Pastor Charlie Dates of Progressive Chicago recently hosted the Justice Summit – “What Hath Justice To Do With Righteousness?” on June 16-17, 2022. The conference features a collective of Professing Christian leaders seeking to “move the Church forward at the intersection of theology, justice, and race.”
Ironically, nearly every speaker featured is either pro-choice or has been completely silent on the issue of justice for the pre-born since the May 3rd Roe v Wade SCOTUS leak, including the revelation on June 24 that it had indeed been overturned. The silence has been absolutely deafening, and we’ve catalogued that below.
Rev Dr. Otis Moss III is the pro-choice pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ. In 2008 he took over from Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who Barak Obama sat under for decades preaching black liberation theology, and whose church currently follows the Black Value System. Despite a ton of tweets, he has not said anything about the May 3rd leak or recent decision, choosing instead to comment on sports and gun violence.
In a recent sermon, Moss argues that humans have the right to freedom and agency over their bodies and that the government has no right to restrict it. He says that the idea of giving the right to restrict abortion over to the states is the same logic that led states to enslave black people.
“This decision opens the door to states restricting what is known as gay marriage, states restricting interracial marriage, states restricting contraception. The state’s restricting in-vitro fertilization. But one of the biggest pieces that no one is talking about is that this decision opens the door for states to restrict the voting rights of black people..
…they said that the Constitution doesn’t speak explicitly about it, so therefore, we will give it to the state. Well, if you have a state or states that we already know have legislators who are functioning with a political agenda, let me say racist agenda, then they now have the power to restrict the rights of people, especially those of African descent.
In another, he says “A pro-life position means a woman’s health and choices are between her god, her conscience, and her doctor, and the government has no place making sacred decisions for people of different faiths and traditions.”
Fredrick Haynes is the pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church. In 2012 he famously supported Obama’s stance on supporting gay marriage, and himself is pro-choice, writing on Twitter and then saying in a recent sermon.
This past week, we heard several rulings come down from the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court that was basically put together; it really is illegitimate if we’re honest with ourselves, because there are stolen seats on that court.
…Because there are one-issue people who find themselves in churches across this country celebrating today, because they are one-issue people. Why? They call themselves pro-life. No, you’re not really pro-life. That’s an illusion, an illusion that masks the truth and the reality that you are one-dimensional persons… and that you are playing a power game of control, especially control over the bodies of others, the bodies of women, and that my sisters and brothers is what we cannot forget.
…(this woman) recognized that that whole anti-abortion piece had nothing to do with pro-life, it has everything to do with denying reproductive justice, bodily autonomy….So don’t tell me that you’re pro-life. No, you are pro-fetus. Don’t tell me you’re pro-life, you are pro-birth. Don’t tell me you are pro-life and let me talk to my bass-ackwards black folk who find themselves now jumping on board and saying ‘yes, this is a good thing because the nation is finally rising up to protect the unborn, the nation ain’t doing a damn thing to protect black-born people in this country.”
Christina Edmondson, from all accounts, is not pro-choice, but she never passes by an opportunity to dig at pro-life Christians. She’s an author who recently wrote how white Christians are racists who commit violence against black people by voting Republican and disparaging the Democrats for being anti-life. For years she was part of the Truth’s Table with Michelle Higgins, an openly pro-choice pastrix who would routinely promote Planned Parenthood and pro-choice slogans. After Roe was overturned, her other co-host, Ekimini Uwan, who has previously said that she does not want to overturn Roe v Wade, tweeted out, ‘America is a failed state.’
Edmondson has mentioned abortion a bit since the decision, but mostly to condemn those who praised it as failing to be ‘womb-to-tomb’ prolife, writing on Twitter.
