UM Bishop Opposes Government Abortion Funding

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Shamefully, United Methodist and other Mainline Protestant lobby offices pushed for abortion funding in the now probably dead Obamacare legislation. Jim Winkler of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society was especially prominent in this push.  Here’s my article.  What a sad and distorted witness to the world when church officials demand government funding for abortion.

Thankfully, these church lobbies represent a diminishing share of public opinion, both inside and outside the churches.  Commendably, Kansas United Methodist Bishop Scott Jones became the third bishop from his church to address pro-life United Methodists on Capitol Hill in a meeting on the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade court decision on abortion.  Here is Connor Ewing’s article with some photos. Note that Bishop Jones specifically criticized proposed government funding of abortion through government health care, sharply differing with the United Methodist lobby office.

Ironically, the annual service for pro-life United Methodists is held in the chapel of the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill. Although the United Methodist Board of Church and Society is located right upstairs, no staff came down to hear Bishop Jones. Neither did the resident Bishop of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, whose office is also upstairs. Sad. But we are thankful to Bishop Jones and to Bishops William Willimon and Tim Whitaker who have also addressed this pro-life service. Growing numbers of bishops and others are speaking out for the traditional Christian view on the sanctity of all human life.

Meanwhile, the lobby offices of the United Methodist , Presbyterian (USA), Episcopal, and United Church of Christ denominations remain members of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), which defends unrestricted abortion rights.  Recently RCRC has been working with Planned Parenthood to train young seminarians to proclaim the pro-abortion rights message.  Here is Jeff Walton’s article.  And here is Jim Tonkowich’s article about the annual pro-life march that took place in Washington, D.C. last week.

The Religious Left has invested so much energy in now discredited causes.  Often, it will nostalgically recall liberal church support for civil rights 50 years ago and attempt to link current political causes to that admirable struggle.  This is often a stretch, as with one Canadian church leader who compared global warming activism to the civil rights struggle.  Here’s my article.

Finally, here’s a piece by Jeff Walton about the Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Joshua DuBois, speaking at Washington National Cathedral.

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