From: Darrell128 Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 17:21:03 EST Subject: NR 98003: Cl. Zeeland: Abortion is an "American Holocaust" NR #1998-003: Classis Zeeland: Abortion is an "American Holocaust" On the eve of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the US Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision to legalize abortion, Classis Zeeland adopted an overture from Unity CRC of Allegan asking the Christian Reformed Church to "awaken to the fact that after 25 years abortion has become an American holocaust." Calling abortion "wanton and intentional destruction of human life," classis said that "we are to speak the truth without toning down the message to mollify those who might oppose what God's Word clearly teaches." The January 21 classis vote will now go to Synod 1998. Synod already has gone on record opposing abortion, but has never declared it to be an "American holocaust." NR 1998-003: Classis Zeeland: For Immediate Release Classis Zeeland: Abortion is an "American Holocaust" by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service ZEELAND, MICH. (January 21, 1998) - On the eve of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the US Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision to legalize abortion, Classis Zeeland adopted an overture from Unity CRC of Allegan asking the Christian Reformed Church to "awaken to the fact that after 25 years abortion has become an American holocaust." Calling abortion "wanton and intentional destruction of human life," classis said that "we are to speak the truth without toning down the message to mollify those who might oppose what God's Word clearly teaches." The January 21 classis vote will now go to Synod 1998. Synod already has gone on record opposing abortion, but has never declared it to be an "American holocaust." The vote represented an abrupt about-face from last year's rejection of a similar overture from the Allegan church asking classis and synod to declare that abortion is "tantamount to the war crimes of Nazi Germany." Rev. James Cooper of Third CRC in Zeeland reminded delegates of last year's decision. "The question here is whether this is a holocaust, whether we want to bring this kind of language to synod, and this classis voted that down," said Cooper. Rev. Dan Gritter of Gateway Community CRC in Zeeland seconded Cooper's concern and warned that adopting the overture could give the impression that the CRC had become a "single issue" denomination. "I'm really concerned about making one issue the issue, whether this or anything else, the test for voting or anything else, as a black and white matter," said Gritter, who also said the overture would be ignored by the American public unless the CRC took concrete steps to make its decision known. That reasoning didn't persuade overture author Elder Kevin Baar of Unity CRC. "I would encourage you to think of yourself in Nazi Germany during the holocaust when Jews were being murdered," said Baar. "Would you say that was just one issue, there are a lot of things wrong in Germany, but we shouldn't single out the murder of Jews as something to oppose?" After submitting the abortion proposal to an advisory committee for review, classis deleted a section urging CRC members to vote against pro-choice candidates for public office out of concern it could affect the denomination's tax-exempt status. Responding to Gritter's concern that the overture would be ignored by the public, Rev. Zack Anderson of Pine Creek CRC in Holland amended the proposal to ask synod to "urge [church] councils to wrestle with a public repentance to the abortion problem." "I think we should recognize that by the very fact that this gets to synod, people will find out about this through the media, and it will also be dealt with in the media when it gets to synod," said Anderson. Cross-References to Related Articles: #1997-003: Allegan Christian Reformed Church Asks Synod to Equate Abortion with Nazi War Crimes #1997-009: Classis Zeeland Overtures Christian Reformed Synod to Reaffirm Opposition to Abortion and Send Letter to Congress; Classis Rejects Abortion- Nazi War Crimes Comparison by 18-13 Vote #1997-071: Christian Reformed Synod Scheduled to Debate Abortion Issue Tuesday Morning; Committee Recommends Rejection of Iowa Overture to Require Calvin College Professor to Comply with Synodical Opposition to Abortion; Synod Pays Tribute to Six-Time Synod President; What's Coming Up at Synod #1997-072: Abortion Debate Occupies Christian Reformed Synod Contact List: Rev. Zachary (Zack) Anderson, Pastor, Pine Creek Christian Reformed Church 663 Riley St., Holland, MI 49424 O: (616) 399-1413 * H: (616) 399-2016 Elder Kevin Baar, Unity Christian Reformed Church 2340 116th Ave., Allegan, MI 49010 H: (616) 673-5713 Rev. James Cooper, Pastor, Third Christian Reformed Church 10 W. Central Ave., Zeeland, MI 49464 O: (616) 772-6682 * H: (616) 772-2440 * FAX: (616) 772-2076 Rev. Dan Gritter, Pastor, Gateway Community Christian Reformed Church 10493 Northfield Dr., Holland, MI 49424 O: (616) 748-9696 * H: (616) 748-4848 ---------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive98: nr98-003.txt .