It seems to me as clear as daylight that abortion would be a crime.
Mahatma Gandhi.[1]
Anti-Life Philosophy.
Remind your listeners that even among religious organizations only
the Roman Catholic Church and small fundamentalist Jewish and
Protestant groups oppose the right to abortion ...
National Abortion Rights Action League.[2]
The elimination of legal abortion would be a serious violation of the
separation of church and state, because there is a diversity of opinion
among churches, both Christian and non-Christian, as to when life
begins. We can't let the Roman Catholic Church and its Fundamentalist
allies foist their narrow-minded philosophy off on the rest of us Good
Christians. It is intolerable that any group would seek to force an
entire society to conform to its religious beliefs.
In any case, those who believe that life begins at conception don't
have to have abortions themselves. But they have no right to force
others to adhere to their beliefs.
Introduction: Abortion in
the Christian Church.
Black and White and Grey.
When activist Christians oppose any of the evils that afflict our
modern world especially abortion they are invariably accused of seeing
things as purely black and white. They are told that there is a "grey
area" that various exceptions fall into.
Of course, common sense tells us that most moral issues can indeed
be stated in terms of "black and white." However, there are
those people who don't have the backbone to discard our ethical and
moral framework completely, so they stretch the rules to create a zone
within which any immoral or perverted act is allowable. This "grey
zone" is a zone of confusion and relativism, where literally any
act can be excused or rationalized.
It should be off-limits to any thinking person.
Neoliberals often allege that a perfectly simple issue is so
complicated that nobody can really understand all of its ramifications,
and therefore nobody can pass judgment on any person committing the acts
in question. This tactic is called "mystagoguery," and has
been used successfully by Neoliberals many times in the past.
From a religious point of view, abortion is uniquely a
"black and white" issue. After all, even ultraliberal
"Christians" accept that there is a God, and that He is the
person who bestows our souls upon us.
If God goes to all the trouble of conceiving a child in the womb,
then abortion is obviously a flagrant violation of His will, no matter
what religious beliefs are being referred to.
From Birth Control to Abortion.
Before 1930, every Christian denomination vigorously condemned any
interference at all with God's plan for our reproductive systems. This
interference was understood to include the use of artificial
contraceptives.
For more than nineteen centuries, bishops, pastors, and lay people
heeded the voice of the Holy Spirit. And then, in 1930, the first and
ultimately fatal wound in the Church's moral armor was inflicted when
the Anglican Church accepted contraception for just the "hard
cases."
Following a decade of bitter and divisive debate, the historic
Anglican Bishops' Resolution 15 of August 15, 1930, passed by a vote of
193 to 67 at the Lambeth Conference. It reads as follows.
THE ANGLICAN BISHOPS' RESOLUTION 15
(August 15, 1930)
... in those cases where there is a clearly felt moral
obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, and where there is a morally
sound reason for avoiding complete abstinence, the Conference agrees
that other [contraceptive] methods may be used, provided that this is
done in the light of the same Christian principles. The Conference
records its strong condemnation of the use of any methods of
conception-control for motives of selfishness, luxury, or mere
convenience.
This carefully crafted statement clearly exhibits the familiar and
deceptive semantic tools of the modern pro-abortion movement. Notice
that the Resolution is crafted to sound smooth and compassionate.
Notice also that the Resolution places no real limits on the
Christian, but instead leaves any action at all up to the individual and
his conscience.
This statement was the beginning of the end of mainline Christian
resistance to human attacks on God's divine plan for our fertility. The
first crack in the armor had been inflicted. It did not take long at all
for the corrosive acid of moral relativism to eat away at the wound.
The Federal Council of Churches of the United States (now the
National Council of Churches) had been eagerly waiting for someone else
to take the lead in 'modernizing' the Church's stand on birth control,
and they lost no time in following the Anglicans' lead. In March 1931,
the FCC endorsed "the careful and restrained use of contraceptives
by married people," while simultaneously conceding that
"serious evils, such as extramarital sex relations, may be
increased by general knowledge of contraceptives."
Any real hope for reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the
Protestant denominations was probably dashed by the split on artificial
contraception. David Kennedy described how some Protestant churches held
out for a few years, and how some Protestants felt the tug of their
consciences on the matter; "The American churches, the official
guardians of respectability, only cautiously and belatedly gave birth
control their official attention. The Roman Catholic church, objecting
to contraception on strict doctrinal grounds, often carried its dissent
into overt action to thwart the birth control movement. But the
Protestant churches, too, until well into the 1930s in at least two
cases until the 1950's refused to sanction contraception and often
argued against it with a vigor equal to Rome's. Insofar as American
Protestants listened to their churches in such matters, for a long time
they could find there no comfort of conscience about
contraception."[3]
"Christian" Abortion Pushers.
Other mainline churches soon loosened their strictures on the use of
artificial contraception. However, until 1950, every major Christian and
non-Christian church denomination in the United States still opposed
abortion vigorously and unashamedly, and church leaders condemned
abortion in the most strident possible terms. Their theology was based
upon the original Church founders, as quoted below;
If it seems more disgraceful that a man be killed in his own home
than in his field since for every man his home is his sanctuary how
much more abominable is it to be considered to kill a fetus in the
womb who has not yet been brought into the light?
John Calvin. Commentarius in Exodum,
pages 21 and 22, in Opera, edited by J.W. Braum (Brunswick,
1882), Volume XXIV, page 625.
