Mainline Protestants becoming more pro life

By Tom Quiner

Martin Luther King was a Baptist minister.

Since his violent death in 1968, millions upon millions of black babies have also experienced violent death through human abortion.

Sadly, many important institutions in this country have not only looked the other way, but have encouraged the spread of human abortion into our inner cities, our ghettos, and even abroad into economically challenged nations.

The Democratic Party comes immediately to mind. But important religious groups have played a role, such as the United Methodist Church, which has supported and defended Roe V Wade which unleashed the scourge of human abortion on this nation.

In a shocking turn of events, the Methodists have reversed course.

Methodists make decisions in a quadrennial general assembly. Last month in a stunning reversal of 46 years of pro abortion activism, the Methodists voted to withdraw from the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), a group which supports partial birth human abortion. The Methodists had been a founding member of the group. The vote to withdraw was convincing: 425-268.

Even more, they voted to withdraw support for Roe V Wade.

While all of this was taking place, more good news was taking place on another Protestant front. The Baptists held a Justice Conference a few days ago, which is described as “one of the largest international gatherings on social and biblical justice.”

Here’s the deal: social justice Christians don’t like to talk about human abortion. It’s too uncomfortable. They tend to be liberal.

Last year’s conference had liberal Dr. Cornel West as its speaker, a man who labels the U.S. a racist, white supremacist nation. But this year, they slipped in Dr. Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

Dr. Moore did not pull a single punch:

“There are other justice-oriented Evangelicals who sometimes are very willing to speak out, rightly so on these issues of trafficking and racial injustice, but who are afraid to speak up on the issue of abortion…

If we are unwilling to speak to what is happening not only in our country but around the world with the dehumanizing of children because they are hidden with the wounding that takes place with women and men and societies by an industry that promises people an easy fix, then we will empower injustice and we will also signal to the rest of the world if you can just get the oppressed small enough and hidden enough and politically powerless enough, we will have nothing to say.”

Dr. Moore called on those gathered…

 “…to be the people to stand up to Planned Parenthood and say there are no unloved women and there are no unwanted children.”

He called them to understand that these women in crisis are being sold “a violent so-called solution to their problem and they’re being told that all of this will happen in anonymity and with no consequences as an industry works to create both a supply and demand for this violent act.”

Quiner’s Diner has tremendous respect for Evangelical Baptists. Dr. Moore called on them to stand up and be more accountable to the preborn, and to not be…

“…afraid to speak up on a biblical view of issues of human sexuality because they’re afraid that somehow that means they will be associated with people in polyester somewhere that they don’t want to be like. How cowardly.”

There are more evangelical Baptists than United Methodists, so Dr. Moore’s plain speaking is another breath of fresh air in the fight for human dignity.

Human abortion is a dream killer.

It is encouraging to see the United Methodists and Baptists engaging in a process to restore the Dream.

 

 

9 Comments

  1. parrillaturi on June 6, 2016 at 8:13 pm

    Amen. Thanks for posting.



    • quinersdiner on June 6, 2016 at 8:36 pm

      Thank-you, and thanks for faithfully following and responding to this blog.



      • parrillaturi on June 6, 2016 at 11:10 pm

        My pleasure. I wouldn’t think of missing any of your posts. They are great.



  2. lburleso on June 6, 2016 at 9:33 pm

    Momentum continues to build

    >



  3. Christ Centered Teaching on June 6, 2016 at 10:01 pm

    Great post and an awesome quote. I’m sure it took some work to dig this one up?



  4. abcinsc on June 7, 2016 at 9:25 am

    It is heartening to see liberal Protestant denominations like the United Methodists gradually move away from their radical pro-abortion positions. But Protestant denominations are 40+ years late to the pro-life movement. If it weren’t for the Catholic Church, there would be no pro-life movement in America.

    It has always perplexed me that Evangelicals, while occasionally mouthing pro-life sentiments, have not actively joined the pro-life movement (The “Manhattan Declaration” signers being an exception). People are most open to responding positively to the Gospel when they are in crisis – and certainly crisis pregnancy and post-abortion trauma are prime opportunities for ministering God’s loving-kindness, forgiveness, and healing.

    I realize that you know these numbers, but to me they are staggering. There have been over 59 million abortions in the US since Roe v Wade in 1973. And that number increases by approximately 1200 daily. For every woman involved, there is a man, and typically another woman, urging her to have an abortion. Doing the math, it means that approximately 180 million people in America have been involved in the evil of abortion, one way or another. But let’s be conservative and say that 100 million people in America today have been involved with abortion – that’s one-third of the population of our entire country.

    Think about it: 59 million children dead, and 100 million adults dealing (or not) with the sin and guilt of abortion. And Evangelicals, of which I am one, have said or done little or nothing – I am embarrassed and ashamed of our paltry efforts. May God have mercy on our souls.

    [Note: In first sentence it should be MLK, instead of ML. Sorry, that’s the Evangelical coming out in me.]



    • quinersdiner on June 7, 2016 at 9:47 am

      Thanks for this great input, Art. Regarding Catholics, we have certainly been on the forefront of the pro life cause. But we have plenty of work to do within our own churches. Thanks for pointing out the error in the 1st sentence, which is now corrected. God bless, and write again.



  5. danielwalldammit on June 8, 2016 at 6:41 pm

    Are you suggesting that quote comes from MLK?