![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/764\/2021\/09\/nicolas-dmitrichev-Vs1kDHNyQiY-unsplash-1024x766.jpg\")
What does the Texas abortion law mean for clergy?<\/strong><\/h2>\nUnder this law, any person who successfully sues an abortion provider or anyone who aids a woman who obtains an abortion could be awarded at least $10,000.\u00a0 This means that a pastor in Texas who counsels a woman who decides to obtain an abortion could potentially be sued.\u00a0 One could easily imagine a disgruntled parishioner or anyone in the community snitching on the pastor, accusing them of aiding and abetting women who obtain abortions.\u00a0 No proof is needed to substantiate the accusation.<\/p>\n
Why should clergy outside of Texas care about this new law?<\/strong><\/h2>\nClergy in states with progressive legislatures and progressive governors and who serve in progressive congregations may think themselves safe from the dystopian Handmaid\u2019s Tale-<\/em>nightmare that is happening in Texas.\u00a0 But this same scenario is on the verge of being enacted in other conservative states as well.\u00a0 The push to ban abortion is even finding footholds in purple and blue states.<\/p>\nThis is because the anti-abortion surge has been a long time in the making.\u00a0 The plans for enacting these laws have been a strategic and tactical focus of Republican lawmakers and conservative influencers for decades. They have been laying the groundwork to enact restrictions and exert control over reproductive rights at the state level across the country.\u00a0 All of this has served to prepare for and hasten a hoped-for overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that ensured a woman\u2019s right to an abortion until a fetus is able to survive outside the womb.<\/p>\n
Three other states \u2013 Idaho, Oklahoma, and South Carolina \u2013 have also passed six-week ban bills this year and are stalled only by legal challenges.\u00a0 And if the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of the Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks, it is likely that Roe v. Wade would be overturned and the decision on abortions would revert to states.<\/p>\n
The silence of progressive clergy on reproductive issues<\/strong><\/h2>\nWhat have progressive clergy been saying about all of this?\u00a0 According to my research, not much.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/764\/2021\/09\/ernie-a-stephens-KflQqYcFknk-unsplash-1024x684.jpg\")
Photo by Ernie A. Stephens on Unsplash https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/KflQqYcFknk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nOver the past four years, I have conducted two surveys of clergy in the U.S. about how they are addressing social issues in their congregations.\u00a0 In both the 2017 and 2021 survey, they were given a list of social issues and asked which ones they had addressed in their preaching in the previous twelve months.\u00a0 In 2017, of the 484 clergy who identified as progressive, only 10% said they had addressed reproductive issues. Of the 1,729 progressive clergy who responded in 2021, only 6% said they had addressed reproductive issues in the previous year.<\/p>\n
In fact, when asked which topics they intended to avoid <\/em>in their sermons in 2021, reproductive issues ranked as the number one topic progressive preachers wanted stay away from, more than LGBTQIA+ issues, gun violence, and racism.<\/p>\nConservative clergy are more willing to talk about reproductive issues<\/strong><\/h2>\nIn contrast, conservative clergy appear to be more willing to talk about reproductive issues than their progressive colleagues.<\/p>\n
In the 2017 survey, of the 40 clergy who identified as conservative, 20% said they had addressed reproductive issues in their sermons in the previous year \u2013 twice as many as their progressive counterparts. In the 2021 survey, of the 370 conservative clergy who responded, 29% said they had addressed reproductive issues in the previous year \u2013 nearly five times<\/em> as many as their progressive colleagues. And 17% of conservative clergy indicated that they intended to address reproductive issues in their sermons in the coming year, compared with only 1% of progressive clergy.<\/p>\nWith these statistics in mind, I would make the case that one factor contributing to conservatives gaining power and enacting restrictive legislation against reproductive rights in Texas and other states has been the relative silence of progressive clergy on reproductive issues compared with their conservative peers.<\/p>\n
Granted, there are many other factors, but I think that at least in the realm of the church, the argument can be made that because progressive clergy have not talked about reproductive rights, this silence has allowed for more strident voices to fill the space.<\/p>\n
