HuffPo | In the late 1960s and early 1970s, evangelical Christians
widely believed the Bible says life begins at birth and supported looser
abortion policies.
That was my argument in an Oct. 31 op-ed for CNN, titled, "When evangelicals were pro-choice." Understandably, not all evangelical leaders were pleased. Mark Galli at Christianity Today called the op-ed
a "fake history" in the title of a response article, even while going
on to say the facts in the article are actually true. Albert Mohler,
president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, issued a more honest response,
conceding that many "evangelicals did hold to embarrassingly liberal
positions on the abortion issue (including, I must admit, the Southern
Baptist Convention)." But both said that the change in evangelical
opinion was not driven by a late-1970s political mobilization effort.
Given the enduring importance of evangelical anti-abortion activism, the
reality and significance of this history deserves fuller discussion.
That mainstream evangelical leaders widely held liberal views on
abortion at the time is undeniable. These were the dominant evangelical
views.
In 1968, Christianity Today and the Christian Medical Society
hosted a gathering of evangelical leaders from across the country for a
symposium on birth control. The purpose was to set forth "the
conservative or evangelical position within Protestantism" from scholars
who "shared a common acceptance of the Bible as the final authority on
moral issues." The joint statement resulting from the conference, titled
"A Protestant Affirmation on the Control of Human Reproduction,"
included the consensus of attendees on abortion.
"Whether the performance of an induced abortion is sinful we are not
agreed," it declared, "but about the necessity of it and permissibility
for it under certain circumstances we are in accord." Circumstances
justifying abortion included "family welfare, and social
responsibility." "When principles conflict," they affirmed, "the
preservation of fetal life ... may have to be abandoned to maintain full
and secure family life."
