ATTENTION PLEASE! We are in the process of updating all A SACReD Journey online resources. While most resources match the updated curriculum, there are some misalignments across the modules. We apologize for any frustration or complication this adds to your facilitation of the ASJ Curriculum. We aim to have all modules updated by early April. If you have questions please reach out to Kentina Washington-Leapheart: [email protected]. Thank you for being with us on this journey! 

• Ahead of time, prepare research on your own religious tradition’s response to liberation theology and Reproductive Justice. Include information on your faith community or organization’s history where possible. Please have this research available as you engage in the discussions in this module.
• Playlist

Practicing Lament
Original contribution, text written by SACReD.

Invite several participants to read each paragraph aloud (1 reader per paragraph).

Our healing begins with lament.

Lament for the sins of violence and oppression against
women, sexual minorities, children, and all those who
have been and continue to have their bodies, their
dignity, and their humanity damaged and violated.

Lament for the complicity of religion and our theologies that have contributed to
misogyny and rigid gender roles that have and continue to harm God’s people.

Lament for clergy and others in positions of leadership who have misused and
exploited their power and authority to sexually abuse those in their care.

Lament for our inability as spiritual people to listen in ways that allow us to hear one
another’s pain.

Lament for the dis-ordered world that is the result of our ineptitude in dealing with
human sexuality, and a lament for how these sins have damaged lives, communities,trust, and the health and well-being of our community.

May the God of our understanding hear all these laments, spoken and written on
our heart.

Amen, Ameen, Amein, Aho, Axé oooo, and so it is.

Alternative Opening:

Offer a prayer or reading from your own tradition that invites people into a vision of liberation, or select one from the bank found on the Resource Page.

Have each participant share their name, pronouns, and one word or sound that represents how they are feeling/arriving.

Think of our opening lament. What stories, memories, concerns, and prayers bubbled up for you during the reading? Think of stories you have told and the stories you have heard.

In preparing ourselves to understand religious harm and continue toward religious healing, what harmful religious experiences do you want to cry out against? Naming things that have hurt us disrupts the power of those things. As we articulate harmful experiences, we continue to open up avenues for healing and transformation.

Take 5 minutes to write down your lament on a separate piece of paper. Be as general or specific as you wish to be. No one will read your paper but you. We will use these laments later in this module during the Engage section.

Collective Re-Ground

• Close your eyes if that feels comfortable. Otherwise, find something in front of you to gently focus on.
• Take a full, deep breath. Pause, then repeat deep breaths 2 times.
• At the count of 3 and for 30 seconds (or a full minute), move your body however you want or need to in this moment. Take the space you need. Be gentle with yourself. Make sure you acknowledge any sensations in your body that are occurring at this moment.

Video: The Girl Child & Her Long Walk to Freedom “Understanding our History of Patriarchy: What’s Faith Got to Do With It? (4:40)

Tracing the path of religious harm could go back thousands of years. For our purposes, we will start with European colonialism. On his first voyage in 1492, Christopher Columbus was trying to find a trade route to Asia. However, when he returned to the Americas in 1493, it was with a policy mandate created by a series of Papal Bulls, declarations from the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, now known as the Doctrine of Discovery. According to Robert Jones, “The doctrine of discovery…merged the interests of European imperialism, including the African slave trade, with Christian missionary zeal.” (Jones, Robert. The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and Path to a Shared American Future. Simon & Schuester, 2023) pg 14-15.)

The Doctrine of Discovery builds on a previous edict issued by Pope Nicolas V in 1452, which explicitly granted the Portuguese king the following rights:

These edicts were used to exploit Indigenous peoples. 

• European civilization, Western Christianity, and white people are superior to all other cultures, races, and religions. Domination and colonial conquest are the means to improve the eternal life of Indigenous peoples around the world.
• The US is a divinely ordained promised land for European Christians. Anyone outside of the chosen group must serve the needs of the chosen group or disappear.
• Saving souls for the Christian afterlife is the ultimate goal, so earthly, material matters of justice are of little concern. Teachings emphasize the death and resurrection of Jesus more than the life and teachings of Jesus.

