Interfaith Worshippers Hold "Prayerfully Pro-Choice" Worship Service

April 28, 2004

Source: Scripps Howard News Service

http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/?action=detail&pk=RELIGION-FAITH-04-28-04

On April 28, 2004 Scripps Howard News Service reported, "Anyone watching the annual March for Life will see all kinds of people saying all kinds of prayers as that river of protest against abortion flows toward the U.S. Supreme Court. But as a rule, the Baptist marchers do not pray the rosary with Catholics. Orthodox Jews do not chant the same dirges as Orthodox Christians. It would be rare to see Methodists pray with Mormons, or Presbyterians lifting their hands with the Pentecostals. They are united by a cause, but it is hard to blend their worship. But the scene was different at the 'Prayerfully Pro-Choice Interfaith Worship Service' at the U.S. Capitol's reflecting pool, just before last weekend's giant March for Women's Lives. The small service was led by clergy and laity from various traditions-- Jewish, Buddhist, Sikh, Unitarian and several mainline Christian groups... This flock finds unity in a 'broad,' 'universal' approach to faith, said Daniel Maguire, an ex-Catholic priest and author of "Sacred Choices: The Right to Contraception and Abortion in Ten World Religions.' It's frustrating that images and sound bites from these rites are rarely featured in reports about the movement to defend abortion rights and sexual liberation, he said. Journalists have, with their relentless focus on conservative believers at the heart of the abortion conflict, missed an important story, he said."