{"id":98997,"date":"2016-08-11T17:43:04","date_gmt":"2016-08-11T21:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=98997"},"modified":"2016-08-11T17:43:04","modified_gmt":"2016-08-11T21:43:04","slug":"only-30-of-churchgoers-say-their-pastor-or-clergy-discusses-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/only-30-of-churchgoers-say-their-pastor-or-clergy-discusses-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Only 30% of churchgoers say their pastor or clergy discuss abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With a legally-sanctioned death toll of almost sixty million innocent children, abortion is easily the single greatest American moral crisis of our lifetimes\u2014both from secular<\/a> and religious<\/a> perspectives. Conscientious men and women of every faith \u2014and no faith \u2014should all be shouting from the rooftops, in one voice, to end the bloodshed.<\/p>\n

But on Monday, Pew Research Center released<\/a> the disturbing results of a survey (hat tip to Life News<\/a>) suggesting that the majority of churchgoers haven’t even heard about abortion in their churches:<\/p>\n

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Roughly three-in-ten say their clergy talked about abortion [\u2026] Recent churchgoers also have heard a more conservative perspective on abortion; 22% say they have heard religious leaders speak out against abortion and just 3% have heard clergy argue primarily in support of abortion rights [\u2026]<\/p>\n

White evangelicals and Catholics are more likely than white mainline and black Protestants to have recently heard clergy speak out against abortion. For both groups, the message is consistently conservative. A third of white evangelical churchgoers and roughly three-in-ten Catholics who have attended Mass recently say they have heard religious leaders argue against abortion, while very few (1% and 2%, respectively) have heard clergy speak in support of abortion rights.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A third? At most<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Those who twist the Bible to support violating God\u2019s commandment against murder are bad enough, and even 1% is scandalously too many; but while they deserve to be called out, too (as Adam Peters<\/a>, Kristen Hatten<\/a>, and I have<\/a> done in the past), at least 3% bad apples are to be expected in any sufficiently-large group.<\/p>\n

More shameful and more harmful is the silence of the far greater percentage of clergy who do<\/em> know better, yet for whatever reason (cowardice? Indifference? Misplaced priorities?) choose to stay silent.<\/p>\n

Yes, Christianity is about much more than abortion. Yes, there are many other spiritual, personal, and societal messages that preachers rightly spread. Yes, churches do other good works of tremendous value. But how can anyone possibly justify not<\/em> making the literal killing of children<\/em>\u2014a violation of God’s commandment against murder<\/a>, an act \u201cdetestable to<\/a>\u201d the Lord, the cruel destruction of what He formed and knew in the womb<\/a>\u2014a major, recurring priority in sermons, clearly identifying it as an intrinsic evil every Christian has a moral obligation to understand and oppose?<\/p>\n

We have been seeing the result of this negligence for years. Fortunately, Gallup<\/a>, Marist (2012<\/a>, 2014<\/a>, 2015<\/a>, and 2016<\/a>), CNN<\/a>, and other polls show that the country is more pro-life than not; but surveys breaking down abortion opinions by religious affiliation show that by and large, religious Americans aren\u2019t consistently more pro-life than the general public:<\/p>\n