Listen, I am not into bashing other people’s Christian denominations.  In fact, no church outside of heaven is perfect, including the denomination I attend.  But if you are a member of one of these denominations, you might want to ask some hard questions of their leadership, like “what are you going to do about this?”

A United Methodist pastor, Rev. Laura Young, held a prayer rally to “bless” an abortion clinic last Thursday.

Young explained her acceptance of abortion like this: “Christianity, like most faiths, is founded on love. Watching protesters shouting judgment and hate based on what they call religion is horrible. Is that loving God? Is that loving your neighbor as yourself?”

Somebody should tell Young that there are more points on the love/hate spectrum than just “love” and “hate.”  Not loving abortion clinics because they kill baby humans is not “judgment and hate.”  Actually it is hate, because God hates abortion.  God loves people, and that means ALL people, unborn babies included.  God hates murder.  This is pretty basic stuff.

Killing babies is murder, no matter what else you try to call it.  No matter how you try to cover over the crime by saying the real victim is the mother carrying the unborn child, she gets to live, and the baby dies.  No amount of hand-holding, and asking God’s “blessing” will cover the sin.

I agree that it’s unhelpful to shout guilt-ridden and hurtful insults at women who are confused, terrified and emotional, that are walking into an abortion clinic because they believe its the only solution to their conundrum.  But that’s not what Young and her group are supporting.

Young also says religious groups are fueling the so-called war on women. She explained, “Women are being attacked at a moral level by the radical Religious Right. They’ve hijacked the political discussion. This event is an opportunity for progressive religious leaders to stop the silence. We need to be in the conversation.”

The abortion reverend heads up a group called the Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and they run an “all-options” counseling hotline for women facing crisis pregnancies. She said, “It breaks my heart to know women are sitting in pews across the country feeling shamed, believing that they’re cursed for making this decision. That’s a question I get a lot on the phone, ‘Am I going to hell?’ When God instead is there to support women through it all.”

The candy-coated words used to justify blessing an abattoir for unborn babies really don’t mask the group’s true intentions.  A part of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (we know what those code words mean), the group includes these Christian denominations:

National RCRC members include many denominations and faith groups with pro-choice positions, including mainstream Christian denominations such as the Episcopal, Presbyterian USA, and United Methodist Churches, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and three Jewish movements, Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist.  RCRC member faith groups include the Lutheran Women’s Caucus, the YWCA, and Catholics for Choice, among others.

I am pretty sure that “Catholics for Choice” is not supported by the Catholic Church, but I would guess that the rest of these denominations (including the Jewish groups) are just fine with abortion, like they are fine with same-sex marriage, and all kinds of other policies that violate the faith.

But really, in the face of the multiple videos and mounting evidence of Planned Parenthood’s involvement in body parts sales from aborted babies, how can someone who claims to be a church leader, someone of faith, participate in such a horrific act as to ask God’s blessing on a house of death?

In a statement the clergy said, “As faith leaders committed to justice, honesty, and liberty, we are troubled by the decades-long campaign of harassment against Planned Parenthood and those they serve. Our faiths demand care for those marginalized by poverty and other oppressions. Faith leaders have supported Planned Parenthood for nearly 100 years because of our shared goals: every person — regardless of income, race, or religion — deserves access to safe, affordable, high-quality health care.”

They concluded, “Our religious traditions call us to offer compassion, not judgment. People who work for Planned Parenthood give care and respect to those in need, doing God’s work. For this we are grateful.”

Anyone with a soul knows that God’s work is not done by tearing babies apart in the womb.  It would be like saying God’s work is done when we execute prisoners, or torture terrorists.  Attila the Hun called himself “Flagelum Dei,” the Scourge of God—that didn’t mean he did God’s work.  In fact, it was mocking God, who is infinitely good.  When governments are forced to go to war, or execute prisoners, or torture terrorists, even in support of a “righteous cause,” it’s dangerous to attribute those acts to God.

The Bible says our righteousness—that of mankind—is as “filthy rags.”  And those rags actually refer to the rags of a menstruating woman.  So back in 2013, when Texas pro-death activists threw dirty tampons at pro-life prayer circles, they were simply engaging in the best “righteousness” they could conjure up, while mocking God and chanting “hail, Satan!”

That is the blessing Rev. Young is invoking when she “blesses” an abortion clinic.  She’s hurling filthy rags at God, wrapped in a clergy’s robe.  Young may be acting on her own, without the “blessing” of the United Methodist Church.  But how can the denomination stand by and allow it?

There must be some questions asked.  If this were my denomination, I would be on the phone to headquarters, speaking with the highest official I can find.  I’d be writing letters and sending emails, asking when this pastor will be defrocked and removed.  And if the national office refused to do that, I’d be walking away.

Maybe that’s the reason so many are leaving the Methodist Church, and the PCUSA, and the Episcopal Church, and the United Church of Christ.  One of the reasons.

Blessing an abortion clinic has to be the final step in a journey from Christ to the world’s waiting arms, embracing the filthy rags of fake righteousness, wrapped in flowery language and clerical robes.  If you’re currently attending one of these denominations that ‘blessed’ an abortion clinic, you might want to seriously consider joining the faithful who have walked away.

(crossposted from sgberman.com)