Where Does Your Church Stand on Abortion? Part II

Yesterday I showcased denominations that are "pro-choice". Today I will showcase "pro-life" churches.

New Apostolic Church International

Termination of pregnancy

The New Apostolic Church is a proponent of life. According to the Church’s understanding, life begins with the union of the egg cell and the sperm cell. The fructified egg cell is already an individual life, which has a fundamental right to protection.

The New Apostolic Church fundamentally disapproves of terminating a pregnancy. In special cases, for example if the life of the mother is in serious jeopardy, the advice of the doctors and the apostle should be sought.

A Statement of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops -- November 12, 1997

The twentieth century will not end without one more anniversary to remind us that this era of extraordinary progress is also darkened by the shadows of unimaginable tragedy. January 22, 1998 marks the 25th anniversary of our Supreme Court's rulings in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. Because of those decisions, more than 35 million children have been killed, and reasons used to justify abortion are now extended to excuse infanticide. Today babies are being killed in the very process of delivery by a procedure called partial-birth abortion. Many mothers have lost their lives in abortion clinics, and countless others survive with physical, emotional or spiritual scars. Fathers and grandparents also suffer grief for a child they never met.

What was once seen as an act of desperation--the killing of one's own child--is now fiercely defended as a good and promoted as a right. Even worse, a deadly blindness has come over our land, preventing many persons of good will from recognizing the right of innocent human lives to respect, acceptance and help. Claims of privacy and an ethic of unlimited individualism have been used to undermine government's responsibility to protect life. Legalized violence has spread through our society like a cancer. The powerless of all ages are threatened.

We look upon this panorama with shame, and also with immense sympathy for all its victims. At the end of the Second Vatican Council, pope Paul VI said the "spirituality of the Good Samaritan" would guide the Church's encounter with the world of today. So often an "outsider" in a world blinded to the transcendent value of human life, the Church--like the outsider Samaritan--wishes to come to the aid of the victims of this eclipse of the spirit. It is in this spirit that we make our appeal on this tragic anniversary.

To all our fellow citizens we say: Abortion is an assault on human dignity, an act of violence against both mother and child and the whole human family. Legal protection for unborn human life must be restored in our nation. As the Second Vatican Council also reminded us: "Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or willful self-destruction ... all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed. They poison human society but they do more harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are a supreme dishonor to the Creator" (Gaudium et spes, 27).

We recall what is best in our common national heritage: Human beings, simply because they are human, must be recognized as persons with fundamental human rights. Our nation fought a terrible civil war because the practice of slavery was finally recognized to be inconsistent with our national ethos enunciated in the Declaration of Independence: All are endowed by their Creator with the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Slavery is repugnant because it treats human beings as property to be disposed of at the will of another. It was morally absurd then to say: "I am personally opposed to owning slaves and would never own any myself, but I can't force my moral views on others. It is not the government's task to legislate morality. It is a personal choice." It is just as morally repugnant to say the same about abortion today. Our nation stands in judgment now, as it did more than a century ago: are we to be a nation that honors its commitments to the right to life, or not? And if not, then just what does our nation stand for?

No one has spoken more eloquently about the sacred value of human life than has our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. It is he who reminds us that all who are "open to truth and goodness can, by the light of reason and the hidden action of grace, come to recognize in the natural law written in the heart (cf. Rom. 2:14-15) the sacred value of human life from its very beginning until its end, and can affirm the right of every human being to have this primary good respected to the highest degree. Upon the recognition of this right, every human community and the political community itself are founded" (Evangelium vitae, 2).

We see in our culture an ongoing conflict between good and evil, a conflict between life and death. As we strive to assure peace and justice, too often it is forgotten that the common good can only be served when the right to life, the right on which all other inalienable rights of the individual rest and from which they develop, is acknowledged and defended (cf. Evangelium vitae, 101).

In spite of the relentless propaganda in favor of abortion, most Americans have not become fully insensitive to the killing of children so weak that they cannot cry for help. Indeed, the 1973 abortion decisions set in motion the broadest grassroots movement this nation has ever seen. Our debt to those who serve the pro-life cause is immeasurable. The are the witnesses and bearers of our nation's most noble aspirations. In a special way, through the national debate on partial-birth abortion, they have focused the attention of Americans on the plight of the child.

Perhaps the most uplifting sign of hope is the witness of those teenagers and young adults who have come of age with legal abortion, but who are not seduced by its empty promises. They participate in the annual March for Life, fill our National Prayer Vigil for Life, organize supporters in their schools and campuses, run baby showers, and write to us asking what they can do to end abortion.