Why are progressive clergy averse to addressing reproductive issues?<\/strong><\/h2>\nOf course, reproductive issues are complex and complicated.\u00a0 While conservatives have boiled it down to an oversimplified talking point of \u201cprotecting the life of the unborn child,\u201d the reality is that it\u2019s much more multifaceted and nuanced. \u00a0Reproductive issues are about sex \u2013 a topic most preachers won\u2019t touch with a ten-foot pulpit.\u00a0 It\u2019s also about the philosophical and ethical question of when life begins \u2013 conception?\u00a0 Fetal heartbeat?\u00a0 Viable outside the womb?<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s also about the lives of women and girls who are often faced with horrendous dilemmas. These dilemmas are sometimes due to sexual violence.\u00a0 Other times they involve medical issues for mother and fetus.\u00a0 But any decision about reproductive rights raises questions about relationships, sexuality, power differentials, wealth and poverty, race and ethnicity, access to healthcare, and family dynamics, to name a few.<\/p>\n
No matter the external factors, however, every aspect of reproductive issues is about the contested space of a woman\u2019s body.\u00a0 And it\u2019s worth noting that none of the abortion laws force men to bear any responsibility for the act that results in pregnancy in the first place.\u00a0 Men\u2019s decisions about how they use their bodies are without consequence, accountability, or punishment in these abortion laws.<\/p>\n
Granted, all of this is morally and ethically complicated.\u00a0 But this is exactly why progressive clergy and congregations need to be having these conversations now \u2013 so that the violent, heavy-handed position of conservatives that are threatening the rights of women and girls \u2013 and the clergy who counsel them \u2013 does not go unchallenged.<\/p>\n
So what can we do?\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h2>\nI\u2019ll admit, this was a topic I stayed away from as a pastor during my twenty years of congregational ministry.\u00a0 While I would have been fine to talk about this with adults, I hesitated to drop words like \u201cabortion\u201d or \u201csexual violence\u201d in a sermon with young children present, knowing that this would create an uncomfortable situation for their grown-ups.<\/p>\n
If I were in the parish now, however, I would <\/em>address the issue of reproductive rights.\u00a0 But I would be sure to take preparatory steps before launching a sermon or a forum.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/764\/2021\/09\/giancarlo-corti-hgjjziU4JdA-unsplash-1024x684.jpg\")
Photo by Giancarlo Corti on Unsplash https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/hgjjziU4JdA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nFirst, I would talk with trusted individuals in the congregation to ask their counsel \u2013 not whether I should<\/em> address reproductive issues, but how. \u00a0<\/em>After seeking their advice, I would talk with the church\u2019s governing board.\u00a0 Again, I wouldn\u2019t ask permission, but I would seek their counsel on the most prudent way to do so.\u00a0 Together we might decide that I do a sermon series on reproductive issues \u2013 and announce it ahead of time so that those who wish to stay away (or protect young ears) can make an informed decision.<\/p>\nOr a pastor might hold a series of forums on reproductive issues and carefully plan healthy dialogues where people can discuss (not debate) the many aspects of the topic.\u00a0 From the question about when life begins, to how to support women who have been subjected to sexual violence, to the medical factors that can force a woman or a couple to decide to end a pregnancy, all of these and more would benefit from theologically-trained clergy helping their congregations deliberate.<\/p>\n
The need for theological education and denominational support on reproductive issues <\/strong><\/h2>\nPart of the reason I did not address reproductive issues in the congregations I served was because I simply didn\u2019t know how.\u00a0 I can\u2019t recall any course on reproductive issues offered when I was in seminary twenty years ago.\u00a0 And while I have not conducted a survey of theological schools in the U.S., my guess is that there are very few such courses currently offered.<\/p>\n
So I recommend that seminaries and theological schools offer elective courses and continuing education on reproductive issues for clergy and congregations.<\/p>\n
Also, this is a topic for which denominations can provide support for their pastors through discussion groups, educational events, and one-on-one consultations.<\/p>\n