Even if all the world were to combine forces, they could not
bring about conception of a single child in any woman's womb nor cause
it to be born; that is wholly the work of God alone.
Martin Luther. Luther's Works. St. Louis, Concordia
Publishing, Volume VII, page 21.
[The Fifth Commandment also refers to] poisoners and so to
those who purposely endeavor to destroy the life of a child in the womb,
whether the woman herself, or another does it.
Benjamin Wadsworth. An Essay on the Decalogue or Ten Commandments.
Boston, 1719, page 29.
The slide from hardline opposition to active pro-abortion advocacy
was not long in coming. Every country in the world that has legalized
contraception has eventually done the same for abortion. This rule
applies to Christian churches as well.
In 1965, various pro-abortion 'clergy,' heavily dominated by lax
Methodists and renegade Catholics, banded together under the name
"Clergy Consultation Service." Their purpose was to refer
women to illegal abortionists and to act as the links in a kind of
abortionists' "underground railroad."
Howard Moody, founder of the CCS and one of the leaders of these
"Children of a Looser God," stated that "We never assume
or admit that we were breaking the law. At all times, we were to behave
as though we were acting within the laws of New York State and that, as
clergy, we were bound to follow a higher moral law."[4]
Moody recently explained his position and, while he was at it,
demonstrated a remarkable degree of closemindedness. When reading his
quote below, note how pro-abortionists in privileged positions defile
their occupations with such dishonesty.
What passed between a pastor and a member of his congregation
was supposed to be protected information, and even police and district
attorneys might respect that confidence. If the legal authorities
declined to poke around in the delicate area of priest-penitent
privilege, then the ministers could proceed as they liked; if someone
tried to arrest them, or subpoena their records, then newspaper readers
all over New York would be treated to the spectacle of a district
attorney prosecuting a minister for counseling a woman who had come to
him for help.
One New York obstetrician recalls, for example, that if a nurse
or a medical student needed an abortion, she might be directed to go
home and deliberately cut or scrape herself to produce bleeding on her
underwear. In the hospital she would undergo a dilation and emptying of
the uterus, then the standard early abortion technique, and the records
would indicate that physicians had simply attended to a woman whose
miscarriage began before she ever checked in.
On this one, I've never moved from my original position. It
doesn't matter how scientifically good we get at pushing things here and
there; the fact of the matter is you have conflicting rights, conflicted
interests. And the interests of an adult human woman, no matter how far
you push back viability or anything else, are never the same as a zygote
or an embryo or a fetus. They're not. And if you said those were equal
rights, I would deny it,that's all, I can't accept that on any kind of
pragmatic grounds.[5]
Note that, for Moody and his ilk, the question of fetal viability is
utterly irrelevant. For Moody, the unborn, no matter how developed or
human, will always be disposable. Moody literally says that no
amount of evidence will convince him otherwise.
It was not long, of course, before ultraliberal church denominations
eagerly accepted abortion as part of their activist social agenda. By
1975, pro-abortion activists had taken over important church committees
and subverted them to the point that every mainline Protestant
denomination Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran and Methodist had
pronounced abortion acceptable.
It is vital to note that the rank-and-file members of these good
Churches were mainly pro-life, and that pro-abortionists used the
classic strategy of "infiltration and subversion" to target
prestigious committees and pack them so that an anti-life vote would be
inevitable.
Of course, after these anti-life pronouncements, the mainline
churches began to die.
The Strategy of Infiltration and Subversion.
All warfare is based primarily on deception of an enemy.
Fighting on a battlefield is the most primitive way of making war. There
is no art higher than to destroy your enemy without a fight by
subverting anything of value in your enemy's country.
Sun Tzu.[6]
Introduction.
The anti-life forces knew that they could never obtain
abortion on demand against the monolithic opposition of the Christian
Church, so they set to work deceiving the public and the churches.
The primary objective of numerous pro-abortion groups (most notably
the 'Religious' Coalition for Abortion Rights) is to convince the
general public that you can be a good Christian of any denomination, and
still be free to kill your own child.
Their primary tactic is the well-known "bait and switch,"
i.e., "THE ISSUE IS NOT ABORTION." The issue is privacy,
freedom, economics, but never abortion.
A few self-described "religious" people proclaim with
perfectly straight faces that the subject of abortion is value-free a
political, legal and medical issue, fit only for legislators, lawyers,
and health care professionals to debate. This makes about as much sense
as insisting that nuclear war is really only a matter of nuclear
physics, aeronautics, and ballistics, fit only for physicists,
aeronautical engineers, and ordinance experts to discuss.
The Neoliberal strategy of infiltration and subversion is described
in Chapter 10 of Volume I.
Overt and Covert Attacks.
In the arena of strategy and tactics, the
Christian Church is identical to any other organization in many
fundamental ways. Most importantly, the Church, like most other groups,
is actually strengthened by an overt attack carried out by a visible
enemy. However, it is extremely vulnerable to a long-term and persistent
program of infiltration and subversion, because the visible results of
such an attack take place slowly and in increments small enough to
escape attention. In other words, it is always easier to defend against
an enemy that can be seen. Therefore, the infiltrators escape the
determined and concentrated counterattack that would beat back an
external attack.
