… As of the Executive Council meetingJanuary 9-12, in Des Moines, Iowa, your church is, officially, not:
In other actions, the council [the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church]:
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Approved the Episcopal Church’s membership in the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. The membership had caused some controversy during the last General Convention. In a related resolution (NAC-040), the council asked for a report at its March meeting regarding "membership of or on behalf of the Episcopal Church in external organizations." The National Concerns Committee is considering whether the church needs a more specific policy on membership in such organizations.
So, controversy in the "General" convention; no controversy at the Executive Council, which would be… the leaders?
The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice has a website:
The Coalition members are national organizations from the Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist Association, Conservative and Reform Judaism, and many other traditions. While we are religiously and theologically diverse, we agree that reproductive choice is consistent with our faith and values.
I read through some of the resolutions by "religious groups" listed on the RCRC website. It’s incredibly annoying to click a link, purportedly to "the official resolutions… of denominations," and see included there (along with truly official statements from various churches, e.g. Presbyterian Church USA, United Methodist Church, and others) a statement by Catholics For a Free Choice.
Then again, I suppose they might well qualify as their own denomination.
In all seriousness, it’s truly alarming how many Christian denominations are explicitly abortion supporters. Some even pay for it in their employee health plans (e.g., Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, i.e. most American Lutherans, up to 20 weeks’ gestation — for this reason, a Missouri Synod Lutheran friend of mine won’t add to the collection plate when she visits in an ELCA church). Would Jesus render coins to Caesar for your elective abortion?
Few denominations support it outright in all circumstances. Most, for example, think it’s wrong for sex selection. Some say it’s only justified in narrow circumstances; some, for example, allow for the abortion of children who through no fault of their own were conceived after a rape. But the proportion of Christians who belong to denominations that unequivocally oppose the direct taking of unborn human life in all circumstances is smaller than most of us realize.* Many Christians aren’t even aware of the official stance of their own denominations.
What does your denomination have to say? Do you know where all your donations go?
h/t Shrine of the Holy Whapping.
*Not counting situations in which a necessary medical procedure indirectly causes, as an unwanted side effect, the death of an unborn child. I wish enough people were familiar enough with the long-well-defined principle of double effect to recognize that this is not the same thing as a so-called "therapeutic abortion" or even "an abortion to save the mother’s life." Most aren’t, hence this clarification.
bearing blog 