PRAYER ALERT: Liberal Religious Coalition Is Putting the Heat on Alveda King for Standing for Pro-Life

Glenn Beck got a lot of flak for his August 28 spiritual rally at the Lincoln Memorial from some who alleged he was usurping the memory of Martin Luther King's iconic 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech there.

But equally as noteworthy was a religious pro-abortion coalition, including several Mainline denominations, which lashed out at another speaker at the Beck Rally, King's niece Alveda King, for her pro-life advocacy.

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) held a press conference in Washington on August 26 with several African-American clergy seeking to discredit Alveda King as part of a conservative effort to "hijack the civil rights movement for its own political agenda," according to Reverend Dr. Walter Fauntroy, chief Washington, D.C. organizer of the 1963 March on Washington.

While RCRC is comprised exclusively of nearly all-white Mainline denominations and liberal activist groups, among them Catholics for a Free Choice, the group has an extensive outreach to African Americans through its National Black Church Initiative. Among its programs has been the National Black Religious Summit on Sexuality, held annually at Washington's Howard University, and which has tried subtly to promote pro-abortion themes in church curricula and to liberalize church teaching about sexual ethics.

King directs the African-American outreach for Priests for Life and has spearheaded a campaign to raise awareness about abortion's impact on the black population. "The 'Religious Right' billboard campaign asserting that African American children are an 'endangered species' and Alveda King's comparison of anti-abortion activists to 'Freedom Riders' have sparked outrage in the African American community," charged RCRC President Carlton Veazey.

RCRC was founded in 1973 by primarily white Mainline Protestants to defend Roe v. Wade against Roman Catholic and other pro-life religious voices. Unwilling to grant the desirability of any restriction on abortion, RCRC over the years has even defended the legality of partial-birth abortions and of transporting minors across state lines for abortions. Agencies of the United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, and the Episcopal Church are RCRC's leading members.

Responding to RCRC, King was unapologetic in defending her pro-life views and participation in the Beck rally. "It is absolutely ludicrous that abortion supporters would accuse a blood relative of Dr. King of hijacking the King legacy. Uncle Martin and my father, Rev. A. D. King were blood brothers," King said in a statement. "How can I hijack something that belongs to me? I am an heir to the King Family legacy." Not unreasonably, she insisted: "I have a right to stand at the Lincoln Memorial on the 47th Anniversary of my Uncle's 'I Have A Dream' speech."