Humanists fully recognize this principle, and have therefore embarked
on a massive program of infiltration and subversion of the conservative
Christian churches. This is not to say that there is some massive
conspiracy afoot; quite the contrary. Tens of thousands of caring
individuals with an agnostic or "New Age" bent also seek
spirituality, and they have come to regard the pastor's collar as the
easy ticket to respect, dignity, a good salary, and a comfortable home,
not to mention the opportunity for aiding people in a
"nonjudgmental" and "compassionate" manner.
The Beginnings of the Program.
This diffuse but deadly-effective
program began approximately in 1965, when many Catholic and Protestant
seminaries began to downplay spirituality and instead began to emphasize
sensitivity and compassion. When young priests and ministers graduated
from these institutions, they often openly confessed that they did not
believe that the Bible was the literal word of God and, indeed, many
stated that they did not even believe in the existence of God any more!
Clergy-Laity Divergence.
Most lay people are not exposed directly to
this pervasive Neoliberal network on a day-to-day basis. Therefore, the
majority have retained their belief in God and His precepts. The
resulting extraordinarily large gap between the faith of the laity and
the clergy has been highlighted in several recent surveys.
According to a comprehensive 1990 poll, 55 percent of all
Presbyterian ministers describe themselves as "liberal" to
"far Left," while only 13 percent of all Presbyterian lay
people do.
Another survey carried out at the United Methodists' 1988 General
Conference revealed that only 11 percent of the clergy-delegates
believed that the Bible is the "literal word of God," while a
separate survey showed that 62 percent of all lay Methodists do.
Yet another study showed that 69 percent of Evangelical Lutherans who
attend church consider themselves "conservative." However,
only 39 percent of their ministers do. 88 percent of the Lutheran laity
think that the majority should determine Church position on social
issues. Only 38 percent of their pastors agree.[7]
In summary, the mainline Protestant churches are composed of
conservative laity listening to Neoliberal preaching.
A Classic Example.
As the "Modernized" products of the
newly-Neoliberal seminaries took their seats as pastors or church
bureaucrats, they naturally banded together to enact their personal
agendas. Once again, this was no overt or organized conspiracy; just as
conservatives work together, so do Neoliberal clergy. However, the
Neoliberals have a vast advantage. They are on the side of
"freedom" and "tolerance," a message that has always
been more appealing to man's fallen nature than that of sacrifice and
self-discipline.
An absolutely classic example of infiltration and subversion took
place recently in a mainline Protestant church. Neoliberals managed to
pack the 18-member National Worship Committee of the Presbyterian
Church, USA, and proceeded to make sweeping changes in the liturgy
without once consulting the 2.9 million person membership to see what their
opinions were.
This Committee took a huge step towards enacting the Neoliberal
agenda by striking at the heart of the Church: its manner of worship.
Therefore, in order to avoid being perceived as "sexist,"
the Presbyterian Church jettisoned the great traditional hymns "God
Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen," "Faith of Our Fathers," and
"Once to Every Man and Nation." They did not want to appear
"militaristic," so they dumped "Onward, Christian
Soldiers" and even the "Battle Hymn of the Republic."
And, in order to avoid offending the handicapped, they even discarded
"Stand, Up, Stand Up for Jesus!"[8]
It is not even enough for some Neoliberal "ecomunical"
organizations to emasculate prayer in churches they are apparently
compelled to demand that Christians deny the very core of their Faith
whenever they are in public.
For example, the National Conference of Christians and Jews (NCCJ)
has issued a pamphlet entitled "Guidelines for Civil Occasions:
Public Prayer in the Pluralistic Society," which solemnly declares
"Prayer on behalf of the general community should be general
prayer. General prayer is inclusive, non-sectarian, and carefully
planned to avoid embarrassment and misunderstandings."
In other words, we should, according to the NCCJ, Christians must be
so anonymous in public that they must mouth meaningless pablum
"prayer" that is so "inoffensive" that nobody can
tell what they are Muslim, Jew, Christian, or Hare Krishna. We
are essentially being told by the NCCJ and other like-minded groups that
we can be Christians only in private.
This is a logical demand. The Neoliberals want to destroy the Church,
and what better way to do this than to insure that there is no apparent
difference between pagans and Christians?
Unqualified Women 'Bishops.' On Saturday, February 11, 1989, the
Episcopal Church caved in to radical Neofeminism once and for all as its
Diocese of Massachusetts ordained the "Reverend" Barbara
Harris a Bishop. Everyone on all sides agreed that, if she had been a
man, she would never have qualified for such a high post. She did not
even have a college education or any theological degree of any kind; she
had no formal theological education; no pastoral experience; and only
eight years as a 'priestess' advocating radical causes. Her sole
qualifications were her gender and her skin color (Black).[9]
The Silliness Never Ends.
Every church, unless it is eternally
vigilant, is susceptible to the strategy of infiltration and subversion.
The Methodist Church redubbed "Good Christian Men, Rejoice"
as "Good Christian Friends, Rejoice." On the cutting edge of
social reform as always, the Methodists (nicknamed the "abortion
church" in the late 1960s) are even considering the neutering of
God: "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" may well soon become
"Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer."[10]
In 1987, the Episcopal Church issued its 112-page manual entitled Sexuality:
A Divine Gift. It defined sexual intercourse even outside of
marriage as a "sacrament," and condoned homosexuality.
