Max Lucado's daughter introduces herself, recalling how she "deconstructed purity culture"
"I used the work of...René Girard, who talks about Scapegoat Theory, and found the female body to be @ the center of that theory for evangelicals"
Historian Randall Balmer: "The *real* origins of the religious right are embedded in
[Can you guess? Take a guess]
racism...If the foundation is racism, those timbers are rotten, and the movement itself is rotten, and it has to be addressed."
Moderator Lisa Sharon Harper: "Over the past decade I have become aware of the ways my faith was actually shaped in a political cauldron...in a framework that was literally designed for warfare...designed to have winners+losers...Either right or wrong, no in-between."
Dem campaign strategist Tatiana Torres: "The Hispanic evangelical church is changing that new leaf and transitioning from one generation to another, I even dare say from Egypt into a different promised land for our churches and for our faith."
Jerusha Duford (granddaughter to Billy Graham) on "Life Chains":
"Sign after sign after sign saying 'Abortion kills'...I was given a sign that said 'Jesus loves'...I had a really hard time making sense of both of those messages being communicated at the same time."
Ron Sider: "In 1968 I used to say...the Bible didn't say when the fetus became a human being so abortion was fine, even as a population control measure."
Says he's since changed but "pro-life is a lot more than abortion. It includes racism+poverty...esp. global warming"
Rev. Rob Schenck: "I was using the phrase 'Abortion is murder' routinely...When I looked at the numbers...I was nagged by a question: Are 25% of American women guilty of murder? They are murderers? It doesn't comport with reason....'Come, let us reason together, says the Lord.'"
Andrea Lucado: "I feel like, if we could fully humanize women, this conversation would be completely different. It'd be a lot less about the woman and her body. We'd be talking more about men and why men aren't wearing condoms."
Lisa Sharon Harper: "There is an absolute parallel between the scapegoating of women and the scapegoating of POC within white evangelicalism and, in particular, within the white nationalist, white supremacist movement that is within, it's held in the heart of evangelicalism."
Elaina Ramsey: "We have been hoodwinked that this is about life + well-being...it really is about control. It is about power. Who has it, who wields it, whose voices we listen to...Our laws are made all in the structure of white supremacy + to prop up white Christian supremacy."
Ron Sider, wrapping up: "I don't even know exactly what law I would write if I were president and could just decide what the law would be."
Schenck: "This isn't really a question about whether the unborn child is is sacred but whether all the other persons involved are equally sacred...It's not really about the personhood of that child. It's about their utility."
Outro: Shane cites the story of John the Baptizer leaping in Elizabeth's womb, and the panel does a call-and-response reading of the Magnificat. 🙃
At the opening of the United Methodist Church's General Conference, attendees are warned to avoid "exclusively male language for God" and to "be conscious of inferred power dynamics."
The next day, this same duo presented their "report card" on the diversity of officers elected to the conference's legislative committees, then scolded attendees to "work a little bit harder on inclusion with language and interpretation."
Fani Willis returned to church to accept an award and deliver a brief sermon on her court hearing.
"The scripture they keep sending me is 'No weapon formed against you shall prosper'...They did not say the weapons will not form, and that's the part I didn't hear until recently."
Atlanta Berean Church, a Seventh-Day Adventist congregation, hosted Willis this Saturday for nearly 20 minutes of adulation, starting with lead pastor Dr. Sherwin Jack declaring, "She is one of us" (1:26).
The church presented Willis with a "Black History Achievement Award," SDA founder Ellen G. White's "Conflict Of The Ages" book series, and more.
"These beautiful flowers are for you, the beautiful person that you are. We love you."
Kelly Rosati, a National Association Of Evangelicals board member, calls pro-life Christians' opposition to state-run welfare "useless," "un-scriptural," and "madness."
Here's wider context: Rosati, an alumnus of Focus On The Family and former member of the March For Life's board of national directors, is speaking at the NAE's "Flourish" conference in October of last year. (1/2)
"I just want to plant a flag and say: Let us be people that never advocate for abortion restrictions without an accompanying paid family leave support." (2/2)