A Statement of Conscience

I made the following statement this afternoon at the Diocese of Tennessee Annual Convention.

A Statement regarding the affiliation of the Episcopal Church U.S.A. with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

Right Reverend Sir,

Two weeks ago, on the 12th of January, the Executive Committee of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America formally affirmed the affiliation of the Episcopal Church with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, a registered political lobby. As you know, sir, abortion remains a matter of deepest controversy among this Church’s membership and is perhaps the most contentious issue in American public life. So it should come as no surprise that I and many Episcopalians in this Diocese are profoundly troubled by this action of the Executive Committee and cannot in good conscience support an organization which promotes an act we believe to be gravely contrary to Christian morality. The literature and website of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice reveal that it advocates positions specifically at odds with those of the Episcopal Church as expressed by a resolution of the 1994 General Convention declaring that, “As Christians, we believe strongly that if [the right to abortion] is exercised, it should be used only in extreme situations. We emphatically oppose abortion as a means of birth control, family planning, sex selection, or any reason of mere convenience.” Indeed, His Grace the Most Reverend Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote recently in England’s Sunday Times newspaper, that, “For a large majority of Christians – not only Roman Catholics, and including myself – it is impossible to regard abortion as anything other than the deliberate termination of a human life.”[i] It is certainly true that many of our ecumenical partners, including the Roman Catholic Church, are utterly opposed to the agenda of groups such as the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and this affiliation will unquestionably hamper these relationships and our striving together toward the unity in mission and ministry for which our Lord prayed.

The effect of this action of the Executive Committee, an action which involves the Diocese of Tennessee and every Episcopalian, is to preempt dialogue, further dividing an already polarized Church by taking away one more plot of middle ground upon which we could meet and seek, in charity, to persuade one another.

Therefore, Right Reverend Sir, I respectfully ask that you, the Standing Committee, and the Bishop & Council give prayerful consideration to disassociating the Diocese of Tennessee from this unwise and unwarranted action of the Executive Committee. I further ask that this Statement be included in the record of this Annual Convention of the Diocese of Tennessee. Thank you.

Faithfully,



The Reverend Patrick S. Allen
Rector, the Church of St. Joseph of Arimathea
[i] “People are starting to realize,” The Sunday Times. 20 March 2005