In May of 1990, the National Council of Churches which counts as
members all of the mainline Protestant denominations issued a resolution
condemning Christopher Columbus' historic 1492 voyage as "... an
invasion and colonization with legalized occupation, genocide, economic
exploitation and a deep level of institutional racism and moral
decadence."
Needless to say, the rank-and-file were left out of the decision to
pillory Columbus as well.
Largely due to such silliness, contributions to the National Council
of Churches and its member organizations dropped more than 50 percent
from 1975 to 1990.[11]
Conclusion.
It appears that the Neoliberals have succeeded beyond
their wildest dreams in their strategy of infiltration and subversion.
They have completely disarmed the mainline Protestant churches and many
other churches as well.
The churches now thrash fruitlessly around the arid moral landscape,
an unknowing and ineffectual laughingstock to all thinking people,
whether they be religious or otherwise. In their zeal to avoid offense
to every possible special-interest group, the churches have emasculated
themselves. They spend millions of dollars and tens of thousands of
man-years (excuse me, person-years) exorcising the
largely-imaginary demons of "racism," "sexism,"
"fascism," "heterosexism," "ageism," and
every other possible "ism," while millions of babies die,
while pornography and apostasy flood the land with a darkening tide, and
while sexual perversions proliferate in an infinity of hideous
permutations.
This, of course, is precisely what the Humanists/Neoliberals were
"praying" for.
The Christian Church has succumbed to the Humanist virus and is now
gravely ill. Some mainline churches are close to death but still refuse
to acknowledge their terminal condition.
The only thing that will cure this hellish malignancy will be a
massive infusion of Holy Spirit-inspired grace and the Word of God.
The Critical Differences Between the Churches.
We will find our greatest success to the extent that we
inculcate Marxism as a kind of religion: Religious men and women are
easy to convert and win, and so will easily accept our thinking if we
wrap it up in a kind of religious terminology.
Vladimir Lenin.
What is the Church's Primary Mission? It is an established fact that
pro-abortion churches radically depart from Scripture teachings in many
areas, and tend to be "feel-good" in their approach to God.
They support the "right to choose" abortion, fornication,
divorce, adultery, and homosexuality. They insist that God does not
really condemn these acts, despite literally hundreds of Scripture
passages to the contrary.
In other words, their aim is not to preach the Gospel and uphold
moral living (which admittedly can be very difficult at times), but
instead to make their congregations feel comfortable and good about
themselves. These churches stress tolerance and compassion instead of
the principles of true Christianity or Judaism.
Their god is not a God of justice and mercy he is an indecisive and
ineffectual "mush God" who would never condemn anyone to Hell.
The Neoliberals have succeeded in making over God in their own image.
Two Different Religions?
A major study of 643 Oregon clergy from
every major Christian denomination the results of which confirm various
national surveys showed that there exists such an extraordinary split in
philosophies between theological liberals and conservatives that it is
almost as if they belong to two entirely different religions.
For example, 91 percent of Oregon's conservative Southern Baptist
ministers stated that the primary business of their Church was to
save souls. Only 14 percent of the very liberal United Church of
Christ ministers agreed. In fact, the United Church of Christ recently
informed its ministers that they no longer have to tell their
parishioners that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation![12] This
means that the United Church of Christ is, by definition, a
pantheistic, non-Christian religion. They are ignoring the single Gospel
verse that could be said to summarize Christian thinking: John 14:6
("I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Nobody comes to the Father
except through Me").
Think about this for just a moment. The primary goal of all Christian
churches fifty years ago was evangelization and saving souls. After all,
if a particular church doesn't think that this is important, what is a
church for? It becomes merely a social club or a social action
committee. Yet, incredibly, only one in seven United Church of
Christ ministers thinks that saving souls is important!
This Oregon study and other surveys revealed other fascinating
contrasts between the liberal and conservative clergy. For example, when
asked to comment upon the acceptability of behaviors that have
traditionally been deemed sinful, the conservative and liberal ministers
responded as follows;
APPROVAL BY CONSERVATIVE AND LIBERAL MINISTERS OF CERTAIN SEXUAL PRACTICES
[A medium text size on your computer's 'view'
setting is recommended, otherwise, the tables may be discombobulated.]
Approval by;
Conservative
Liberal
Situation
Ministers
Ministers
Homosexual
marriages
0%
94%
Cohabitation/fornication
0%
91%
Condom
advertising
3%
94%
The conservative Baptist ministers in Oregon, as all over the United
States, said that the most important guidelines were Biblical
principles. Predictably, the liberal ministers said that the most
important thing of all was to be "compassionate and
nonjudgmental."[12]
Not surprisingly, this Neoliberal call to be "compassionate and
nonjudgmental" only applies to Neoliberal 'clergypersons.' When a
Catholic priest is found to be guilty of child molestation or some other
form of sexual misconduct, the Neoliberals attack the Church and use the
incident to further their agenda by alleging that such events
"show" that Catholic priests should be allowed to marry.
But when ministers from Neoliberal denominations go on literal sexual
rampages, other Neoliberal clergy support or excuse him. For example,
Oregon United Methodist minister William O. Walker propositioned young
boys, tried to seduce dozens of men (including fellow pastors),
contracted AIDS and transmitted it to his wife (who subsequently died),
asked his friends to lie for him about his AIDS infection, and then
finally died of the disease. His fellow ministers were entirely
supportive: Incredibly, Pastor Jim Hulett said that Walker "wasn't
distracted by his sexuality ... He was able to put it together. His
sexuality was under control."[13]
Note the recurring theme among Neoliberals: Our God-given sexuality
is, for them, a threatening force to be "controlled," not a
part of us that should contribute to the harmonious whole as God
intended.
