Dear IRD Friend,
Did you know that some of our church lobbies (including the United Methodists) are not only supporting congressional passage of Obamacare but are also pushing for inclusion of federal funding for abortion in any new federal health care plan?
If you agree with IRD that such pro-abortion funding lobbying is an outrageous misuse of the name of the Church of Jesus Christ, please read on. IRD needs YOUR help to counteract these radical church lobbies more interested in far-left politics than Christian witness.
Can you help IRD today with a special donation of $25, $50, $100 or more to ensure that these radical church lobbies in Washington, D.C. do NOT successfully persuade Congress and the media that they speak for millions of church goers?
Here are some details about what the church lobbies are doing to promote government abortion funding. When the U.S. House of Representatives recently approved Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s version of government-directed health care, a strong majority of Congress added the Stupak-Pitts amendment to prohibit government health insurance funded abortions.
The Mainline church lobbies supported Speaker Pelosi’s version of Obamacare but were upset with the abortion funding prohibition.
“It is now up to the Senate to keep health care reform free of religious doctrine and restrictions that will prevent women from making their own reproductive health care choices,” explained the Reverend Carlton Veazey of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), which includes the United Methodist Church, Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, Catholics for a Free Choice, and several Jewish groups.
“Women must not lose access to abortion services they may need because of a small but vocal group of anti-choice activists,” Veazey implored. His RCRC press conference included representatives from the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, Catholics for a Free Choice, the United Church of Christ’s (UCC) Justice and Witness Ministries, and the National Council of Jewish Women.
Speaking for the “population project” of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, Linda Bales Todd declared that The United Methodist Church “supports access to safe and legal abortion” and therefore opposes any restrictions on government-funded abortions. Actually, United Methodism’s stance on abortion is more nuanced than Todd claimed, opposing partial-birth abortion and abortions for gender-selection or birth control. But its ultra-liberal Capitol Hill lobby office interprets the stance as supporting unrestricted abortion rights.
In an action alert that Todd’s United Methodist agency sent out to supporters, the House passage of Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill was hailed as a “major milestone.” But the United Methodists lamented that “what should have been a celebratory moment” had been tarnished by “restrictive language” that “politicized health care and posed the possibility of a tremendous setback for access to comprehensive reproduction health coverage.” The United Methodists lobbyists claimed that “our Christian faith and our Wesleyan heritage compels us to stand with those who struggle for wholeness and peace in their lives and believe that all people should have equal access to comprehensive medical care,” i.e. government-funded abortion.
Can you imagine a church official claiming that “Christian faith” and “Wesleyan heritage” require support for government funded abortions?! Outrageous.
IRD is getting out the word to church members and religious and secular media that the United Methodist Board of Church and Society and RCRC, among others, do not speak for most church members. These church lobbies are sustained by collection plate money from largely unknowing church members.
In contrast, IRD depends on voluntary donations from faithful church members like you who know of our work and agree with our goals of returning the church to traditional biblical beliefs.
As we reach the final weeks of 2009, and as we confront the most extreme stances of these radical church lobbies at a crucial time in America’s history, can you help IRD?
Please donate here today. Your contribution today is an investment in renewing our churches for more faithful witness in years to come.
Thank you!
Mark Tooley
IRD President
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