Ppl can hide behind costless labels like “pro-life” that give the veneer of a moral high ground with 0 sacrifices
No universal health care
No justice for sexual trauma survivors (moreover granting abusers power)
No accountability for the sexual practices of men
No credibility. I have limited expectations for people who complained about a piece of cloth on their faces to give up anything truly costly for the sake of the unborn. Limited expectations for people who turned a blind eye to multiple sexual assault allegations to gain political power to actually care with understanding about and for rape victims seeking termination
or this, from 2 years ago.
Bree Newsome is famous for scuttling up the flagpole and removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state house grounds after the Charleston church shooting and getting arrested. She is radical in her beliefs, being openly against capitalism and wants to abolish all police and prisons. She has tweeted a hundred times since the May 3rd leak about all sort social justice issues, but has not mentioned anything about abortion.
David W. Swanson is the pastor of New Community Covenant Church and author of Rediscipling the White Church. In a book review by Neil Shenvi, he surmises that the message of the book is “Whites are broken, tainted, corrupt, complicit, and in need of repair.” From May 3rd, when the news of the overturning of Roe leaked, until today, despite tweeting hundreds of times about issues of gun violence and justice and racial issues, he has not mentioned it once, nor has he said it in his newsletter.
Esau McCaulley is an associate pastor at Wheaton College and a Theologian in Residence at the hosting church, Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago. Since the Roe v Wade decision leaked on May 3rd, he did not write anything about it on his Facebook page, and none of his Twitter posts mention anything about it; instead choosing to tweet a lot about gun violence and his newest book.
Lisa Fields is the founder of the Jude 3 Project and produced the documentary Unspoken. She has tweeted hundreds of times since the May 3rd leak, promoting her work, gun violence, the shooting in Uvalde, the Buffalo shooting, and retweeting Truth Table events, but nothing about abortion or the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Raymond Chang is a pastor the President of the Asian American Christian Collaborative (AACC). We can’t see his posts after the May 3rd SCOTUS leak. Still, he posted a few dozen times since the overturning of Roe v. Wade came down, tweeting out about the second amendment ruling the day before, but has not mentioned anything about abortion.
Russell Moore has been somewhat active on Twitter since the SCOTUS leak may in May. He wrote one op-ed about it, but then nothing since then. With news of Roe v, Wade being overturned, he has not discussed it on his feed, podcast, or Facebook. Despite having a lot to say about other notable events, on this he has gone radio silent.
Justin Giboney is the founder of the AND Campaign, a wishy-washy organization that seeks to strike a middle ground between the democrats and republicans by always leaning toward the former. He is one of the rare speakers who acknowledged it happened, offering up a tweet or two about it, albeit in a dispassionate, unenthused way, noting it’s passing.
He also tweeted out a statement by the And Campaign, which reads:
“The life of unborn children must be protected, however, women should not be targeted for criminal prosecution for seeking or having an abortion. Furthermore, the holes in our healthcare system and social safety net must be addressed thoroughly if we really care about life…The court’s decision today highlights the need for Christians to address issues like maternal mortality, paid family leave, childcare and education, and economic security for mothers and families.”
Charlie Dates is the pastor of Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago, and he hosted the event. He did not say anything about it on Twitter, nor did he mention the May 3rd SCOTUS leak. He tweeted about gun control and the need to go “pro-life” on guns, but that’s it. The only mention he has given it so far is during his last church service, he gave it a strange nod by telling his congregants to ask him about it after the service.
“Listen, there’s a lot to be said. You know Roe v. Wade was overturned this week. I’m not getting into that; I’m not making a political statement about it. I just want y’all to know I saw the news too. And if you want my personal opinion, you can ask me when church is over. I do appreciate the statement that the And Campaign made.”
Dates also said of pro-LGBTQ, pro-choice Pastor Fredrick Haynes, in his introduction of him:
“(he pastors) one of our nation’s cutting-edge, innovative, pressing into the kingdom of darkness, gospel preaching churches. And that church has just grown to life in amazing ways. Aside from all of that he really is, in my opinion, one of the leading voices to help frame the narrative for the church in our fight against injustice.”