The Widening Gap.
Sadly, many good Evangelical, Jewish, and Catholic
clergy and lay people have sunk into a psychological morass of
indifference and hopelessness. These people have essentially given up;
they accept the Humanist dictum that one may believe in God, so long as
such belief does not affect one's conduct in any form. Among these
people there is a numbing ignorance of what goes on around them. They
are passive and timid, and merely wait for a savior to mend the world
(not necessarily Christ, perhaps the State), preferably at minimum cost
and discomfort to them.
They remain ignorant of Scripture, the teachings of their Church, and
especially of the evil that surrounds them. In such a state, they are
easily manipulated by those who have an organized and prepackaged
agenda. They are no match for their many highly-motivated iconoclastic
and atheistic enemies; they cannot even offer a verbal resistance. Some
are even unsure as to whether or not to be offended by the
anti-Christian rantings of the media and the 'artists.'
They have learned a passive Humanism from their churches; they are
easily suckered by any movement that claims to advance human rights
(i.e., abortion and "gay rights") or alleviate suffering
(i.e., euthanasia and "animal rights"). They are swept along
by their ignorance and desire to please everyone. Eventually, they
become socially neutered. They have seen so much and have accepted so
much that any type of behavior is allowable and appears normal. They are
completely inactivated. They finally retreat into themselves and offer
no resistance to the tide of evil sweeping over the world. They cannot
even maintain values in their own families. Eventually, they lose
control over their very souls.
And so, the Episcopalians now have a woman Bishop whose
qualifications, if she were a man, would render her totally unacceptable
for such a high position.
And, in the country where it all began, the English Anglican Church
in 1983 blessed "contraceptive intercourse for unmarried couples
for the purpose of proving their love." The Anglicans, with the
approval of the Archbishop of Canterbury, recently devised a prayer in
support of women who have aborted: "Into Thy hands we commit in
trust the developing life we have cut short."
Not surprisingly, only two percent of England's 36 million people
still attend church with any regularity. Why bother, if you can get a
rubber stamp to do anything you want to? Why attend church, when there
is absolutely no moral instruction whatever?
Pagan Nation.
Many polls show that a large segment of the American
public (anywhere from 25 percent to 40 percent, depending upon the
survey) believe that abortion is murder and that it is immoral, but they
still believe that it should be available to women. This is analogous to
a person putting "KEEP ABORTION SAFE AND LEGAL" and
"ABORTION KILLS CHILDREN" bumperstickers side-by-side on his
car. But nobody in their right mind would do such a thing, because they
realize how schizoid such an action would make them look to other
people.
This strange public schizophrenia extends to other moral issues as
well. A study of a half-century of opinion polling in America entitled
"The Rational Public" shows that 58 percent of all Americans
believed that homosexual acts should be legal but that 80 percent feel
homosexuality is wrong.[14]
God Reflecting Society?
In the United States, three decades of
Neoliberal theological posturing have led to results as predictable and
strange as they are disastrous. According to James Patterson and Peter
Kim, authors of the book The Day America Told the Truth, over 90
percent of all Americans believe in God. This huge percentage leads
media organs to declare that "America is one of the most religious
nations on Earth."
If this is true, why is our country in such deplorable condition
morally and ethically?
Because, although people believe in God, they simply ignore Him when
making moral decisions. Religion plays almost no role whatever in the
formulating of personal views and morality.
While it is true that the vast majority of Americans believe in God,
the God they believe in is a nonjudgmental, relativist, wimpy God who
would never put anyone in Hell. This is why a recent major Gallup Poll
found that only 10 percent of all Americans said that their faith made a
"discernable difference in their lives."[15]
In other words, people believe in God but have no use for His rules.
Only ten percent of Americans believe in the Ten Commandments, and even
less live by them. And more than eighty percent of all Americans
believe that it is all right not to believe in God.[16]
We have truly become a pagan nation.
Satan Gets the Last Word.
And so, Satan continues to deceive millions
through the brilliantly successful ploy of making people believe that
they are "good Christians" when, in fact, they are cruising
down the smooth, wide, flat highway to eternal damnation.
Religious People Are Pro-Life.
It is the pastor's job to transmit attitudes to his congregation. The
"feel-good" churches are much more pro-abortion and
pro-homosexual than the stricter conservative churches, primarily due to
the extreme degree of Neoliberalism and Humanism practiced by their
clergymen.
On the other hand, real Christian pastors do not even have to mention
abortion in order for their congregations to become pro-life. All they
have to do is preach the Word of God.
According to an April 13-16, 1989 New York Times/CBS poll of
1,412 adults, people become more pro-life as religion becomes more
important in their lives;
THE IMPACT OF RELIGION ON ATTITUDES REGARDING ABORTION
Pro-
Pro-
Importance of
Religion
Life
Abortion
Protestants
"Extremely" or "very" important
66%
34%
"Somewhat" or "not" important
34%
66%
_______
_______
100%
100%
Catholics
"Extremely" or "very" important
72%
28%
"Somewhat" or "not" important
28%
72%
_______
_______
100%
100%
These results are amusing in light of the fact that the official
slogan of the 'Religious' Coalition for Abortion Rights is the
exquisitely oxymoronic "PRAYERFULLY PRO-CHOICE!"
