Posted on 04/18/2016 7:12:16 PM PDT by Morgana
A Northern Ireland Presbyterian minister is creating waves after she began advocating for abortion against the church’s teachings.
The Rev. Lesley Carroll, who is running for election in the Irish Assembly, recently waded into the abortion debate when she gave a public statement to the pro-abortion Belfast Feminist Network, according to the News Letter.
Abortion is illegal in Northern Ireland, but abortion activists are pushing to change that. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland has vocally opposed changes to the law, saying it “protect[s] both the life of the mother and the unborn child,” according to the news outlet.
However, Carroll told the feminist group that she believes the laws should be changed to allow abortion in certain cases. Later, in an interview with the News Letter, Carroll said she believes abortion should be a woman’s choice.
“So this for me is a matter of compassion, to allow mothers, in particular, to make that decision for themselves,” Carroll said. “I would also want to be very clear that I believe [that there should be] stringent processes in place around that, so for example in the situation of fatal foetal abnormality we need to be absolutely certain that the information that parents receive is of the highest quality so that they are making the decision off the best evidence base that they can.
“And the same around the rape and incest issue – the window is tight, but to give the proper support, counselling, and time to those women as they come to that decision…beyond that, I am not anxious to extend the freedom for abortion or the freedom for choice, but I understand that there might be situations in which it might be at least possible to contemplate that.”
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She added that she is not in favor of a “blanket extension” of abortion.
One day after the newspaper published her interview, Presbyterian Church leaders responded with a public statement that reiterated their pro-life stance.
“While it would not be appropriate for us to comment on statements by individual candidates or parties during an election campaign, the position of the Church is very clear on many of the moral issues under debate,” the statement read.
The church leaders did not indicate whether Carroll would be disciplined, according to the report.
Carroll’s pro-abortion position fits more closely with that of the Presbyterian Church USA. While there are several Presbyterian denominations in the United States, the PCUSA is the largest and most liberal on abortion.
In 2014, the PCUSA General Assembly struck down a resolution to condemn the killing of babies born alive after failed abortions, LifeNews reported. Last spring, one of its Louisiana churches hosted a rally in support of Planned Parenthood, and in 2012 a Presbyterian seminary honored Cecile Richards, president of the abortion giant.
I agree, but ping to #3.
Your use of “he” should be subscribed.
I think you will find the Southern Baptists are far more pro life than the current Pope.
In a non-suicidal society, a woman who went about advocating tearing babies to pieces would be burned at the stake, without trial.
How can you say such a thing?!?! I distinctly heard the Pope say something about abortion in 2014!
This is the PC Northern Ireland.
Yes. It doesn’t sound any much better then cpusa— or rather pcusa , though
Do you know the first thing about reformed theology? That group in Scotland is Reformed about like John Paul II was Reformed. True Reformed Christians are a real minority in our country (Dr. R.C. Sproul recently estimated less than 2% of American evangelicals) but they are an even tinier minority in the UK.
I’ve never met a pro-choice Reformed Christian. Not one. Men from my congregation and Reformed men from other local congregations, Baptists and Presbyterians, send teams for sidewalk ministry in front of abortion clinics. We are working in conjunction with Reformed Christian men from all over the country in hopes of having teams in front of every baby murder facility in the land at all times. We also actively support crisis pregnancy centers with both resources and time. We are small but we are one of only two congregations in the entire country that financially supports a nondenominational home for drug addicted mothers that has proven very effective. It’s a 12 hour drive away, yet we feel such a commitment to life that we send teams of men every year to help do maintenance on the facility. There are Catholic churches all over that particular city that have never offered any help. For more than 25 years we have supported a ministry in a third world nation that includes providing the only obstetrician in the region. He gave up a lucrative American practice because of his Reformed faith. Reformed American ladies have become nurses so they could move there to help him.
Please don’t pretend the Reformed don’t stand up for life. If you believe that you don’t know the difference between the liberal and formerly Reformed congregations like PCUSA and the conservative life-affirming PCA or the many Reformed, or Sovereign Grace, Baptists. Just because you don’t know about all of the varied efforts to stand up for and fight for life doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Politics is only one piece of the puzzle. Many toil in the vineyard in obscurity.
An officer in a secular church using his badge as cred cover for his darkened understanding.
That.
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