We need to equip seminarians and clergy to address these moral and ethical challenges.\u00a0 We need to give them tools and resources for ministering to adults and youth of all genders who are wrestling with these life-and-death decisions around relationships, sex, conception, pregnancy, and birth. Not to mention the social, financial, gender, and racial inequities that make pregnancy and child-raising more of a burden for some than others.<\/p>\n
And we need to impress upon seminaries, denominations, clergy, and congregations the consequences of not <\/em>addressing reproductive issues and inequities in the church.\u00a0 The progressive church\u2019s silence has partly enabled these abortion laws to be passed.<\/p>\nCertainly, clergy have legitimate questions that require guidance.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h2>\nHow do we preach about reproductive issues?\u00a0 What does the Bible say about abortion?\u00a0 About sexual violence?\u00a0 About healthy relationships? And about the just ordering of society that ensures equitable access to all those things that enable a healthy pregnancy, birth, and child-rearing. Things like medical care, a livable income, adequate housing, trustworthy childcare, robust education, and healthy food.<\/p>\n
Are these biblical stories and teachings descriptive <\/em>or prescriptive<\/em>?\u00a0 In other words, do they give us instructions to be applied today? Or do we need to see them as texts which were written by men in a patriarchal society and thus need to be read critically in light of science, sexuality, and contemporary understandings of human rights?<\/p>\nI\u2019ll admit, I do not have the answers to these questions.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h3>\nBut I think it is past time for seminaries, denominations, clergy, and churches to address them.\u00a0 Our congregations need to be places where we can faithfully engage these complex and nuanced moral and ethical questions.\u00a0 The silence around reproductive issues must end.<\/p>\n
Read also:<\/h4>\n
Top 10 Taboo Topics for Preachers<\/a><\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/764\/2019\/01\/Leah-Schade-black-shirt-2-150x150.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade<\/strong>\u00a0is the Assistant Professor of Preaching and Worship at\u00a0<\/em>Lexington Theological Seminary<\/i><\/a>\u00a0in Kentucky and ordained in the ELCA. Dr. Schade does not speak for LTS or the ELCA; her opinions are her own.\u00a0 She is the author of\u00a0<\/em>Preaching in the Purple Zone: Ministry in the Red-Blue Divide<\/a>\u00a0(Rowman & Littlefield, 2019)<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>Creation-Crisis Preaching: Ecology, Theology, and the Pulpit<\/a>\u00a0(Chalice Press, 2015). She is the co-editor of\u00a0<\/em>Rooted and Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis<\/a>\u00a0(Rowman & Littlefield, 2019).\u00a0 Her latest book, co-written with Jerry Sumney is\u00a0<\/em>Apocalypse When?: A Guide to Interpreting and Preaching Apocalyptic Texts<\/a>\u00a0(Wipf & Stock, 2020).<\/p>\nTwitter<\/strong>:\u00a0<\/em>@LeahSchade<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n
Clergy in states with progressive legislatures and progressive governors and who serve in progressive congregations may think themselves safe from the dystopian Handmaid\u2019s Tale-<\/em>nightmare that is happening in Texas.\u00a0 But this same scenario is on the verge of being enacted in other conservative states as well.\u00a0 The push to ban abortion is even finding footholds in purple and blue states.<\/p>\n This is because the anti-abortion surge has been a long time in the making.\u00a0 The plans for enacting these laws have been a strategic and tactical focus of Republican lawmakers and conservative influencers for decades. They have been laying the groundwork to enact restrictions and exert control over reproductive rights at the state level across the country.\u00a0 All of this has served to prepare for and hasten a hoped-for overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that ensured a woman\u2019s right to an abortion until a fetus is able to survive outside the womb.<\/p>\n Three other states \u2013 Idaho, Oklahoma, and South Carolina \u2013 have also passed six-week ban bills this year and are stalled only by legal challenges.\u00a0 And if the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of the Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks, it is likely that Roe v. Wade would be overturned and the decision on abortions would revert to states.<\/p>\n What have progressive clergy been saying about all of this?\u00a0 According to my research, not much.<\/p>\n Over the past four years, I have conducted two surveys of clergy in the U.S. about how they are addressing social issues in their congregations.\u00a0 In both the 2017 and 2021 survey, they were given a list of social issues and asked which ones they had addressed in their preaching in the previous twelve months.