03.27.06
The Story of Jane: Seventh Post (Quote)
This was a really interesting chapter because it went a little more in depth on what other groups were doing and thinking about abortion. The most interesting to me, in view of what is going on in the country now, was the discussion of the religious group in Chicago. It seems to have been started by a man named Harris Wilson, but he certainly wasn’t the first religious leader in the country to do so. In fact, a number of Protestant leaders gave reasons why, as Protestants, they believed that laws should not govern abortions.
This quote is from Howard Moody, a Baptist minister, in 1967. He said that “it is a violation of every Protestant ethical stance to support with civil law any matter of personal morality…” and that this included laws governing abortions. I’m fascinated by this quote. To me, it is what I grew up being told the Republican Party was for – not governing anything that should be a “matter of personal morality”. But it certainly doesn’t seem to be what the Republican Party stands for now. Or what Protestant faiths in our country seem to be, by and large, supporting. Why the change? What caused it and when and why? I really want to look into that. I wonder if I can find the Republican platforms from the last forty years or so somewhere?
This chapter made me want to really look into not only the history of religious leaders in American in regards to abortion, but also the history of the Republican party and the history of Howard Moody and Harris Wilson themselves.