Some religions support abortion rights. Their leaders are speaking up.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

I understand the Reform Jewish position on abortion. The life of the fetus is considered potential life and the life of the mother takes precedence over the life of the fetus. I am glad to see some branches of the Christian faith has similar views on abortion

Link to tweet

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/religions-support-abortion-rights-leaders-are-speaking-rcna27194

Various streams of Judaism interpret Jewish law differently. Reform Judaism, of which Nathan is an adherent, supports abortion rights.

In response to her sermon, Nathan received a standing ovation, she said, along with angry reactions from “a few people who were upset” that she addressed abortion access from the pulpit. But Nathan saw speaking up as part of her rabbinical responsibility, she said.....

More than a half-dozen major religions and denominations support abortion rights with few or some limits — Conservative and Reform Judaism, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Unitarian Universalist Church and the United Church of Christ, among others — but many leaders of those faiths and religion experts say their positions are often not well-known......

The Rev. Angela Williams, a pastor ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which has supported abortion rights since 1970, is the lead organizer of the Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity, or SACReD, an initiative that trains interfaith leaders in how to support reproductive justice through their congregations.

In addition to a large number of Jews, there are a good number of other faiths that support abortion rights. Alito's draft favors one branch of christianity over the beliefs of a number of ther religions

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Back to my argument that the 1st Amendment specifically...

says we cannot be held hostage by one branch of one religion.

[keithbvadu2]

14. by one branch of one religion.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/americas-true-history-of-religious-tolerance-61312684/?no-ist= ;

Madison also made a point that any believer of any religion should understand: that the government sanction of a religion was, in essence, a threat to religion. "Who does not see," he wrote, "that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects?" Madison was writing from his memory of Baptist ministers being arrested in his native Virginia.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. K&R, Very interesting, Thanks for posting!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. For this thread

Link to tweet

[KS Toronado]

6. "fetus to be part of the woman's body"

This statement is worth remembering when talking to idiots

[niyad]

19. To really piss them off, I point out that, until the fetus can exist outside the

woman's body, it is, biologically, a parasite.

[Haggard Celine]

7. Funny, that's what I've always said.

Until a fetus becomes an infant, it is part of a woman's body, and a woman should be able to decide what to do with her body. Until it can breathe and suck, it is not a person.

[Hekate]

4. Unitarian Universalists are pro-choice. Buddhist attitudes vary by culture, and in my reading ...

Last edited Tue May 10, 2022, 03:44 AM - Edit history (1)

… some years ago I found that if you asked a priest you might get a thoughtful answer weighing the mother’s life, etc, but if you looked to specific cultures, the people would have worked things out as needed.

In post-WWII Japan abortion was legal and very common in that crowded nation. Even after the advent of The Pill in the West, Japanese doctors mistrusted the whole-body effects of The Pill (true enough), and felt that abortion only affected the uterus.

Not sure where they are now in that country, but in the US Buddhism itself has become assimilated, with many prominent teachers, priests, and scholars who are white Americans, many of them Jewish, who were attracted to the practice of the different sects. I expect you would get different answers depending on who you ask — but essentially in favor of the woman’s decision.

Hindus are nominally only in favor of abortion to save the life of the mother, but the wild demographic swing toward boys-only families once ultrasound technology reached village clinics in India argues against that being so in practice. I don’t think this plays out in America in the same way. Again — if you ask a priest you probably get a scholarly answer. Perhaps you should ask women.

Followers of the Old Religion, i.e. Wiccans and Neo-Pagans, are pro-choice.

Thank you for your posts, LMPV. I have long felt it is outrageous that one narrow Christian sect presumes to claim the moral high ground and make pronouncements for the rest of humanity. Even more outrageous when you consider how many religions are in America, and that the First Amendment protects them all (as long as no secular laws are broken, because someone is sure to bring up cults).

[vlyons]

5. let's be very clear about the history of the Church

for thousands of years, the Church has waged wars against non-Christian people to justify land grabs. Murdered and tortured people. Subjected women to be the chattel of men. The founders of our country were well aware of the religious wars waged in Europe. It's why we don't have a state religion.

Make no mistake, the people leading the ban abortion movement are Christo-fascists, who want to instill their religion as the state religion.

[lindysalsagal]

13. Exactly. Not holding my breath for the catholics , baptists, or even the average protestants

to come around. It's a job they don't want to lose.

Basically, I just don't trust anyone who makes a living off fairy tales.

[keithbvadu2]

15. a state religion

[LeftInTX]

8. The only time I see victories for religion are for stupid things like pledge of allegiance

The only time I see an important victory is for death row.

No one filed that abortion laws were a violation of religion prior to Roe V Wade, so the Supreme Court will just say, "No one filed this prior to 1973, so if it wasn't then, it isn't now".

[ShazzieB]

9. I LOVE this!

I have talked to forced birthers who absolutely believe a full-fledged human being literally exists from the moment a sperm fertilizes an egg. Which, okay, you do you, I guess. But a frightening number of them will then go on to say that it should be self-evidently obvious to anyone who is a decent human being that even a fertilized egg should be regarded as an actual person, with the same rights as you and me, and abortion (or even preventing the implantation of a fertilized ovum) is murder. The subtext being that anyone who thinks abortion is EVER acceptable MUST therefore be some kind of monster. It's incredibly offensive to me that anyone thinks this way, but they do.

Reading this would probably make some of those people's heads explode. And as for the ones who are not quite as far gone as that, it might give them something to think about.

[keithbvadu2]

12. "full-fledged human being"

Ask them for the 'baby's' name and SSN.

Can it be claimed as a dependent on taxes?

[SunSeeker]

10. K & R

[Aussie105]

11. A fertilized human egg is POTENTIALLY a human being.

But a lot has to happen before that fertilized egg becomes an independent living entity.

It's like saying . . . every chicken egg is potentially a living chicken. But we eat them without a second thought.

I see abortion as a desperate solution to a long sequence of bad decisions.
Starting with young males who decide they need to 'get theirs' without considering consequences.

But ultimately, the decision has nothing to do with me. (Yes, I care.)
But I have no right to an input of any sort.
Not my place to judge. As for a bunch of oldies in the Supreme Court, doubly so.
Individual choice, and all that.

[BlueIdaho]

16. The notion of an "unborn child" is mostly propaganda

That allows some man to tell some woman she has no right to make decisions about her body. It’s ironic none of them care about the mother or the fetus when they blow up clinics.

[niyad]

17. Thank you for posting this most imporrtant find. Would you consider cross-posting

in Women's Rights And Issues? Thanks in advance.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

18. As the father of two strong Democratic daughters, I will be glad to cross post

[McKim]

20. Unitarians Support the Right to Abortion

The Unitarian Church will meet in late June at their national assembly and will quite likely affirm the right to abortion. Unitarians are not Christians and are pro Science. We stand with women!

[Pacifist Patriot]

21. Indeed!

I hope to see that happen at GA.

My Mother's Day sermon took a hard pivot after the leak. The only criticism I got during the congregation Q&A after the sermon was "it should have been nationally televised." I love my UUs!!