Progressive Christian Alliance Issues Statement on Abortion

PR Log (Press Release) – Nov 29, 2008 – For many decades much of the Christian conversation in the political arena has centered on the issues of abortion and homosexuality. This has limited the ability of the church to engage in social action, political-spiritual discourse and a deeper exploration of its own spirituality and identity. The PCA affirms, along with the Biblical witness, that life is Sacred and it is of value as the place in which the Divine becomes manifest, as seen in the idea of the Incarnation.
   Incarnation, to say that God becomes manifest and an Immanuel – God With Us – in the human condition and the message of Christ to see him in the lives of the poor, hungry etc names human life as beloved to God. Christians are called to be active in their affirmation of the goodness of life, of witnessing the Incarnation of God in the human condition and of seeing Christ in the ‘least of these’.
   
1.
   The Problem:
   A). By focusing solely on Abortion as a limited number of criteria for Christian political engagement Christians have supported candidates, policies and practices that have pillaged the earth and created war and injustice. It is a LIMITED definition of life, and thus overlooks the other ways in which Life is not treated with reverence and as a seat of the holiness of God.
   B) By holding onto a limited understanding of the sacredness of life Christians have relinquished their prophetic voice to speak to the dangers and sin of war, gaiacide, poverty, hunger and societal injustice. In this way we are prevented from making Christ fully manifest in the world.

2.
   Solution:
   A). Christian political engagement should be based on an Incarnation approach. Recognizing that God experiences humanity as good and entered into humanity to share in our story we understand that the sacredness of Life is in the multiplicity of ways it flourishes. Likewise the biblical witness affirms that God is both Transcendent of the human condition – outside and separate, the father from whom creation emerges, and is Immanent – the God who fills all creation, whose body is creation itself and who is made manifest in the unfolding of life across time. This is a God from whom life and creation are the form in which God is made manifest to us.
   B). In order to do this we must explore a movement from Pro-Life to Life-Positive. A life positive ethic understands the sacredness of life to be evident in our commitment to the end of war, injustice, poverty, human rights abuses and an understanding of life that supports the value of the unborn while recognizing a woman’s right to control her own reproduction, the social/health/economic considerations that women with unexpected pregnancies may expect, as well as the concerns around birth defect, rape and incest.
   
   A Life-Positive God
A Life-Positive approach recognizes that God is, as founding PCA pastor/theologian Jarrod Cochran identifies (“Why Not Both”, PCA Home Page), is both the transcendent God who sits outside of creation as its father/mother/parent/origin and is the immanent God who is fills every part of creation, whose body is creation and who is made manifest in the unfolding of creation across time.
This is a God who is Life-Positive as s/he is not only the origin of life, but is life itself unfolding. This position asks that we affirm the sacredness of the unborn, but also of all creation as well. If God is life itself then to rob a person of life is to attach the image of God they are made in. Thus war, gaicide, the death penalty (et al) are sinful actions.
   Therefore we affirm that a Life-Positive attitude is one that engages with the multiple ways in which life is encouraged to flourish in the human sphere. For instance we affirm that it is through the eradication of poverty, increased sexual/relationship education, the strengthening of the local family and of single parent homes and a stance against war, poverty, injustice and gaiacide that a true ethic of life can emerge.
   A Life-Positive approach to abortion maintains the sacredness of the unborn but also affirms the sacredness of the choice that a woman faces in order to decide her own reproductive future. Likewise we recognize the sinful realities that make such a choice unavoidable: rape, incest, economic hardship, and destructive home situations.
   As Life-Positive Christians we invite our brothers and sisters in Christ to take up the cause of the value of human life in all its forms. Our politics must reflect an attitude of engagement and value of life. It is not thought that such a statement is a ‘right’ or ‘left’ statement but that the conversation on abortion for all parties should move in such a direction.

   Likewise a Life-Positive view is not one that is limited solely to a Christian value sphere. We invite all people of faith: Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Scientologist or of no faith to enter into a Life-Positive conversation and to encourage their communities to do likewise. To be Life-Positive is to encourage the sacredness of life in all of its forms.