Theological Musings: Kelli Whitman

I have spent many mornings outside The Hope Clinic at Faith Aloud’s Faithful Presence silently opposing the protesters who chose to scream at the patients who enter the clinic and me as I hold my “I’m pro-choice and I pray” sign. These mornings have often prompted musings on what it means to be a pro-choice Christian who supports reproductive justice. Here are some of those musings: Does my view on reproductive rights stand outside my convictions as a Christian? Do they have to be mutually exclusive or can my religious beliefs in fact be the reason I am pro-choice? I couldn’t do the work I do every week if I thought the two were mutually exclusive. I look at scripture and see a gracious God who created humanity to be in relationship with each other, and trusted humans with the gift of free will. I see a Jesus who taught us to remove the speck from our own eye before pointing out the log in another’s and preached a gospel of compassion and acceptance. I stand on my UCC heritage which declares that “access to safe and legal abortion is consistent with a woman’s right to follow the dictates of her own faith and beliefs in determining when and if she should have children.” I look into our church history and see Augustine’s doctrine of original sin and the way it continues to warp thinking about sex and sexuality 1600 years after he first invented it. And although these convictions help me understand the intersection of faith and social issues, I am all too aware that the protesters also stand on scripture (however out of context it may be) and tradition to point out all the reasons I will burn in hell someday. Does one of us have to be wrong? Can we both be right? Does it matter? And if it doesn’t matter, why do I get up once a month to stare down 80 hateful faces and risk my own personal safety to say it does?

DO YOU WANT YOUR VOTE TO COUNT MORE?

Here is something really interesting for Students!!!!

Some friends created a website that helps college students figure out where their vote counts more: www.CountMore.org.

Two easy things you can do:
1) email countmore.org this to any college age friends and friends with college age siblings, etc.
2) join the Count More facebook group.

FAITH ALOUD IN THE NEWS!

Early this morning in the stltoday.com’s blog “Political Fix” an article was posted about our recent name change from The Missouri Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice to Faith Aloud. The press is great and we love being considered an important topic but the title of the article is misleading. We do far more than simply advocate abortion rights here at Faith Aloud. We support the entire goal of reproductive justice and the numerous other causes that intersect with it. Please comment on the article and let StlToday.com know what you think of what we do, the difference between abortion rights and reproductive justice and how essential it is to have a spiritual and ethical voice for reproductive justice. This is just one more way to get our voices heard. Let’s really speak out and let everyone know how much we love Faith Aloud.

Links:

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/political-fix/political-fix/2008/09/missouri-abortion-rights-group-changes-name/

www.FaithAloud.org

Your Silence Will Not Protect You -Audre Lorde

Even Judy Shepard thinks you should vote. In a recent talk at Webster University Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew Shepard said that voter apathy was a black mark on our country. It was so nice to hear someone else advocating for the power of voting.

There were other interesting intersections between Judy Shepard’s speech and the reproductive justice movement. For example Judy Shepard continually advocated telling “our stories” and how personalizing issues is essential in the fight to erase hate. Jennifer Baumgardner‘s book, Abortion and Life, seeks to do the same thing for women who have had abortions. Baumgardner who created the “I had an Abortion” project seeks to liberate women from the secrecy of abortion. Her book shows photos and shares stories of women who have had abortions—some famous, some not—and by doing so personalizes the issue of choice.

If we want people to understand the reality of abortion then we have to be willing to share our stories. We cannot let fear silence us. Similarly, if we want people to understand the intersection of LGBTQ issues, Reproductive Justice issues and matters of faith then people have to speak up about their experiences of living these intersections. We need Catholic lesbians who will talk about abortions and Jewish gay men who talk about sex-ed in schools. We need trans communities partnering with faith communities to talk about bodily autonomy and access to good reproductive health care. If we don’t all start raising our voices, by voting, by talking, by speaking out, how will anyone know that we exist? How will anyone know our needs aren’t being met? I can’t tell you how many times people have said to me, I didn’t know there were people of faith who believed that. Well of course you didn’t because people are talking about it. So let’s talk, let’s vote, let’s SHOUT FAITH ALOUD.

Links

http://www.matthewshepard.org/site/PageServer

Proclaiming our Faith Aloud…

There is a new name to watch out for in the world of reproductive justice—Faith Aloud.

At an official meeting of the Missouri Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, held yesterday September 16^th 2008, the Governing Board voted unanimously to disaffiliate from the national Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and to continue their work for reproductive justice as a new independent organization called “Faith Aloud”.

Here at Faith Aloud, we plan to continue the mission of promoting reproductive justice goals through religious, spiritual and ethical communities. We will continue to fight for justice in legislature. We will continue giving spiritual support to women’s clinics. We will continue to train and inspire young people as activists for justice in their communities. We will continue to counsel women and families. We will continue to spread the word that people of faith consider sexual autonomy and reproductive freedom to be crucial matters of social justice and human rights.

Faith Aloud pledges to diligently explore the intersections of many reproductive justice and other social justice issues such as environmental, LGBTQ and economic justice. We pledge to keep growing and working until justice is a reality for all people regardless of gender, sexual identity, race, nationality, creed, ethnicity, sex, or economic status.

WE PROUDLY PROCLAIM OUR FAITH ALOUD.