Pro-Life United Methodist Bishop to Speak on Capitol Hill Marking 'Roe' Anniversary
"United Methodists should stand with the universal church in defending the sanctity of all human life." -- Director of UM Action, Mark Tooley
Contact: Loralei Coyle 202-682-4131, 202-905-6852 cell, lcoyle@ird-renew.org; Radio Interviews: Jeff Walton, jwalton@ird-renew.org; both with the Institute on Religion and Democracy
WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 /Christian Newswire/ -- United Methodist Bishop William Willimon of Birmingham will address the church's unofficial pro-life caucus on the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that mandated legalized abortion on demand. He will speak in the chapel of the United Methodist Building, headquarters of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, which defends unrestricted legalized abortion.
The 9:30am service is sponsored by LifeWatch, the unofficial United Methodist Pro-Life caucus. Every year Lifewatch hosts the service before the annual March for Life. Lifewatch will urge the governing United Methodist General Conference this Spring to affirm the sanctity of all human life. Two years ago, Bishop Timothy Whitaker of Florida made history at the Lifewatch service by publicly criticizing United Methodist pro-abortion rights policies.
Mark Tooley, Executive Director of IRD's UM Action Committee, commented:
"Pro-Life United Methodists like Bishop Willimon are commendably working to create in church and society greater esteem for human life at its most vulnerable.
"LifeWatch's goal is to win the hearts and minds of United Methodists, to engage in abortion-prevention through theological, pastoral and social emphases that affirm all human life.
"The failed policies of liberal Protestantism, which relativized human life, are now discredited. United Methodists should stand with the universal church in defending the sanctity of all human life."
The Institute on Religion and Democracy, founded in 1981, is an ecumenical alliance of U.S. Christians working to reform their churches' social witness, in accord with biblical and historic Christian teachings, thereby contributing to the renewal of democratic society at home and abroad.
