Actor Charlton Heston died Sunday at the age of 84. He portrayed many great historical figures throughout his film career including Moses, John the Baptist, Sir Thomas More, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Buffalo Bill, Marc Antony, and Michelangelo.

Heston, a conservative Republican, was also heavily involved in politics, campaigning for presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush and George W. Bush and serving as the president of the NRA. On Feb. 16, 1999, Heston gave an excellent speech to the Harvard Law School Forum on winning the culture war that should resonate with those of us fighting the good fight against the culture of death.

But what can you do? How can anyone prevail against such pervasive social subjugation?

The answer’s been here all along.

I learned it 36 years ago, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., standing with Dr. Martin Luther King and two hundred thousand people.

You simply disobey. Peaceably, yes. Respectfully, of course. Nonviolently, absolutely. But when told how to think or what to say or how to behave, we don’t. We disobey the social protocol that stifles and stigmatizes personal freedom…

But be careful. It hurts. Disobedience demands that you put yourself at risk. Dr. King stood on lots of balconies. You must be willing to be humiliated, to endure the modern-day equivalent of the police dogs at Montgomery and the water Cannons at Selma. You must be willing to experience discomfort.

Today the greatest threat to our freedom is the murder of weakest and most vulnerable members of our society, opposition to which is discouraged and sometimes even restricted. But we must not obey. As long as abortion remains legal and celebrated in our land we must continue to fight for the lives of the unborn.

In practicing this peaceful “disobedience” we must be willing, as Mr. Heston said, to experience discomfort and even great hostility. Check out this video of some Crusaders for Life praying peacefully in front of a Planned Parenthood in Washington D.C. (h/t Being Bob):

This is what it’s typically like at the Walk for Life West Coast every year. Evidenced by this photographic record of the WFL in 2006 showing the hatred that was aimed at the peaceful marchers and this video put together by EWTN. Here is a story about a pro-life protester who was attacked with a club and then threatened with arrest when officers responded to the complaint. And here’s a good interview with Joseph Scheidler about the 21 year legal battle he had with the National Organization for Women, who accused him and his organization of racketeering of all things. We’ve even gotten our fair share of obscene jeers and police threats when we picket at the PP abortion clinic closest to our area.

But you don’t have to take to the streets to witness to the Gospel of Life. There are a number of ways to be a voice for the voiceless, like putting out pro-life literature in church, writing letters to the editor, wearing a pro-life t-shirt in public (National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day is coming up), passing along pro-life news and information to friends and family and simply living the Gospel of Life in your every day life. We can ever make our voices heard in politics by campaigning and voting for only those politicians that vow to uphold the sanctity of human life and, as Charlton Heston said:

When someone you elected is seduced by political power and betrays you … petition them, oust them, banish them.

See my post, Do We Have a Rendezvous With Destiny?

Even the smallest battle is not always the easiest, but however we choose to fight, we should never back down from what we know in our hearts is morally right. Together we can win this culture war.