May 20, 2022 |
Rector's Blog: We Don't Talk About Abortion
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Rector's Blog: We Don't Talk About Abortion
We Christians who support reproductive rights are mostly silent. We may not be silent individually. Some of us may work at Planned Parenthood. Some of us may vote for candidates and resolutions in favor of reproductive rights. Some of us may attend rallies. But as Christian communities, we are mostly silent. Some of us may stand up and speak out for abortion rights, but we don’t do it in Jesus’ name.
And we should. We who belong to Christian communities and support abortion rights should be speaking up in Jesus’ name.
But instead, we choose not to talk about abortion. In part, this is because of how you felt when you read(heard) the word abortion on a church blog(podcast) just now. Many of us try to avoid making people feel that way. We often steer clear of hot button topics, and there is no hotter button in American culture than abortion.
During particularly polarizing times such as these, there is something attractive about creating spaces that do not broach sensitive topics. Having a church that doesn’t talk about controversial issues gives some of us a sense of respite from the endless cacophony of opinion out there in the real world. Some of us may think to ourselves that we need a community that acts as a timeout, an escape from those things that keep us up at night.
