A recent discussion on Pontifications has highlighted the Episcopal church’s radical pro-abortion stance. Believe it or not, most historical mainline Protestant denominations are officially pro-choice, and radically so, in that their views on abortion are even more progressive than the average American. Many of these denominations even have opposed a ban on partial-birth abortions. Former Episcopal church presiding-bishop Edmond Browning was one of the first people to publicly congratulate Bill Clinton when Clinton vetoed legislation banning partial-birth abortions. Take a look at what different churches believe about abortion, and see what your church believes. What follows is my summary of a link on The National Right to Life site.
Catholic: Strongly Opposes
Orthodox: Strongly Opposes
Lutheran- LCMS: Strongly Opposes
Lutheran-ELCA: Lukewarm, but officially opposes in most cases
Presbyterian (USA): Officially pro-choice
United Church of Christ: Radically pro-choice, supports legalization of partial-birth abortions
United Methodist: Pro-Choice, supports legalization of partial-birth abortions
Episcopal: Officially pro-choice, supports radical pro-choice organizations
Southern Baptist: Strongly opposes
This being said, I think all churches that oppose abortion must recognize that in addition to pushing for anti-abortion legislation, we Christians must tackle the root causes of abortions in our society: poverty, lack of good fathers, materialism, lack of health care for many, etc. By this I mean be more generous in offering our services, demanding men stand up and be fathers, reduce the emphasis on flashy material things in our society, and help the poor with health care. I just wanted to add this last paragraph, because to truly end abortion, we have to fight it on all fronts. And what makes it more difficult, as you can see above, is that some churches are working for the other side.
David Bennett
Jennifer
asimplesinner
Fr. J.
Chad Toney
Jorge Flores
Jonathan B
carmelbennett
nicenehobbit
Jason S
jaybird68
papaz
January 20, 2006 at 3:44 pm
This one needs to be underlined in bold: materialism. This may be the most neglected enemy on your list when it comes to the efforts of American Christians…me included.
It’s also the primary offender (or at least an accessory) in problems such as birth control and divorce.
Molloch is still accepting sacrafices.
January 22, 2006 at 10:22 am
Also if I may add that teen sex is pretty cool for a lot of them. They want to be like their peers, rock stars and popular tv show stars, who are always with someone sexually.
Then when the reality hits, they have the choice of simply terminating the result of their actions.
Society needs a major turn around and it’s sad to see some Churches working the other way. I’m surprised at the methodist, I always assumed they were pro life.
January 26, 2006 at 4:18 pm
The ELCA’s pension plan actually will pay for abortions with no questions asked. It may say it opposes abortion in most cases, but actions aren’t consistent with written policy.
January 29, 2006 at 6:52 am
Why on earth would they oppose abortion only to pay for it?
so the motto is:
“don’t kill the unborn child, but if you really want to, we’ll pay you to”
Something is a lil weird there.
September 3, 2007 at 4:35 am
Actually, the Episcopal church is against abortion for birth control. Only in matters of life or death of the mother, would abortion be considered acceptable.
May 26, 2008 at 5:49 am
Niagara - or so you say.
It is jarring, I am sure, to have to confront the pluriform realities.
If you truly want to be disabused of such a pet-theory you should make an effort to get like-minded Anglicans together and ask the bishops to affirm your personal understanding in a public statement.
From there, a great number of Episcopal ministers who serve as Planned Parenthood chaplains will likely need to be pulled from clinic duty. I truly doubt so much as 0.05% of abortions performed by them in their abortuaries are done where the stakes are life or death.