Showing posts with label evangelical Christians and abortion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label evangelical Christians and abortion. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Prolife Movement Approaches Total War





On Friday 22 May 2020, US TV FX airs a controversial documentary, “AKA JANE ROE”, which tells the story of Norma McCorvey famous for the woman in the Roe v. Wade case brought before the US Supreme Court. The court’s 1973 ruling legalized abortion in the US.

At the time of her pregnancy, women could only get an abortion in Texas if the mother’s life was in danger. Henry Wade defended the law. McCorvey filed her case when pregnant in 1969. She was pregnant with her third child due to an alleged rape, but she was forced to give birth when her case was rejected.

Pentecostal pastor, Rev. Robert Schenck, was a prolife advocate and one of the evangelicals who worked with McCorvey. She became a voice for the prolife movement. One of the controversial pieces of information in the story is the amount she was paid for her appearances- said to be near $500,000 in today’s money. Rev. Schenk confirms that McCorvey was paid.

So what if she was paid for her appearances? Obviously famous people get paid for their speeches. The controversy comes from McCorvey’s statements that “It was all an act. I did it well too. I am a good actress.” And, "If a young woman wants to have an abortion, that's no skin off my ass. That's why they call it choice."

Rev. Rob Schenck revrobschenck.com

What did Rev. Schenk say? "I knew what we were doing," Mr Schenck says. "And there were times when I was sure she knew. "And I wondered: 'Is she playing us?' What I didn't have the guts to say was: "Because I know damn well we're playing her." Rev. Schenck provides an emotional response to AKA JANE ROE as he recalls his memories. See the BBC report for the McCorvey and Schenck quotes above.

Prolife as Total War

World War II was a total war. During total war, the combatants pay any price to achieve victory. Treaties and agreements are thrown out the window. People are resources to be exploited for the sake of a cause. In contrast, a limited and justified war is a last resort when all peaceful attempts have been made to stop a moral evil. A limited and justified war focuses on the enemy, its combatants, and its war-related resources while attempting to avoid killing civilians and destroying their heritage.

It’s easy to lose focus in the prolife- abortion war. As with modern warfare, even the most precise attacks harm the very people the war is supposed to protect. In fact, it is hard to identify the enemies in the US prolife war. In some ways, lawyers are the combatants as they argue before judges who decide what becomes law. Meanwhile, politicians and their constituents engage in combat as they fight to change laws governing when and under what conditions a woman may legally end her pregnancy.

Although the Republican Party has become the prolife party with strong evangelical support, they have not passed antiabortion legislation when in control of the national government. However, they have managed to place prolife justices on the Supreme Court, which may lead to greater restrictions in the future. This goal of changing the composition of the Supreme Court to win the prolife battle is a reason many Christians support Republican candidates.

Unfortunately, too many people think they must insult their fellow citizens despite wining the battle to place prolife justices on the Supreme Court. Incivility abounds as antiabortion supporters continually attack others as “baby killers” and “murderers.” The doctors who perform abortions are obvious targets of vitriol, if they were to enter the fray.

Somehow, lost in all this anger and hatred are women like Jane Roe, Norma McCorvey. Strangely, 36% of women who have an abortion were attending church at the time of their first abortion (LifeWay). For whatever reasons, these church-going women have not been reached with the prolife message.

Fighting wars in courts or attacking voters and physicians somehow takes the focus away from the real people involved—those 3-4 out of 10 pregnant women thinking about an abortion, while sitting beside others as they worship in church. Don't forget  the girls in Sunday School learning about a loving Jesus while pregnant from a rapist.

Prolife ought to be about promoting life for girls or women and their babies.

Instead prolife v prochoice has escalated into a near total war aimed at recruiting or demonizing voters, judges, and physicians—none of whom ultimately makes the intensely personal decision to end a pregnancy.

Sometimes I think prolife battles too often show the weakness of Christian love—a love that is too weak to persuade women or girls to give birth for the right reasons. For some, love has turned to anger and hate. Some will use any available means to win the war—people who care more about winning a victory than loving the people at the center of the struggle.

Fortunately, there are loving prolife advocates who do support pregnant women, use technology to show evidence of the small life within, and offer adoption options for those unable to raise a child.

Prolife is not a Christian cause. Prolife is about the rights of people--mothers and the new lives within them. It is true that Catholics and Evangelicals gain most of the national attention, but the public should know that some atheists support prolife as well. "Dismemberment is Wrong" says a sign. See the ChristianPost.

Read more

Rev. Schenck’s emotional blogpost about his reaction to Norma’s story.

Dr. Brandon Schmidly’s chapter on abortion in Christian Morality.


Washington Post provides a biographic history of Norma McCorvey in reporting the story.

FX network show details AKA JANE ROW

Rev. Robert Schenk Wikipedia


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Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Decision Magazine and Divided Christians 2020




Not long ago, the conservative evangelical magazine, Christianity Today (19 December 2019), received considerable press coverage for its call for the U.S. president to be removed from office on moral grounds. The January 2020 issue of Graham’s Decision magazine proclaims a decidedly different conservative political message, which notes the accomplishments of the Trump administration.

Decision magazine is the flagship publication of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). The association is celebrating 70 years (1950-2020) of “Proclaiming the Gospel.” Decision’s subtitle is The Evangelical Voice for Today.

The theme for the current issue is “America on the Brink: What’s at Stake in 2020.” The photo suggests America is dangerously close to falling off a cliff.

Franklin Graham kicks off the featured articles with “2020: A Nation on the Brink.” Two accomplishments of the current president are noted in the second and third paragraphs—appointment of conservative judges and protection of religious liberties. 

Other concerns of Graham include LGBTQ issues (“Will the ungodly sexual agenda of the LGBTQ lobby be forced down the throats of our schools and our children?”) and the decline of the percentage of Americans who identify as Christian.

Next, Jerry Pierce wrote “2020: A Year of Decision.” His list of items includes religious liberty related to concerns about the LGBTQ movement and abortion.

“In eight years under the previous administration, a rash of White House executive orders, directives and bureaucratic rules were used to press the hobnail boot of the LGBTQ movement and the abortion lobby against people with sincere Biblical convictions.”

Mat Staver’s article, “Living in a Parallel Universe” opens with the case of Sandra Merritt and Planned Parenthood.

I could to on, but I won’t. My point is simply that politics and religion are married for conservative Christian Republicans. 

As was evident in our research findings (JPT, 2019), a dual identity is present for American Christians who identify as evangelicals and Republicans. This Decision magazine issue illustrates the committed relationship of evangelicals to President Trump and the Republicans.

Instead of a separation of church and state, there is a separation between Republican Christians and non-Republican Christians when it comes to the laws that govern Americans. 

The salient sabres are support for life or death of the unborn and support or lack of support for the rights of sexual minorities. These are not surprising issues, which is why I included both of  them in A House Divided: Sexuality, Morality, and Christian Cultures and why I pay attention to such topics.

There are other concerns in the magazine, but I was struck by the cover and the lead articles focusing on political decisions and those limited to the USA in contrast to possible articles about Christians living out their faith in other dimensions of life and in various parts of the world. 













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