Allow me to open with a slight digression.
Contrary to many popular misconceptions, major bodies of organized religion are not always conservative. In fact, sometimes they have decidedly progressive views and advocate for them. More secular progressives and issue advocates owe it to themselves to get to know their friends and allies. (See for example the statement on marriage equality by the California Council of Churches; and the full page ads taken out in gay newspapers by the United Church of Christ following Prop 8.)
The new book Dispatches from the Religious Left: The Future of Faith and Politics in America, (edited by me) is one good place to find out about some of these things, or at least to get started. It features 19 esssays by 22 authors plus an Afterword by Jeff Sharlet -- which he recently posted at The Revealer.
Another prominent contributor, the Rev. Carlton Veazey, president of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, posted his chapter on his organizational web site, and offered it as a "vision" for the reproductive rights agenda for the progressive religious community as we enter the Obama era. I am honored that he did this. RCRC is a coalition of many of the major denominations of mainline Protestantism (the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church USA,) and major bodies and organizations of Judaism and Humanism, among others, as well.
Veazey writes in his e-blast today:
The Obama administration offers hope for a broader understanding of reproductive health and choice. President-elect Barack Obama is both pro-choice and a person of strong religious conviction, and RCRC will be in the forefront of advocacy for positive programs to support healthy and wanted pregnancies, expand healthcare, and strengthen families.
Let's start by connecting the dots. Reproductive issues such as unintended pregnancy underlie and are connected to our other concerns as people of faith: providing universal health care, eradicating hunger and homelessness, eliminating violence, reducing income disparities, increasing equality and empowering women, and improving environmental quality, among them.
Regressive groups - those that keep the culture wars roiling - will continue to single out and demonize abortion and the women who have abortions, which makes our mission of connecting the dots all the more urgent. The fact is, health, economic stability, education, and other matters of daily life all relate to our private decisions.
It is time for reproductive health and choice to be accepted as part of a comprehensive social justice ethic. Please take a few moments to read about this vision and help make it a reality by making a generous donation to the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
The "vision" that he urges people to read, is his chapter from Dispatches from the Religious Left titled, "Reproductive Justice and A Comprehensive Social Justice Ethic."
There is a far more progressive religious voice out there than most of what passes for the Religious Left in the media. Religious progressives favor LGBTI civil rights including marriage equality. They are fierce defenders of the rights of individual conscience and separation of church and state -- and these are major themes of Dispatches from the Religious Left.
If you are on Facebook, please join our Dispatches from the Religious Left group. You can also follow the progress of the book over at my place.