The Deaths of the "Feel-Good" Churches.
Declining Membership.
It is really no surprise that pro-abortion
churches are in such atrocious condition. They are incredibly active in
social issues, but they have confused worship with directionless action.
If they are not quite dead yet, their bodies certainly have an advanced
case of gangrene. They are losing members at an incredible rate. What,
after all, is the point in belonging to a 'church' that provides no
moral standards to live by? Such churches are merely social clubs, and
provide, at best, an opportunity to have a pleasant get-together with
friends every week or so.
Figure 42-1 compares the memberships in 1960, 1980 and 1990 for the
eight largest pro-life churches the four largest pro-abortion churches.
The pro-life Catholic, Evangelical, and Mormon churches have exploding
memberships, while the so-called 'mainline' pro-abortion churches are
obviously in deep trouble. Remember that the United States population
increased by a total of more than 90 million during the thirty-year time
period 1960 to 1990.
FIGURE 42-1
COMPARATIVE MEMBERSHIP OF PRO-LIFE AND PRO-ABORTION CHURCHES IN 1960,
1980 AND 1990
Church Membership (1000s) Changes in Member-
In 1960 In 1980 In
1990 ship, 1960-1990
Pro-Life Churches
Roman Catholic
44,600 54,580 59,180
+14,580 ( +32%)
Mormon
Church
2,320 3,520
5,850 +3,530 (+152%)
Fundamentalist Churches 1,777 3,440
4,340
+2,563 (+144%)
Assemblies of God (Pent.) 980
1,709 2,625
+1,645 (+168%)
Islam
1,500 3,820
6,935 +5,435 (+362%)
Southern Baptist
9,700 12,100
15,885 +6,185 ( +64%)
Jehovah's Witnesses
250 645
765
+515 (+206%)
Lutheran (Missouri
Synod)
2,200 2,445
2,775
+575 ( +26%)
Other pro-life churches 17,073 24,429
29,861 +12,788 ( +75%)
ALL PRO-LIFE ______________________________________________
CHURCHES
80,400 106,688 128,216
+47,816 (+59%)
Pro-Abortion Churches
United Methodist
11,100 11,212
7,500 -3,600 (-32%)
United Presbyterian 3,300
3,456 2,177
-1,123 (-34%)
Episcopalian
3,400 2,827
2,460
-940 (-28%)
United Church of Christ 2,100
1,710 1,560
-540 (-26%)
Other pro-abort
churches
12,550 10,913
13,102
+552 ( +4%)
ALL PRO-ABORTION________________________________________
CHURCHES
32,450 30,118
26,799
-5,650 (-17%)
References. (1) "Organizations That Have Taken a Position on
Abortion Rights," Congressional Research Service, The Library of
Congress, HQ 780, October 22, 1985. (2) T.J. Bosgra. "Abortion, the
Bible, and the Church." Booklet from Hawaii Right to Life Education
Foundation, Post Office Box 10129, Honolulu, Hawaii 96816. (3) Bureau of
the Census, United States Department of Commerce. National Data Book and
Guide to Sources, Statistical Abstract of the United States. 1990
(110th Edition). Washington, DC: United States Government Printing
Office. Table 77, "Religious Bodies Selected Data."
Backing Away From Baby-Killing.
To their credit, some of the large
pro-abortion 'mainline' churches are beginning to awaken from their deep
amoral slumber. Baptists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and even
Methodists (the latter three churches, of course, being by far the
largest members of the 'Religious' Coalition for Abortion Rights) all
issued statements in 1988 'clarifying' their stands on abortion or
retracting their former pro-abortion positions.
The United Methodist Church, commonly known as the "abortion
church" for its vigorous efforts to legalize abortion in the late
1960s, has become disturbed at the tidal wave of abortion washing over
our country. It stated its firm opposition to abortion for birth control
or for gender selection (women who do not use contraception obtain 36%
of all abortions).
The Presbyterian Church, USA stated that abortion "should not be
used for convenience or to ease embarrassment or as a means of birth
control" (convenience abortions account for 98 percent of all
baby-killing).
The American Baptist Churches, USA denounced "irresponsible
sexual behavior," and stated that "As American Baptists, we
oppose abortion, as a means of avoiding responsibility for conception,
as a primary means of birth control without regard for the far-reaching
consequences of the act."
The Episcopal Church (whose parent body is not a member of RCAR) has
stiffened its backbone a bit, and now sanctions abortions "... only
in extreme situations. We emphatically oppose abortion as a means of
birth control, family planning, sex selection, or any reason of mere
convenience."
Current Positions of the Churches on Abortion.
Summary of Positions.
Figure 42-2 summarizes the positions of 232
major church denominations in the United States, representing 99 percent
of all adults who attend church in this country.
This figure shows that less than one out of five adult Americans
belong to pro-abortion churches. Three-fourths attend churches that are
totally pro-life (i.e, they allow abortion only to save the life of the
mother), and many others go to churches that allow only limited
exceptions for abortion (usually for the life of the mother and
rape and incest). About 1 percent belong to churches that take no
position whatever on abortion.
