Pastor that recommended an abortion

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This is actually a true story that happened to my friend's mother. When she was pregnant with him and his twin, it turned out his twin would be born with Down's Syndrome. His mom went to seek advice and counsel from her church pastor at the time and he actually recommended an abortion. Needless to say, she left that church as a result.

I find it very strange because I always thought that churches were against abortion. This is a rare case for a pastor actually advising an abortion that I ever heard of. I wonder what his reasoning for it was. Do you think that maybe he thought he was helping my friend's mom or do you think their was another reason behind the pastor's advice?

Some churches are more progressive than others.

When you've seen one pastor, you've seen one pastor.

Agreed with Fnord here.

I'll be straight up about it: I'm highly against abortion, and would only be cool with it under very, very special circumstances, and the ideal conditions that would make abortion acceptable for me just don't exist in our society. I can be convinced to give SOME ground, but not easily. It's funny to me that my wife has even more extreme views on the topic than I do, but there you go.

But all that being said, this is something a person has to be thoughtful and prayerful about. There are two sides here. One side places priority on the human life growing inside a woman. The other side places priority on the woman. If a baby is born with a lifelong disability, you can't get around the fact that the life of that person will pose a financial burden for the state and for the family. You also have to answer the question of whether condemning a baby you already know will be disabled to living is really the merciful thing or not (note that it is a loaded question). You have to weigh whether the unborn deserve the same rights as those who have already been born, e.g. would you/could you kill a teenager with Down's syndrome? Why/why not? And if we're talking about faith here, what do you believe, without any doubt, what God wants you to do?

Conservative evangelicals and, I assume, Catholics are opposed to abortion largely on sanctity of life. Some moderates and many liberals don't even bother reading the Bible, so they'll just tell congregations whatever warm and fuzzy message it is they think they want to hear. The role of a counselor, whether religiously based or secularly based, is not necessarily to give away all the answers but to help the one seeking help to find the answer on her own. Most often people already know what they want. So when they see a counselor or a therapist they're just looking for validation. Whether they get that or not will determine whether they'll come back! What you seem to be talking about is a lady who already knows the answer: she doesn't want an abortion. She's already made her decision. The pastor seems to have broken her trust when all she wanted was to talk with someone she thought would help share and affirm her own sanctity of life views, not to mention failed to help her find the spiritual strength to get her through this ordeal. And I don't blame her for looking elsewhere to try to find what she needs.

Personally, I suck at validation. I don't give a rip about your feelings. I care about fixing the problem so we don't have to do this again.

Another thing: While I have a low opinion of so-called "liberal" theologians, the mindset is symptomatic of the role politics plays in church congregations. And the same is true for conservatives, too. I'm not even fond of conservative theologians who run their mouths at the wrong time thinking they're getting the right kind of attention only to take it back when the sh!+ hits the fan. Nobody likes wishy-washy politicians. People tend to be less tolerant of the same kinds of preachers.

I am reminded of Brothers Karamazov, where a character of great faith and conservative Christian belief chooses not to suggest a person of criminal urges to suffer and even aids his escape. Perhaps it's a rather Christian position to not impose suffering on others but be stoic towards your own.

There's official church policy, and there's what a sympathetic individual tells his fellow human being, and those may or may not coincide.