\u00a0 In 2017, of the 484 clergy who identified as progressive, only 10% said they had addressed reproductive issues. Of the 1,729 progressive clergy who responded in 2021, only 6% said they had addressed reproductive issues in the previous year.<\/p>\n In fact, when asked which topics they intended to avoid <\/em>in their sermons in 2021, reproductive issues ranked as the number one topic progressive preachers wanted stay away from, more than LGBTQIA+ issues, gun violence, and racism.<\/p>\n In contrast, conservative clergy appear to be more willing to talk about reproductive issues than their progressive colleagues.<\/p>\n In the 2017 survey, of the 40 clergy who identified as conservative, 20% said they had addressed reproductive issues in their sermons in the previous year \u2013 twice as many as their progressive counterparts. In the 2021 survey, of the 370 conservative clergy who responded, 29% said they had addressed reproductive issues in the previous year \u2013 nearly five times<\/em> as many as their progressive colleagues. And 17% of conservative clergy indicated that they intended to address reproductive issues in their sermons in the coming year, compared with only 1% of progressive clergy.<\/p>\n With these statistics in mind, I would make the case that one factor contributing to conservatives gaining power and enacting restrictive legislation against reproductive rights in Texas and other states has been the relative silence of progressive clergy on reproductive issues compared with their conservative peers.<\/p>\n Granted, there are many other factors, but I think that at least in the realm of the church, the argument can be made that because progressive clergy have not talked about reproductive rights, this silence has allowed for more strident voices to fill the space.<\/p>\n Of course, reproductive issues are complex and complicated.\u00a0 While conservatives have boiled it down to an oversimplified talking point of \u201cprotecting the life of the unborn child,\u201d the reality is that it\u2019s much more multifaceted and nuanced. \u00a0Reproductive issues are about sex \u2013 a topic most preachers won\u2019t touch with a ten-foot pulpit.\u00a0 It\u2019s also about the philosophical and ethical question of when life begins \u2013 conception?\u00a0 Fetal heartbeat?\u00a0 Viable outside the womb?<\/p>\n But it\u2019s also about the lives of women and girls who are often faced with horrendous dilemmas. These dilemmas are sometimes due to sexual violence.\u00a0 Other times they involve medical issues for mother and fetus.\u00a0 But any decision about reproductive rights raises questions about relationships, sexuality, power differentials, wealth and poverty, race and ethnicity, access to healthcare, and family dynamics, to name a few.<\/p>\n No matter the external factors, however, every aspect of reproductive issues is about the contested space of a woman\u2019s body.\u00a0 And it\u2019s worth noting that none of the abortion laws force men to bear any responsibility for the act that results in pregnancy in the first place.\u00a0 Men\u2019s decisions about how they use their bodies are without consequence, accountability, or punishment in these abortion laws.<\/p>\n Granted, all of this is morally and ethically complicated.\u00a0 But this is exactly why progressive clergy and congregations need to be having these conversations now \u2013 so that the violent, heavy-handed position of conservatives that are threatening the rights of women and girls \u2013 and the clergy who counsel them \u2013 does not go unchallenged.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll admit, this was a topic I stayed away from as a pastor during my twenty years of congregational ministry.\u00a0 While I would have been fine to talk about this with adults, I hesitated to drop words like \u201cabortion\u201d or \u201csexual violence\u201d in a sermon with young children present, knowing that this would create an uncomfortable situation for their grown-ups.<\/p>\n If I were in the parish now, however, I would <\/em>address the issue of reproductive rights.\u00a0 But I would be sure to take preparatory steps before launching a sermon or a forum.<\/p>\n First, I would talk with trusted individuals in the congregation to ask their counsel \u2013 not whether I should<\/em> address reproductive issues, but how. \u00a0<\/em>After seeking their advice, I would talk with the church\u2019s governing board.\u00a0 Again, I wouldn\u2019t ask permission, but I would seek their counsel on the most prudent way to do so.\u00a0 Together we might decide that I do a sermon series on reproductive issues \u2013 and announce it ahead of time so that those who wish to stay away (or protect young ears) can make an informed decision.