This past week I was involved in a very interesting conversation with a man who emailed me regarding the emerging church. More specifically he was genuinely curious about the movement and was hoping to find an answer to a question that he hadn’t really seen addressed. He wanted to know what was emergent’s stance on abortion. For privacy’s sake, I won’t quote his email, just my responses, but I should say it was a nice (not extreme or overly emotional) dialogue. Although, I am not exactly in a position to speak for Emergent (but this is an open an organic conversation, right?), here’s the main part of my initial response.
First, I should make it clear that the emerging church is not a denomination with a set of beliefs or doctrines. It is a conversation that is very ecumenical in nature. There are churches that self identify as emerging but which are also part of various denominations and so abide by the beliefs of those groups. There are groups like Emergent Village or Emerging Women that exist to serve those involved in the conversation but who don’t promote a particular set of beliefs. For example, at our upcoming Emerging Women gathering we have women from at least 15 different denominations attending. Many of us involved in this conversation hold tightly to certain sets of beliefs, and some people even publish books under the label emerging or Emergent that detail their particular beliefs. This of course causes disagreements and discussion, but people are not excluded from the conversation because of a particular belief. It makes some people uneasy to discover that there is no central emerging denomination with a concrete set of beliefs. They want to know exactly what THE emerging church thinks about ___________ issue (abortion, homosexuality, predestination, tongues, Eucharist, …). But the reality is that there are a number of opinions on those issues and all of those are expressed in the emerging church conversation.
At my church (which identifies with the emerging conversation), we agree to disagree on issues. These are not issues of salvation, but part of what comes with the journey of the Christian faith. So all people, whatever their opinions, are welcome. I would say most of us are opposed to abortion, one guy I know insists that abortion doctors should receive the death penalty. Others support abortion in various forms and there are women there who have had abortions. I will of course promote my beliefs on the issue, but not in a way that hurts or excludes those who think differently.
All that said, I think there is a lot of work being done by those who call themselves emerging to help stop abortions. Many emerging Christians support universal healthcare so that women don’t have to fear a life of debt and extreme medical bills if they keep their child. Welfare reform, raising the minimum wage, and support systems for single moms are also topics of concern. Gender equality is another major cause so that in countries where women are currently considered inferior they will no longer be aborted for failing to be male. Also teaching equality so that women are respected by men and not just viewed as sex objects to be used or pawns that must submit is a way to address the underlying causes of abortion. Those who support life want to do so throughout a person’s life – in the womb and out of it. They realize that loud protests that condemn abortion are ineffective in actually lowering the number of abortions. They want to come alongside the women contemplating abortion and help them have that child. That means addressing social issues like poverty and healthcare, being there as incarnations of Christ’s love to those women, and helping fix a broken system. Those aren’t loud newsworthy ways to address the abortion issue and they take way more time and effort, but I see a lot of it happening in the emerging church and I applaud those who care about following Christ that much.
I hope this helps answer some of your questions.
Shalom
In his response to what I wrote there, he pointed out that the things I mentioned had to do with social reform. He wondered what the emergent church was doing about moral reform relating to the dignity of life. I responded –
Thanks for the reply. I have a couple of thoughts on your question.
I do hear a lot of talk in emerging church circles about the dignity of life. This is a moral issue that relates to abortion as well as other issues like war, the death penalty, poverty, AIDS, sex trafficking, fair trade, and immigration. So the conversation is broader than just abortion even though that is obviously a major part of it. We are all children of God – made in his image – born or unborn, male or female, young or old, Iraqi or American. All life is precious and worth defending. This is a constant point of conversation in the emerging church.
But I think you would confuse most emerging church people by trying to draw a distinction between moral and social reform. Most emergents see social reform as a moral issue – it is how our words, theology, and ideas gets fleshed out. There is of course room for discussion of ideas (sometimes too much of this in my opinion), but its meaningless unless we give it feet and put our words into action (faith without works is dead and all that). So to impose a moral judgement on a person (abortion is wrong) without being there to help her have a dignified life is hypocritical. Morality is way more complicated than that. These are real people in real situations that need help. Most of them know abortion is wrong, many of them know sex before marriage is wrong, but they don’t see a way out of the system. So changing the system, showing love, and doing all that social reform stuff is how moral reform gets done for most emergents.
I’m sure other would answer this differently, but this has been my experience and exposure in this area.
This whole distinction (or lack thereof) between moral and social reform has been bugging me the last few days. I keep wondering, is it even possible to have moral reform without social reform? Doesn’t living out our faith necessitate action? I too often do live the life of the mind and don’t put action to my words as often as I should. So I’m thinking through what this looks like – any thoughts?