FIGURE 42-2
SUMMARY OF UNITED STATES CHURCH ORGANIZATION POSITIONS REGARDING ABORTION
Percent
of All
Church
Position Regarding Abortion Denominations
Membership Members
Pro-life (exception for
mother's life
only)
152 119,312,000
76
Pro-life (exceptions for mother's
life and rape and incest)
22
8,904,200
6
Totals for pro-life
churches
174
128,216,200
82
Neutral on
abortion
14
712,000
1
Pro-abortion
churches
44
26,774,500
17
TOTALS: ALL CHURCH
ORGANIZATIONS
232 155,702,700
100
NOTES. This table summarizes the information contained in Figures
42-3, 42-4, and 42-5. The definition of "church membership"
follows United States Census Bureau parameters. Membership in Christian
churches is defined as all adults and children and the estimated number
of other regular participants who are not considered as confirmed or
full members. Estimates of Jewish memberships are generally made by
local Jewish federations, and are usually made by multiplying the number
of member families by the average family size, and therefore may include
some non-Jews who are family members.
Figure 42-1 summarizes the membership changes in pro-life and
pro-abortion churches over the last three decades, and shows that
pro-life churches are flourishing while pro-abortion churches are dying.
These two tables summarize the abortion positions of all of the major
religious denominations and organizations in the United States, which
are listed in detail as follows;
• Figure 42-3 pro-life churches;
• Figure 42-4 pro-abortion churches; and
• Figure 42-5 neutral churches.
For those who are interested in joining with others of their own
religion in fighting abortion, the names and addresses of a number of
pro-life religious groups are listed later in this chapter.
FIGURE 42-3
PRO-LIFE CHURCHES AND THEIR 1990 MEMBERSHIPS IN THE UNITED STATES
Adventist Christian Church
*
31,000
African Methodist
Episcopal
2,355,000
African Methodist Episcopal
Zion
1,230,000
American Lutheran
Church
2,400,000
Amish: Old Order Amish
Church
12,400
Antiochan Orthodox Christian
Archdiocese
295,000
Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East
85,000
Apostolic Christian Church of
America
18,000
Apostolic Overcoming Church of
God
105,000
Armenian Church of
America
511,000
Assemblies of God
*
975,000
Assemblies of God
(Pentecostal)
2,625,000
Baha'i
Faith
18,700
Baptist
American Baptist
Association
225,000
Baptist Bible Fellowship
Missions
1,435,000
Baptist Capital
Association
14,500
Baptist General
Conference
145,000
Baptist Missionary Association of America
235,000
Conservative Baptist Association of America
245,000
General Assn. of Regular Baptist Churches
236,000
National Association of Free-Will Baptists
217,000
National Baptist Convention,
USA
90,000
Pentecostal Free-Will Baptist
Church
10,000
Southern
Baptist
15,885,000
Berean Fundamental
Church
15,600
Billy Graham Evangelical Association
*
35,000
Brethren Church
*
307,000
Buddhists, including Hinayana
Sect
115,000
Christian and Missionary
Alliance
228,000
Christian
Churches
21,000
Christian Church, North American General
Council
12,000
Christian
Congregationalists
113,000
Christian Reformed
Church
225,000
Christian
Science
375,000
Church of God (based in Anderson,
Indiana)
190,000
Church of God (based in Cleveland, Tennessee)
530,000
Church of God of
Prophecy
76,000
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints *
5,850,000
Church of the
Nazarene
555,000
Churches of
Christ
1,700,000
Churches of God in
Christ
3,775,000
Churches of God, General
Conference
11,000
Congregational Christian Churches
*
110,000
Conservative Congregational Christian Conference
12,200
Evangelical Church of North
America
11,900
Evangelical Congregational
Church
28,700
Evangelical Free Church of
America
176,000
Evangelical Friends Church, Eastern Region *
18,000
Evangelical Mennonite Church, Inc.
*
3,600
Free Methodist Church of North
America
16,700
Individual Fundamentalist Churches of America
125,600
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel
188,000
International Council of Christian Churches
100,000
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
217,000
Jack Van Impe
Ministries
55,000
Jewish
Jews for
Jesus
4,500
Rabbinical Alliance of
America
27,500
Rabbinical Council of
America
18,000
Union of Orthodox Jewish
Congregations
177,000
United Orthodox Rabbis of the US and Canada
12,000
Jainists
9,000
Jehovah's
Witnesses
765,000
Lutheran
American Lutheran
Church
2,400,000
Apostolic Lutheran
Church
23,000
Association of Free Lutheran Congregations
14,400
Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America
19,500
Church of the Lutheran
Conference
9,700
Evangelical Lutheran
Synod
121,000
Missouri
Synod
2,775,000
Wisconsin Evangelical
Synod
425,000
Mennonite
Church
92,000
Methodist
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
*
710,000
Evangelical Methodist
Church
65,000
Free Methodist
Church
70,000
Southern Methodist Church
*
11,000
Missionary Church
*
14,000
Moslem, with US Moslem Council of Masajid
6,935,000
National Association of Evangelicals
*
27,600
Netherlands Reformed
Congregation
15,000
North American Old Catholic
Church
62,000
Old Time Gospel Hour (Jerry Falwell)/
100,000
Open Bible Standard
Church
75,000
Orthodox
Albanian Orthodox
Church
16,800
Anglican Orthodox
Church
78,000
Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox
Church
106,000
Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Greek
Catholic
135,000
Coptic Orthodox
Church
95,000
Greek Orthodox
Church
1,950,000
Orthodox
Holy Ukrainian Autocephalic
Orthodox Church in Exile
*
12,000
Orthodox Church in
America
1,000,000
Romanian Orthodox
Church
40,000
Russian Orthodox
Church
77,000
Serbian Eastern Orthodox
Church
23,000
Syrian Orthodox Church of
Antioch
24,000
Ukrainian Orthodox
Church
88,000
Peninsula Bible
Church
12,000
Pentecostal
International United Pentecostal
Church
475,000
Pentecostal Assembly of the
World
45,000
Pentecostal Church of
God
100,000
Pentecostal Fire Baptist Holiness Church
14,000
Polish National Catholic Church of
America
186,000
Presbyterian
Bible Presbyterian
Church
100,000
Presbyterian Church in
America
76,000
Orthodox Presbyterian
Church
15,800
Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America
10,000
Radio Bible
Class
10,000
Reformed Church in
America
352,000
Reformed Episcopal
Church
245,000
Roman Catholic
Church
59,180,000
Scientology, Church
of
245,000
Seventh Day Adventist General Conference
*
650,000
United Zion
Church
24,500
Wesleyan
Church
109,000
61 Other Pro-Life
Churches
3,150,000
TOTAL MEMBERSHIP, 174 PRO-LIFE
CHURCHES
128,216,200
NOTE: An asterisk (*) denotes churches that have no official position
on abortion, but generally preach and teach against it.
