Yesterday during the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, the resolution committee tried to shut down a resolution on abortion abolition, but was resoundingly rebuked by a majority of messengers who insisted they be allowed to hear it.
At the heart of the rejection by the messengers was the language of the bill, which decries pro-life lawmaking, regulationism, and demands the abolition of abortion. It contains content like:
(11) WHEREAS, since 1980, the SBC has passed many resolutions reaffirming the importance of human life at all stages of development, but we have yet to call for the immediate abolition of abortion without exception or compromise…
and
13) RESOLVED, that the messengers of the SBC meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, June 15-16, 2021, do state unequivocally that abortion is murder, and we reject any position that allows for any exceptions to the legal protection of our preborn neighbors, compromises God’s holy standard of justice, or promotes any God-hating partiality
With the resolution being declined, Pastor Bill Ascol and a host of abolitionist pastors took to the floor and made a direct appeal to fellow members.
Southern Baptists were wrong on the abolition of slavery. We have been guilty of applying half-measures on the issue of abortion and have not consistently and intentionally insisted upon equal protection and equal justice under the law for every human being born and unborn. As a result, the wholesale murder of unborn babies continues unabated at the rate of 3000 souls every day…
May I appeal to my fellow messengers to join me by two-thirds and bring this out of committee so we can hear it, vote on it, and leave Nashville taking a stand we’ve never taken before.
This prompted committee member Nathan Finn to rebut the bill and laughably claim that while they “appreciate the spirit behind the abolition of abortion,” their resolution to continue supporting federal defunding of earmarked funds for abortion was the same as abolition, making the abolition resolution unnecessary and redundant.
We did adopt a resolution directly related to abortion – the Hyde Amendment resolution – we have consistently been on record since the early 1980s as a pro-life convention of churches…we do not believe this additional resolution is necessary and I would urge the messengers not to bring this resolution out.
The antagonism against the bill was exacerbated by another hostile committee member; Dana Hall McCain. While she wasn’t active in this interaction, earlier she got emotional and teary-eyed during a mini-speech regarding amending the language in Resolution #3. In her response, she explained that “the Lord showed her” that women who have abortions are victims, have been victimized by unjust abortion industry, and that people need to respond to them in love, not judgment. She is categorically against the use of language describing women bent on butchering their babies as “murderers” and any efforts to adopt stronger condemnation.
Much to the disappointment of the committee, the plea to reject the abolition resolution as “unnecessary” was soundly rebuked by a majority of Baptist messengers, with over two-thirds voting to keep it alive for the next day.
This wonderful news is in no small part due to dozens of SBC abolitionist pastors and supporters, who over the last few days spent hours passing out thousands of pamphlets and engaging in hours of discussion, explaining their position in order to gain exposure and support.
Pray for this resolution, that the SBC rejects the status quo and adopts language that treats babies as human beings made in the image of God for the first time in the history of the denomination, so that, as Matt Privett put it, the tears of murderous women won’t be worth more than the breath of babies.
A group of Southern Baptist pastors have submitted a resolution aiming at the denomination’s position on abortion, seeking the SBC’s sanctification and turning away from decades of affirming unbiblical regulationism that promotes exceptions for legally murdering preborn children, despite multiple pro-life resolutions aimed at atoning for and gaining absolution for the resolution they passed back in 1971.
In that horrific resolution they resolved to “work for legislation that will allow the possibility of abortion” for “rape, incest, clear evidence of severe fetal deformity, and carefully ascertained evidence of the likelihood of damage to the emotional, mental, and physical health of the mother.”
In the five decades since, the SBC has never called for the immediate abolition of abortion without exceptions, nor have they declared with one voice “no peace with child sacrifice!”
Will now be their time?
On June 15-16, numerous Southern Baptist Pastors will head down to Nashville with the hopes of having their resolution on the Abolition of Abortion adopted. If passed, this would represent a cataclysmic shift in the way SBC churches view and understand the great evil of abortion, which has so far fully accepted and openly supported regulating abortion rather than abolishing it.
We reached out to the Southern Baptist pastor who helped spearhead the resolution and who is bringing thousands of pamphlets and booklets with him to the convention in order to explicate that truth.
He told us that hundreds of Southern Baptist pastors from all across the United States have signed the resolution, and is praying that it will get a hearing:
Because Southern Baptists have always been ‘people of the Book,’ and affirm that abortion is murder, we believe that if heard, the messengers eagerly will receive this biblically faithful resolution and glorify God in crying out for equal justice for our preborn neighbors. As Christians, we must rise up with one collective voice, obey God, and demand abortion be abolished immediately, without exceptions for murder or compromises with the culture of death.