We especially honor the work of more than 3000 pregnancy centers, as well as those hospitals, agencies and medical centers in radical solidarity with women in need of counseling, pre- and post natal care, housing, material support and adoption services. And for those women who have had abortions and seek help to deal with its aftermath, Project Rachel and other post-abortion healing programs are available throughout the country. We pledge continuing support of these programs. Our condemnation of abortion is accompanied by an unswerving commitment to provide alternative solutions and compassionate care in respect for the dignity of all wounded by its violence. Such is the "spirituality of the Good Samaritan."

To our fellow Catholics, we ask you to do even more for life. Reach out to women who are pregnant and in need of help, to families struggling with financial or emotional difficulties. Stand by those who wish to choose life with the witness of solidarity, hope, and service. Catholic families should be living symbols of our conviction that life is always, always a gift from God. Teach your children to respect human life from conception to natural death. Pray as a family for an end to this evil that destroys the weakest of the weak, the poorest of the poor.

May God strengthen us in our effort to bring about a culture of life and solidarity for the true good of the whole of human society (cf. Evangelium vitae, 101)

Resolution #8: On Thirty Years of Roe V. Wade, adopted at the SBC (Southern Baptist) convention, June 2003:

WHEREAS, Scripture reveals that all human life is created in the image of God, and therefore sacred to our Creator (Genesis 1:27; Genesis 9:6); and
WHEREAS, The Bible affirms that the unborn baby is a person bearing the image of God from the moment of conception (Psalm 139:13Ð16; Luke 1:44); and
WHEREAS, Scripture further commands the people of God to plead for protection for the innocent and justice for the fatherless (Psalm 72:12Ð14; Psalm 82:3; James 1:27); and
WHEREAS, January 2003 marked thirty years since the 1973 United States Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion in all fifty states; and
WHEREAS, Resolutions passed by the Southern Baptist Convention in 1971 and 1974 accepted unbiblical premises of the abortion rights movement, forfeiting the opportunity to advocate the protection of defenseless women and children; and
WHEREAS, During the early years of the post-Roe era, some of those then in leadership positions within the denomination endorsed and furthered the "pro-choice" abortion rights agenda outlined in Roe v. Wade; and
WHEREAS, Some political leaders have referenced 1970s-era Southern Baptist Convention resolutions and statements by former Southern Baptist Convention leaders to oppose legislative efforts to protect women and children from abortion; and
WHEREAS, Southern Baptist churches have effected a renewal of biblical orthodoxy and confessional integrity in our denomination, beginning with the Southern Baptist Convention presidential election of 1979; and
WHEREAS, The Southern Baptist Convention has maintained a robust commitment to the sanctity of all human life, including that of the unborn, beginning with a landmark pro-life resolution in 1982; and
WHEREAS, Our confessional statement, The Baptist Faith and Message, affirms that children "from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord"; and further affirms that Southern Baptists are mandated by Scripture to "speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death"; and
WHEREAS, The legacy of Roe v. Wade has grown to include ongoing assaults on human life such as euthanasia, the harvesting of human embryos for the purposes of medical experimentation, and an accelerating move toward human cloning; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, June 17Ð18, 2003, reiterate our conviction that the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was based on a fundamentally flawed understanding of the United States Constitution, human embryology, and the basic principles of human rights; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we reaffirm our belief that the Roe v. Wade decision was an act of injustice against innocent unborn children as well as against vulnerable women in crisis pregnancy situations, both of which have been victimized by a "sexual revolution" that empowers predatory and irresponsible men and by a lucrative abortion industry that has fought against even the most minimal restrictions on abortion; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we offer our prayers, our love, and our advocacy for women and men who have been abused by abortion and the emotional, spiritual, and physical aftermath of this horrific practice; affirming that the gospel of Jesus Christ grants complete forgiveness for any sin, including that of abortion; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we lament and renounce statements and actions by previous Conventions and previous denominational leadership that offered support to the abortion culture; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we humbly confess that the initial blindness of many in our Convention to the enormity of Roe v. Wade should serve as a warning to contemporary Southern Baptists of the subtlety of the spirit of the age in obscuring a biblical worldview; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we urge our Southern Baptist churches to remain vigilant in the protection of human life by preaching the whole counsel of God on matters of human sexuality and the sanctity of life, by encouraging and empowering Southern Baptists to adopt unwanted children, by providing spiritual, emotional, and financial support for women in crisis pregnancies, and by calling on our government officials to take action to protect the lives of women and children; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we express our appreciation to both houses of Congress for their passage of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, and we applaud President Bush for his commitment to sign this bill into law; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we urge Congress to act swiftly to deliver this bill to President Bush for his signature; and be it finally
RESOLVED, That we pray and work for the repeal of the Roe v. Wade decision and for the day when the act of abortion will be not only illegal, but also unthinkable.

(I really like the fact that the Southern Baptist's admitted that they were wrong, and corrected their mistake!)

More to come!