When Right-Wing Christians Stopped Thinking of Women as People

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/when-right-wing-christians-stopped-thinking-women-people


Photo illustration shows pro-life (R) and pro-choice demonstrators in Washington, DC.

In the autumn of 1978 the Washington Association of Churches and the Washington State Catholic Conference jointly published a six-page pamphlet they called “Abortion: An Ecumenical Study Document.” Their work offers a fascinating snapshot of Christian thinking at the time and raises some equally fascinating questions about what, exactly, has happened in the last 35 years.

The pamphlet does not contain a position statement. Quite the opposite, in fact. From the beginning, the authors explain that such an agreement is impossible: "Clearly there is no Christian position on abortion, for here real values conflict with each other, and Christian persons who seek honestly to be open to God’s call still find themselves disagreeing profoundly."

At the time, five years had passed since the Rove v. Wade decision, and the Church, broadly, was wrestling with ethical and spiritual complexities the decision brought to the surface. WAC, which existed “to express and strengthen the unity Christians have in Jesus Christ” had asked member denominations to create a study group because strong feelings on the question of abortion were threating that mission. In the absence of an agreement, the study group articulated a set of shared values and then assembled statements on abortion from member denominations.

Some of the contents would come as little surprise to anyone aware of today’s struggles over abortion ethics and rights. For example, the Catholic Church pronounced that even when pregnancy threatens a mother’s life, abortion “increases the overall tragedy.” Catholicism has wavered over the centuries about when a fetus becomes a person with a soul, but the hierarchy has been consistent in its opposition to abortion after ensoulment, which is now proclaimed to happen at conception. Furthermore, the Catholic hierarchy has long sought to enforce its ethical judgments via civic and criminal codes, and 1978 was no exception: “A legal context in which abortion is presented as a legitimate way of resolving tragic situations creates an atmosphere that reduces respect for the value of life. Ultimately, such an atmosphere dehumanizes the lives of all who live in it.”

[hobbit709]

1. When did they ever start?

[unhappycamper]

2. Agreed n/t

[RC]

3. Even the young sons had dominion over their mother.

A woman was worth so little, a dowry was needed as payment to the new owner, to take her.

[VWolf]

4. Right. The abortion issue

was just a convenient vehicle to push their misguided views.

[Aerows]

5. They never have

You can't talk about Christianity without acknowledging that it is deeply rooted in patriarchy.

[Tsiyu]

6. Although the RC church normally is anti-war

Many Fundy, anti-choice American Christians are VERY pro-war.

I've tried asking a few of them if they believe our soldiers should have gone in and got all the pregnant women out of harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan before we started bombing.

"How many unborn died in those wars? Where is your vast love and concern for those fetuses? Where is your sense of the value of THOSE little lives?"


Eternal response? :

*crickets*

[Xyzse]

7. I want a copy of that pamphlet

[liberal_at_heart]

8. religious men around the globe have subjugated women since

the beginning of time. We will never be completely free of it. We will always have to be vigilant and ready to fight for women all over the globe. But yes, it does seem that American Christians have lost patience because they have not been able to put women back in their place since the revolution of the 1960's.