Some of the resolutions include:
(10) WHEREAS, over the past 48 years with 60+ million abortions, traditional Pro-life laws, though well intended, have not established equal protection and justice for the preborn, but on the contrary, appallingly have established incremental, regulatory guidelines for when, where, why, and how to obtain legal abortion of innocent preborn children, thereby legally sanctioning abortion, and
(11) WHEREAS, since 1980, the SBC has passed many resolutions reaffirming the importance of human life at all stages of development, but we have yet to call for the immediate abolition of abortion without exception or compromise, and…
Then, the call to action:
(13) RESOLVED, that the messengers of the SBC meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, June 15-16, 2021, do state unequivocally that abortion is murder, and we reject any position that allows for any exceptions to the legal protection of our preborn neighbors, compromises God’s holy standard of justice, or promotes any God-hating partiality (Psa 94:6; Isa 10:1-2; Prov 24:11; Psa 82:1-4), and be it further
(14) RESOLVED, that we will not embrace an incremental approach to ending abortion because it challenges God’s Lordship over the heart and the conscience, and rejects His call to repent of sin completely and immediately (Gen 3:1; John 8:44; Rom 2:14-15; 2 Corinthians 11:3), and be it further
(15) RESOLVED, that we affirm that the murder of preborn children is a crime against humanity that must be punished equally under the law, and be it further
(16) RESOLVED, that we humbly confess and lament any complicity in recognizing exceptions that legitimize or regulate abortion, and of any apathy, in not laboring with the power and influence we have to abolish abortion, and be it further…
We hope and pray that this resolution is passed.
Full transcript below:
Southern Baptist Resolution on Abolishing Abortion(1) WHEREAS, from the moment of fertilization, all humans are created in God’s image by, through, and for Jesus to the glory of God, and all souls belong to Him (Genesis 1:27; 4:1; 21:2; Isaiah 7:14; Colossians 1:16; Romans 11:36; Ezekiel 18:4), and
(2) WHEREAS, as God’s image-bearers, all humans both display His divine worth, power, and attributes, and possess equal, objective worth before God, not varying on the basis of incidental characteristics; such as ethnicity, age, size, means of conception, mental development, physical development, gender, potential, or contribution to society (Rom 1:19-20; Gen 1:27; 9:6; Matthew 18:6), and
(3) WHEREAS, to murder any preborn image-bearer is a sin, violating both the natural law of retributive justice as set forth in the Noahic covenant, as well as the sixth commandment forbidding murder, and as such, is ultimately an assault on God’s image, seeking to usurp God’s sovereignty as Creator (Gen 9:5-6; Exodus 20:13; Proverbs 6:17), and
(4) WHEREAS, God’s Word clearly declares that all human life is a sacred gift and that His Law is supreme over man’s life and man’s law (Psalm 127:3-5; 139:13-16; Rom 2:15-16; Acts 10:42; 17:31; 1 Corinthians 4:5), and
(5) WHEREAS, God commands His own people to “rescue those who are being taken away to death” and holds them responsible and without excuse when they fail to do so (Prov 24:11-12), and
(6) WHEREAS, God establishes all governing authorities as His avenging servants to carry out His wrath on the evildoer; and commands these authorities to judge justly, neither showing partiality to the wicked, nor using unequal standards, which are abominations (Psa 82; Prov 20:10; Rom 13:4), and
(7) WHEREAS, in 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States rendered an iniquitous decision on Roe v. Wade, and in doing so deprived the innocent of their rights, and usurped God, who sovereignly ordained their authority (Isa 5:23; 10:1-2; Psa 2; Matt 22:21; John 19:11; Acts 4:19; 5:29, Rom 13:1), and
(8) WHEREAS, in the Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court of the United States subverted the U.S. Constitution namely, the Preamble, as well as the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments without any legal authority (Article 6, Clause 2 “Supremacy Clause”), and
(9) WHEREAS, governing authorities at every level have a duty before God to uphold justice asserting their God-ordained and constitutional authority to establish equal protection under the law for all, born and preborn, by intervening, ignoring, or nullifying iniquitous decisions when other authorities, such as the Supreme Court, condone such injustices as the legal taking of innocent life (Daniel 3; 1 Kings 12; 2 Kings 11; Jeremiah 26:10-16; 36:9-31; 37:11- 21; 39:7-10), and
(10) WHEREAS, over the past 48 years with 60+ million abortions, traditional Pro-life laws, though well intended, have not established equal protection and justice for the preborn, but on the contrary, appallingly have established incremental, regulatory guidelines for when, where, why, and how to obtain legal abortion of innocent preborn children, thereby legally sanctioning abortion, and
(11) WHEREAS, since 1980, the SBC has passed many resolutions reaffirming the importance of human life at all stages of development, but we have yet to call for the immediate abolition of abortion without exception or compromise, and
(12) WHEREAS, our confessional statement, The Baptist Faith and Message, according to Article XV, affirms that children “from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord”; and further affirms that Southern Baptists are mandated by Scripture to “speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death,” now, be it therefore
