon:  Because they’re wrong.

Tammy:  I agree.  Each of these harms a human being, right?

Dixon:  Yes.

Tammy:  Do you see the difference?  Someone who chooses to eat or not eat broccoli does not harm another person, but someone who chooses to rape does harm another person, right? 

Dixon:  Yes.

Tammy:  And since abortion takes the life of a human being, would you agree that it belongs in the same bucket as rape and stealing?

Dixon:  Yes.  Wow!  This has been enlightening.  You’ve given me a lot to think about.  What if I hear of someone who is thinking about having an abortion?  What should I do?

Tammy:  Good question!  Let me show you an app on my phone that you can download.  [I showed him a video of an eight-week embryo using the “See Baby Pregnancy Guide” app for smartphones and tablets from the Endowment for Human Development (EHD).  Click here to download the app for free.]

Dixon:  Wow, that’s cool.

Dixon had to get to class, but before he left, I was also able to show him how to use the JFA Exhibit Brochure to help someone considering abortion.  He thanked me for all of the new information and appeared to have a genuine change of heart about abortion.

* I said this a bit differently on campus, and Dixon understood my meaning.  I've slightly changed the wording in this dialogue to more clearly illustrate my meaning in print.  Please take this portion of the dialogue to be capturing the gist of the conversation rather than the precise wording I used on campus.



September 2021 / April 2022 Update: See below for another story of a conversation in which Tammy used the “Two Buckets” analogy.

One Tiny Free Speech Board Comment

This free speech board was full of responses to our Stop and Think Exhibit Outreach at Colorado State University in April 2017.  But wait...

...Hiding in the upper left-hand corner, we found the following very tiny gem: 

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"We can't have a real, productive conversation about this until we acknowlidge that most pro-choice people love children and most pro-life people love women.  What we disagree on is definitions.  Virtually no one thinks its okay to murder babies, but if a fetus is not defined as a baby or an individual then Pro-life people seem heartless.  Virtually no one thinks it's okay to force a woman to do something with/to her body against her will, but if a fetus is not defined as part of a woman's body, but a person, pro-choice people seem heartless. 

"Now let's talk!  Recognizing that you and I can disagree about this definition + both be loving people!  Let's talk science!"

- Anonymous, Colorado State University, April 2017 (spelling and punctuation preserved)

What do you think of this person's "way forward"? 

Our favorite line here is, "Now let's talk."  What do you think?  We want to listen.  Share your opinion in the comments box below, or share your opinion at our 7conversations Twitter page. 

See more photos from this outreach in JFA's April 2017 - CSU gallery.

Must Women Make War?

Source: Getty.  (This image is featured on JFA's Art of Life Exhibit.)

Source: Getty.  (This image is featured on JFA's Art of Life Exhibit.)

Reading about Kate O'Beirne's death in a memorial by Hadley Arkes, I came across her description of the abortion right as a sort of act of "war" in the struggle for equality: 

"Feminist fundamentalism holds that the battle of the sexes can’t be won unless women make war on the tiniest enemies of their independence."

What do you think?  Do women need abortion to assert their equality?  Could a path to equal recognition and equal treatment without killing be possible?  (See the "Erase" sign in our Stop and Think Exhibit for a visual representation of this question.  Warning: Graphic)  Does abortion constitute the making of war on unborn humans, the "enemies of independence"?  Or, is Kate O'Beirne misleading her reader with overblown rhetoric?   

[Note: That quote originated in this interview on National Review.]

VIDEO: "I've Started to Change My View"

Sarah, talking to CSU students during her 2017 JFA mission trip experience (Watch her share about one outreach conversation in the video, below.)

Sarah, talking to CSU students during her 2017 JFA mission trip experience (Watch her share about one outreach conversation in the video, below.)

Sarah volunteered with JFA as a mission trip participant in 2017.  During her training experience, she took part in seminars and a two-day outreach event at Colorado State University (CSU).  In this video, Sarah shares about one encouraging conversation in which she clearly saw that thoughtful dialogue about abortion "really does change people's minds."