REFERENCES: (1) "Organizations That Have Taken a Position on
Abortion Rights," Congressional Research Service, The Library of
Congress, HQ 780, October 22, 1985. (2) T.J. Bosgra. "Abortion, the
Bible, and the Church." Booklet from Hawaii Right to Life Education
Foundation, Post Office Box 10129, Honolulu, Hawaii 96816. (3) Bureau of
the Census, United States Department of Commerce. National Data Book and
Guide to Sources, Statistical Abstract of the United States. 1990
(110th Edition). Washington, DC: United States Government Printing
Office. Table 77, "Religious Bodies Selected Data."
FIGURE 42-4
PRO-ABORTION CHURCHES AND THEIR 1990 MEMBERSHIPS IN THE UNITED STATES
American Ethical
Union
4,400
American Friends Service
Committee
200
American Humanist Association
*
7,500
American Jewish Congress
*
3,000
Americans for Religious
Liberty
2,100
Armenian Apostolic Church of
America
235,000
Baptist
American Baptist Church in the United States
1,704,000
Seventh Day Baptist General
Conference
5,200
B'nai B'rith
Women
1,300
'Catholics' for a Free Choice
*
50
Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ)
1,108,000
Church of the
Brethren
218,000
Church of the Brethren, Women's Caucus
*
500
Church Women United
*
850
Confucianism
3,000
Episcopalian
Episcopalian
Church
2,460,000
Episcopalian Church Urban Caucus
*
2,000
Episcopalian Church Women's Caucus
*
1,500
Federation of Protestant Welfare
Organizations
1,100
Fed. of Reconstructionist Congregations and Havurot
5,700
Jewish
Central Conference of American
Rabbis
2,700
National Council of Jewish Women
*
1,150
The Rabbinical
Assembly
500,000
Union of American Hebrew Cong. (Reformed) *
112,000
United Synagogues of
America
775,000
Lutheran Church in
America
7,240,000
Methodist
United Methodist
Church
7,500,000
Women's Division, Board of Global Ministries *
1,000
Youth Ministry
Organization
5,500
Metropolitan Community Churches (Sodomy Church)
25,500
Moravian Church in
America
8,000
National Council of
Churches
11,000
Pioneer Women of NA'AMAT
450
Presbyterian
Presbyterian Church in the United
States
175,000
United Presbyterian Church in the United States
2,177,000
Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of
LDS
187,000
'Religious' Coalition for Abortion Rights
*
2,800
Salvation
Army
435,000
Shinto
1,000
Satanist
Churches
30,000
Unitarian Universalist Association
*
171,000
United Church of
Christ
1,560,000
Wicca ('White Witches') and other practitioners
15,000
Young Women's 'Christian'
Association
75,000
MEMBERSHIP, 44 PRO-ABORTION
CHURCHES 26,774,500
NOTE: Organizations marked with an asterisk (*) were formed
specifically to promote abortion rights and lend a pseudo-religious
veneer of respectability to baby-killing, or are very aggressively
involved in pushing abortion, placing it at the top of their agendas.
REFERENCES. (1) "Organizations That Have Taken a Position on
Abortion Rights," Congressional Research Service, The Library of
Congress, HQ 780, October 22, 1985. (2) T.J. Bosgra. "Abortion, the
Bible, and the Church." Booklet from Hawaii Right to Life Education
Foundation, Post Office Box 10129, Honolulu, Hawaii 96816. (3) Bureau of
the Census, United States Department of Commerce. National Data Book and
Guide to Sources, Statistical Abstract of the United States. 1990
(110th Edition). Washington, DC: United States Government Printing
Office. Table 77, "Religious Bodies Selected Data."
FIGURE 42-5
CHURCHES NEUTRAL ON ABORTION AND THEIR 1990 MEMBERSHIPS IN THE UNITED STATES
Associated Reformed Presbyterian
Church
32,000
Christian and Missionary
Alliance
153,000
Church of God of
Prophecy
95,000
Community Churches, International Council
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