Artfully Battling the Giants of Black Genocide

Artfully Battling the Giants of Black Genocide | Carrie Gress | CWR



An interview with Ryan Bomberger of the Radiance Foundation

“I’m passionate about messaging that’s fearless, factual, and freeing,” says Ryan Bomberger, the founder of the Radiance Foundation. Bomberger, whose mother was raped and gave him up for adoption, is challenging those who, he says, are ignoring history and logic and refusing to defend the most defenseless.

Bomberger spoke with Catholic World Report about his work at the Radiance Foundation, which uses high-quality ads to convey pro-life messages, especially to the black community.

Catholic World Report: What is the Radiance Foundation and how did it come about?

Ryan Bomberger: Through creative ad campaigns, powerful multi-media presentations, and compassionate community outreach we address a myriad of social issues in the context of God-given purpose. We tackle issues of poverty, family disintegration, fatherlessness, pop culture, purity, character development, liberal feminism, civil rights, abortion, and adoption.

My wife, Bethany, and I created the Radiance Foundation in the spring of 2009 to help people understand and embrace their intrinsic value. Both of us have worked in urban environments most of our adult lives and have a heart to reach the broken. Bethany served as an educator in the public school system for years, and I was a creative director in the ad agency world before we embarked on this incredible journey.

The organization name comes from our daughter’s name, Radiance. Bethany was a single mom for a year, painfully finding herself in a situation she had encouraged her own students to avoid. Contrary to the abortion industry’s mantra, though, her “unplanned” pregnancy was not an unwanted or unloved child. Radiance changed Bethany’s life and my own. I became her daddy when she was one, and adopted her when she turned five. Today, Bethany and I have four children, two of whom are adopted. 

My own story, too, serves as the foundation of our life-affirming efforts through the Radiance Foundation. I’m the 1 percent that’s used to justify 100 percent of abortions. My biological mother was raped, yet courageously chose to go through nine months of pregnancy. She chose life for me and allowed me to be adopted into an amazing multi-racial family of 15. Though I’ve never met her, millions around the globe have been touched by her singular decision that continues to reverberate. As my song “Meant to Be” says, “Now I can love and be loved…all because of you!” She made me possible. And it is this same possibility that the Radiance Foundation fights for with every ad campaign, speaking engagement, community outreach or social media interaction. We love sharing the transformational power of hope.

CWR: What has been the general response to your work?

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