(13) RESOLVED, that the messengers of the SBC meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, June 15-16, 2021, do state unequivocally that abortion is murder, and we reject any position that allows for any exceptions to the legal protection of our preborn neighbors, compromises God’s holy standard of justice, or promotes any God-hating partiality (Psa 94:6; Isa 10:1-2; Prov 24:11; Psa 82:1-4), and be it further
(14) RESOLVED, that we will not embrace an incremental approach to ending abortion because it challenges God’s Lordship over the heart and the conscience, and rejects His call to repent of sin completely and immediately (Gen 3:1; John 8:44; Rom 2:14-15; 2 Corinthians 11:3), and be it further
(15) RESOLVED, that we affirm that the murder of preborn children is a crime against humanity that must be punished equally under the law, and be it further
(16) RESOLVED, that we humbly confess and lament any complicity in recognizing exceptions that legitimize or regulate abortion, and of any apathy, in not laboring with the power and influence we have to abolish abortion, and be it further
(17) RESOLVED, that as Southern Baptists we will engage, with God’s help, in establishing equal justice and protection for the preborn according to the authority of God’s Word as well as local and federal law, and call upon pastors and leaders to use their God-given gifts of preaching, teaching, and leading with one unified, principled, prophetic voice to abolish abortion, and be it finally
(18) RESOLVED, that, because abolishing abortion is a Great Commission issue, we must call upon governing authorities at all levels to repent and “obey everything that [Christ] has commanded,” exhorting them to bear fruit in keeping with repentance by faithfully executing their responsibilities as God’s servants of justice, and working with all urgency to enact legislation using the full weight of their office to interpose on behalf of the preborn, abolishing abortion immediately, without exception or compromise (Mark 6:18; Matt 28:18-20; Rom 13:4, 6).
(Free the States) The anti-abortion documentary Babies Are Still Murdered Here, which had been available to Amazon Prime users since November of 2019, was removed from the streaming service on July 20.
Amazon claims the decision was based on a negative response to the film from customers, saying in an alert on the film’s Amazon Prime page that, “We are always listening to customer feedback and iterating on their behalf. Customer feedback (included but not limited to a combination of star reviews, customer reviews, and/or customer viewing behavior) has indicated that this title does not meet our customer content quality expectations.”
Reviews from Amazon Prime users appear to contradict this explanation. The film received five stars from 89 percent of the 344 reviewers as of the publishing of this article, with an average of 4.7 stars among all reviews.
In a live video on the End Abortion Now Facebook page, Babies Are Still Murdered Here Director Marcus Pittman expressed frustration with Amazon, making reference to the recent Congressional hearing where tech leaders including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos testified that the company does not make content decisions based on political ideology:
“The big tech executives were just meeting before Congress this week talking about all this sort of stuff. ‘Oh, we’re trying to be fair and balanced and we just want to get rid of misinformation.’ Well, look, the people that were watching this movie were liking this movie. There’s evidence of that. The screenshots [of the ratings] show that people like it. The keywords that Amazon itself picked out show that people liked it. And yet here we are. It was removed. It was removed. And it was getting quite a bit of views. So the fact that Amazon Prime did this is insane to me.”
The documentary focuses on the opposition of pro-life lobbyists and politicians to legislation that abolishes abortion and the lack of Biblical foundations in the arguments and strategies used by pro-life leaders. Early portions of the film feature interviews with National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) President Carol Tobias and Virginia Society for Human Life President Olivia Gans Turner in which they express their opposition to Biblical foundations and to the criminalization of abortion.
The latter half of the film features the story of Jeremiah Thomas and The Abolition of Abortion in Texas Act. On June 18, 2018, the 16-year-old Thomas, who was in his hospital bed with bone cancer which would take his life a few months later, used his Make-a-Wish to obtain a phone call with Texas Governor Greg Abbott. When Thomas asked Abbott to use his influence to abolish abortion in Texas, Abbott responded positively noting that abortion’s abolition was going to be pursued in the upcoming legislative session.
Tragically, Thomas’ wish was not granted in the next legislative session. As documented in the film, Texas State Rep. Jeff Leach, who is pro-life, denied The Abolition of Abortion in Texas Act a committee vote and thereby ensured that abortion would remain legal in the state for another two years.
While it is no longer available for purchase or rent on Amazon Prime, Babies Are Still Murdered Here can still be watched in its entirety on the Facebook and YouTube pages of Apologia Studios.
Editor’s Note. This article was written by James Silberman and posted at Free The States. Reposted with permission. Title changed by Pulpit & Pen
