Scott Tibbs
Excommunicate pro-abortion politicians
By Scott Tibbs, June 3, 2022
Imagine a wicked politician supported abolishing the age of consent, legalizing child rape slavery. Would his church be justified in publicly rebuking him for this action, up to and including excommunication? What about a politician who was openly advocating we continue the Nazi "final solution" campaign that led to the murder of over six million Jews?
"Tax the church" started trending on Twitter when the Roman Catholic Church
finally disciplined Nancy Pelosi for her support of butchering unborn babies. This should have happened decades ago, and President Joe Biden should also have been excommunicated. But at least the Catholic Church has some understanding of how the church should deal with public wickedness. Protestants almost never display this kind of moral courage - and I say this as a Protestant.
But abortion is not like those other things, some may object. Even if we accept that false premise, the examples mentioned in my opening paragraph ought to make us realize that
there is a line beyond which churches should discipline members of their congregations who serve in government as elected leaders. The point is not whether we agree that there is a line or that churches should seek to influence, instruct and admonish political leaders who are members of those churches. We all agree that is appropriate. The question is where we draw that line.
The slaughter of the unborn is the perfect place to draw that line.
This is not a violation of "separation of church and state." (That does not exist in the Constitution.) Churches have the same First Amendment right to petition government for redress of grievances that everyone else, does, and they are within their proper authority to discipline church members for rebellion against church doctrine. Taxing the church in retaliation for excommunicating Pelosi (or anyone else) would be an unconstitutional retaliation against someone for exercising First Amendment freedoms.
Excommunicating Pelosi - who regularly invokes her "Catholic" faith to justify her own policies - should be the first step. Protestant churches should follow the Catholics' example here and do the same with pro-abortion politicians in their own churches. The church has been too weak for too long, and it is time for church leaders to actually lead their flocks.
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