Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Gender-based Abortion by Rev. John Richardson



Gender-based abortion — no shock, no horror
I don’t know whether it is still the case, but I seem to remember that Private Eye used to make much of the ‘shock horror!’ approach to investigative reporting: ‘Takeaway Kebab Content Shock Horror!’ — that sort of thing.
 
The point being made was that some things are neither shocking, nor horrible, but a weak story benefits from a few exclamation marks in the same way that a bad film can have a good trailer.
 
The sad truth, however, is that the story in today’s Daily Telegraph, which suggests that doctors will abort babies of the ‘wrong gender’ on demand (no questions asked) will probably not evoke the shock and horror it ought to require.
 
Certainly there will be a frisson of protest. It is said that Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, will mount an investigation.
 
But I doubt there will be a nationwide outbreak of penitence and grief over what we have become as a society. Abortion is too much part of what we do to risk asking tough questions about how we do it.
 
The reason I say this is that back in 1967 when the Abortion Act was passed, the reason for its introduction was the elimination of the scourge of ‘back street’ abortions. Better, it was said, to do this unfortunate procedure safely and openly, than see the deaths of some women and the blighting of the lives of others.
 
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