Religious Liberty and the Abortion Debate

Abortion Politics and the Decline of the Separation of Church and State: The Southern Baptist Case

“…For example, the amicus brief of the American Jewish Congress, United Methodist Church, and others in Poelker v. Doe (1977) identifies the Catholic theology that a soul is given at conception as being the driving force behind anti-abortion laws (American Jewish Congress 1976, 8). This view had also taken hold among some of the Southern Baptist leadership (see e.g., Simmons 1990). A 1981 pamphlet on abortion by Christian Life Commission even stated, “Christians may properly work to change [using abortion for birth control] without moving to the other extreme and insisting that the whole nation be required to accept the Roman Catholic dogma related to abortion as the law of the land” (Hankins 2002, 171).…”

“…This is evident in Southern Baptist pastor George W. Truett's famous 1920 sermon on the steps of the United States Capitol, where he developed a lengthy contrast between the Baptist and Catholic views of church-state relations and church polity, calling the two religious messages "the very antipodes of each other" (Truett 2011(Truett [1920). This view had also taken hold among some of the Southern Baptist leadership (see e.g., Simmons 1990). As such, separationists were able to paint pro-life policies as establishing a particular religion -Catholicismin amicus briefs, hearings, and public statements.…”

Bioethics, the Christian Citizen, and the Pluralist Game

“…Some argue that this principle is supported by America's tradition of church-state separation that supposedly entails that the U.S. Constitution's Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses require that a religious view of the human person and the common good cannot be imposed on citizens who disagree with that view (see, e.g., Simmons, 2000;1990).…”