Mr. Mefford truthfully representing GBCS values January 22.

Christians March for Life Plus Some Methodist Mockery

on January 23, 2015

Yesterday’s March for Life in Washington, D.C. was a tremendous day both as a demonstration for human rights and a display of Christian unity. Catholic bishops marched with Anglican bishops and Orthodox clergy, with Lutheran and Southern Baptist leaders.

In the morning I attended an Evangelicals for life seminar co-hosted by the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Commission, featuring its leader Russell Moore and Hispanic Evangelical Samuel Rodriguez. March for Life President Jeanne Monahan, a Catholic with an angelic disposition, thanked Evangelicals for their ecumenical solidarity. Moore smilingly explained that future matches don’t need fewer rosaries but do need more Evangelicals. A fiery young Southern Baptist pastor shared his testimony of complicity in the “murder” of his own child by abortion at age 21, after which he sought God’s mercy.

Back at the IRD office, 12 Anglican bishops, including Archbishop Foley Beach, joined us for brunch in what has become a cherished annual tradition. Afterwards, IRD staff and bishops together joined many thousands for the march down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the unofficial pro-life caucus of United Methodism hosted its annual service in the Methodist Building chapel. United Methodist theologian Edgardo Colón-Emeric of Duke Divinity School delivered a thoughtful message on the “luminosity of life,” citing St. Thomas Aquinas. General Board of Church and Society chief Susan Henry Crowe, even though her agency is not pro-life, courteously attended the service.

Sadly, one of her colleagues was less courteous. Her agency’s “Director of Civil and Human Rights” Bill Mefford tweeted a sarcastic photo of himself outside among pro-life marchers with a sign proclaiming: “I March for Sandwiches.” His tweet further explained: “I was inspired by the march for life to march for what I believe in!”

Har-har-har, and no doubt he did. Mefford’s bio on the GBCS website explains his job entails opposing the death penalty. But while defending several hundred convicted murderers evidently is imperative, the nearly 1 million unborn children destroyed every year in America apparently are a topic of mirth.

Unfortunately, Mefford’s sign and tweet embody the lack of moral seriousness in much of modern Methodism’s social witness. Some day, this church’s social witness will be redeemed. Some day.

But Mefford’s antic in no way detracted from the powerful Christian witness of more dignified church leaders. Check out some photos below, especially the robed Anglican bishops in a prayer circle.

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  1. Comment by Matt Kellon Robinson on January 23, 2015 at 2:33 am

    So happy and proud that Dr. Colon-Emeric, one of our Proffs at Duke, was there supporting this righteous cause.

  2. Comment by yolo on January 23, 2015 at 6:01 am

    How sick can somebody be to bring a sandwich into this? A sandwich?

    And this is the guy that advocates for the condemned? I wonder what he says about the victims?! I wonder what he compares the victims’ family to, witnesses of the execution of the condemned?

  3. Comment by Pudentiana on January 23, 2015 at 8:13 am

    Mr. Mefford was once an unborn. He must wonder why his mom chose him over a “sandwich”.

  4. Comment by Palamas on January 23, 2015 at 9:00 am

    Mefford no doubt also mocked the people who marched in Ferguson, the people who marched in New York, and the 1963 March on Washington led by the recently commemorated Dr. King. Mefford is typical of the jackassery that passes for leadership in the UMC these days.

  5. Comment by Palamas on January 23, 2015 at 9:17 am

    Mefford has apologized. I wrote this at his blog:

    Bill, thanks for your apology. I’m all for humor, but next time you should remember the golden rule. Ask yourself this: how would you have responded if the marchers in Ferguson or New York this past fall had been met with mockery? I suspect you would not have appreciated it. Even if one disagreed with them, the seriousness of the situation demanded respect. Same with the March for Life.

    http://jeremiahweeping.blogspot.com/2015/01/my-mea-culpa.html?showComment=1422022489120#c3090179425045978371

  6. Comment by Mike Ward on January 23, 2015 at 4:17 pm

    Well, he presents he it as an apology, but he’s not sorry he did it. He’s just sorry that it was offensive taken “out of context,” but says it was funny if you were there.

  7. Comment by Honey Badger on January 25, 2015 at 1:44 pm

    The “apology” and blog and set to private. I’m not sure how much a public apology is worth if it’s not public.

  8. Comment by Palamas on January 25, 2015 at 6:04 pm

    Good point.

  9. Comment by the_enemy_hates_clarity on January 23, 2015 at 10:47 pm

    So part of the offering I put in the plate each week goes to pay this guy’s salary? My daughter was at the march this year. My son has been before and regretted he couldn’t go this year. As Christians, they are strongly committed to life, and they walk the walk. I am so proud of them. Mr. Mefford, on the other hand, even though twice their age, was acting like a buffoon.

    In Christ,

    The enemy hates clarity

  10. Comment by John S. on January 30, 2015 at 6:52 am

    Ohh, you should see all the places UMC money goes and the actions it supports. Just remember, looking under rocks is often unpleasant and sometimes dangerous.

  11. Comment by SisterSincerity on June 2, 2015 at 12:37 pm

    Yes, I was aware that the Methodist Church was abandoning God to become just another branch of Marxist politics, but I thought it important that God-loving, Bible-believing Christians stay in the Methodist Denomination to work from within. A perusal of Mefford’s articles on the GBCS site has shown me what a fool I have been.

  12. Comment by Honey Badger on January 25, 2015 at 1:42 pm

    I am very unlikely to ever join a Methodist church precisely because of people like Bill Mefford.

  13. Comment by John Lomperis on January 28, 2015 at 7:11 pm

    I was glad to see this public apology from Susan Henry-Crowe: http://umc-gbcs.org/press-releases/cultivating-a-culture-of-respect Mefford’s stunt was not out of character, but reflected the attitude with which the GBCS has long uncritically and enthusiastically supported the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) in its political agenda of treating taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand through all stages of pregnancy as a sacred right that is above even any moral criticism.

  14. Comment by OhJay on January 29, 2015 at 11:22 pm

    I say, you are dead right about the sandwich man. Whichever side of the issue a person is on, it’s a serious matter. We often say that people of good faith can disagree, but I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who thinks the discussion is an opportunity for humor. How a person can make a joke out of it is really beyond me.

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