"Developing and preparing the next generation of pro-choice clergy"

Pro-Abortion Religious Group Promotes Course on "Theology and Reproductive Choice"
By Randall K. O'Bannon, Ph.D.
Director of Education and Research

You'd think "Thou Shall Not Kill" would pretty much settle the abortion matter for believers, but now from the Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) there's a whole new course - - "Theology and Reproductive Choice" - - to "teach seminary students theological perspectives on reproductive freedom as a distinct subject," according to RCRC's web page.

The course was developed by Laurel Schneider, associate professor of theology and culture at CTS, and was given at the seminary in the fall 2004 semester.

"Theology and Reproductive Choice," we're told, "examines contemporary issues such as religious authority over moral decision making, the role of religion in developing public policy about reproductive issues, and sexual ethics."

RCRC is contacting theology professors to introduce the course. "Seminary faculty will use the curriculum to create and teach their own courses, thereby bringing the religious and theological issues surrounding the choice debate into individual seminary settings," according to the RCRC web page.

Elsewhere on the RCRC site, the group says that its "pioneering" Seminarians for Choice project is "developing and preparing the next generation of pro-choice clergy." According to an article that appeared in 2004, there are seven active "Seminarians for Choice" groups.

They are found at United Theological Seminary in Minneapolis; Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis; Harvard and Princeton Theological Seminaries; the Graduate Theological Seminary in Berkeley; Union Theological Seminary in New York City; and the Boston University School of Theology.

The Chicago Theological Seminary is a United Church of Christ (UCC) seminary, according to John Brown, President of the United Church of Christ Friends for Life. "Speaking personally, I am not surprised at this move though it is indeed sad, and outrageous, to see how far removed the position of the UCC leadership on life issues is from the theological stance of its spiritual forbears," he said. "The loss of biblical authority, and the theological understandings built upon it with regard to respect for human life and dignity, have led to positions nearly opposite those which prevailed only a generation or so ago."

The syllabus says that the course "addresses theological, ethical and pastoral care issues in reproductive decision-making," not from a biblical, but "from historical and feminist perspectives." And how! The bibliography is replete with the angry writings of Catholics who disagree with their church, extremist feminist perspectives, and broad hints that pro-lifers are violent.

Any hope that this course will be even marginally evenhanded is quickly dashed by a glance at the course bibliography and syllabus. Seminal works such as Pope John Paul II's Evangelium Vitae or Francis Schaeffer and C. Everett Koop's Whatever Happened to the Human Race? don't make the cut.

Others do, such as Daniel Dombrowski and Robert Delete's A Brief Liberal Catholic Defense of Abortion, which uses Augustine's and Aquinas' ideas in moral theology "to construct a liberal argument for the morality of abortion." So does David Boonin's, A Defense of Abortion, which "develops the good-Samaritan approach in support of abortion as moral."

To be fair, there are a some life defenders, such as Paul Stallsworth, John Stott, Sidney Callahan, Jack Cottrell, and Michael Gorman, among the 100+ authors and books listed in the bibliography. But they are vastly outnumbered by such pro-abortion paeans as Doctors of Conscience: The Struggle to Provide Abortion Before Roe v. Wade; The History of Abortion in the Catholic Church: The Untold Story; and discussions of "body theology," "theological anthropology," "feminists and womanist biblical interpretation," and "rituals for women's lives."

Planned Parenthood, NARAL, the Population Council (sponsors of RU486, the French abortion pill), and the Alan Guttmacher Institute are all listed as "Internet Resources," but not National Right to Life or any other pro-life web site. Quite remarkable, given the course emphasis on pastoral counseling and "all options counseling," is the complete absence in the Internet resource list of any national crisis pregnancy organizations or hotlines which might connect women with pregnancy care centers in their areas that offer practical and realistic alternatives to abortion.

Course assignments include the development of a "prayer ritual." Students "are particularly encouraged to develop prayer rituals that reflect the diversity of human cultures and religious traditions." In a paper they will produce for the course, students are asked to "Prepare a theological statement of your position on any reproductive issue" and to address, among other things, "the areas of tension between your position and the official stance of your denominational affiliation."

Pro-life positions are largely relegated to a class session titled "The Dynamics of Opposition to Reproductive Choice." This class examines "the rationales and tactics employed by those opposed to legal abortion and other reproductive choices in the U.S., with attention to stances on philosophically related issues (gay rights & adoption by same-sex couples, sodomy laws, equal rights, etc)." One pro-life author, Sidney Callahan, is on the reading list for the class, along with a book ominously titled Religious Violence and Abortion.

A highlight of this class session will be the visit of a special guest speaker - - "an abortion care provider to speak about dealing with protests, death threats, professional stigmatization, etc." No special guest speaker is mentioned to represent the pro-life argument, or to rebut the charge that the mainstream pro-life movement ever endorsed or tolerated violence.

Articles and fact sheets from RCRC and from NARAL are part of the reading list, but nothing from organizations such as National Right to Life.

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) was known as the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights (RCAR) when it was founded in 1973. According to its web site, the name was changed in 1993 when it "broaden[ed] its mission."