<\/p>\n Or a pastor might hold a series of forums on reproductive issues and carefully plan healthy dialogues where people can discuss (not debate) the many aspects of the topic.\u00a0 From the question about when life begins, to how to support women who have been subjected to sexual violence, to the medical factors that can force a woman or a couple to decide to end a pregnancy, all of these and more would benefit from theologically-trained clergy helping their congregations deliberate.<\/p>\n Part of the reason I did not address reproductive issues in the congregations I served was because I simply didn\u2019t know how.\u00a0 I can\u2019t recall any course on reproductive issues offered when I was in seminary twenty years ago.\u00a0 And while I have not conducted a survey of theological schools in the U.S., my guess is that there are very few such courses currently offered.<\/p>\n So I recommend that seminaries and theological schools offer elective courses and continuing education on reproductive issues for clergy and congregations.<\/p>\n Also, this is a topic for which denominations can provide support for their pastors through discussion groups, educational events, and one-on-one consultations.<\/p>\n We need to equip seminarians and clergy to address these moral and ethical challenges.\u00a0 We need to give them tools and resources for ministering to adults and youth of all genders who are wrestling with these life-and-death decisions around relationships, sex, conception, pregnancy, and birth. Not to mention the social, financial, gender, and racial inequities that make pregnancy and child-raising more of a burden for some than others.<\/p>\n And we need to impress upon seminaries, denominations, clergy, and congregations the consequences of not <\/em>addressing reproductive issues and inequities in the church.\u00a0 The progressive church\u2019s silence has partly enabled these abortion laws to be passed.<\/p>\n How do we preach about reproductive issues?\u00a0 What does the Bible say about abortion?\u00a0 About sexual violence?\u00a0 About healthy relationships? And about the just ordering of society that ensures equitable access to all those things that enable a healthy pregnancy, birth, and child-rearing. Things like medical care, a livable income, adequate housing, trustworthy childcare, robust education, and healthy food.<\/p>\n Are these biblical stories and teachings descriptive <\/em>or prescriptive<\/em>?\u00a0 In other words, do they give us instructions to be applied today? Or do we need to see them as texts which were written by men in a patriarchal society and thus need to be read critically in light of science, sexuality, and contemporary understandings of human rights?<\/p>\n But I think it is past time for seminaries, denominations, clergy, and churches to address them.\u00a0 Our congregations need to be places where we can faithfully engage these complex and nuanced moral and ethical questions.\u00a0 The silence around reproductive issues must end.<\/p>\n Top 10 Taboo Topics for Preachers<\/a><\/p>\n The Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade<\/strong>\u00a0is the Assistant Professor of Preaching and Worship at\u00a0<\/em>Lexington Theological Seminary<\/i><\/a>\u00a0in Kentucky and ordained in the ELCA. Dr. Schade does not speak for LTS or the ELCA; her opinions are her own.\u00a0 She is the author of\u00a0<\/em>Preaching in the Purple Zone: Ministry in the Red-Blue Divide<\/a>\u00a0(Rowman & Littlefield, 2019)<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>Creation-Crisis Preaching: Ecology, Theology, and the Pulpit<\/a>\u00a0(Chalice Press, 2015). She is the co-editor of\u00a0<\/em>Rooted and Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis<\/a>\u00a0(Rowman & Littlefield, 2019).\u00a0 Her latest book, co-written with Jerry Sumney is\u00a0<\/em>Apocalypse When?: A Guide to Interpreting and Preaching Apocalyptic Texts<\/a>\u00a0(Wipf & Stock, 2020).<\/p>\n Twitter<\/strong>:\u00a0<\/em>@LeahSchade<\/i><\/a><\/p>\nThe silence of progressive clergy on reproductive issues<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Conservative clergy are more willing to talk about reproductive issues<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Why are progressive clergy averse to addressing reproductive issues?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
So what can we do?\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h2>\n
The need for theological education and denominational support on reproductive issues <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Certainly, clergy have legitimate questions that require guidance.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h2>\n
I\u2019ll admit, I do not have the answers to these questions.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h3>\n
Read also:<\/h4>\n
\n<\/p>\n