You may not get to each of these questions. Participants can discuss their answers in pairs, small groups, or the full group.

•  The video we watched states, “that we must be brave and question what isn’t working.” How has Western Christianity impacted your faith tradition? What do you think a liberated theological perspective would look like?
•  What parts of your faith tradition’s theology or framing aren’t necessarily working? How can you bravely question those parts?
• Recall the homework materials you engaged on White Christian Nationalism. How does White Christian Nationalism impact Reproductive Justice?
• What questions do you have about what you watched and have heard?

• Preferential option for the poor. God has a deep concern for the poor; therefore, their needs and perspectives should be prioritized.
• A critique of oppressive social systems and structures, including religious traditions, if they ignore or legitimize systems of oppression.
• The necessity of translating faith into concrete action to achieve social change; instead of faith being a balm for the pain of injustice, use faith to disrupt the things causing the injustice.

Over time, liberation theology spread to the US and beyond, where other marginalized communities built on its foundational values and applied them to their community’s specific context, creating Black, feminist, womanist, mujerista, queer, and eco- theologies, and others.

Participants can discuss their answers in pairs, small groups, or the full group.

•  How does liberation theology resonate with you?
•  What examples of liberation theology do you have in your faith tradition? How is it referred to in your context?

• God is on the side of the oppressed, particularly those experiencing white supremacy and overt racism
• Faith communities must speak to the lived realities of Black people striving for freedom, dignity, and justice
• A critique of oppression and a declaration that God’s love is inseparable from the struggle for justice.

James Cone’s work was powerful, and it had points of weakness. Black women students of Cone challenged his male-centered language and lack of women’s voices, wisdom, and experiences in his theological work. Womanist theology grew out of the insight that Black women had been overlooked in Western Christian theology, white feminist activism, and Black liberation theology. Building on Alice Walker’s definition of “womanist,” theologians like Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon, Dr. Delores Williams, and Rev. Dr. Emilie M. Townes lifted up the wisdom, tenacity, and creativity of Black women as sacred sources for theological consideration. Womanist theology recognizes the ways racism, sexism, classism, and other forms of oppression intersect, and it insists that any faithful conversations about God must engage these realities as barriers to Black and brown women’s thriving. Womanist theology participates in the broader tradition of liberation theology, calling communities to affirm human dignity in all its complexity and pursue justice that nurtures the individual thriving and communal well-being of all people, not just women.

In Module 2, we learned that the Reproductive Justice framework centers the moral agency of Black and brown women. Similarly, womanist theology, “places the religious and moral [decision-making] perspectives of Black women at the center [of its framework].”5 It challenges religious narratives that shame and police women’s bodies and lifts up liberation, self-love, community care, and the sacredness of self-determination. By centering the voices and struggles of Black women, womanist theology provides both a moral and spiritual foundation for Reproductive Justice, framing it as not only a political issue but also a deeply theological one.

emilie m. townes, “Womanist Theology,” Union Seminary Quarterly Review 57 (3-4) 2003, p. 159 – 176. Online access here.

• Centers the wisdom, survival, resistance, and faith of Black women as sacred and authoritative
• Insists that theology must take seriously the intersecting oppressions of racism, sexism, classism, and other forces that shape Black women’s lives.
• Seeks justice in the wholeness of body, community, sexuality, and spirit.
• Black women’s bodies and bodily realities matter to God

• How does womanist theology resonate with you?
• How do the Black and womanist theologies compare or contrast with the theology or predominant faith teachings of your context?  
• What are the parallels between the development of womanist theology and the Reproductive Justice framework?

While these liberative theologies developed around the world, a group of clergy in New York City listened to the call of their parishioners who were asking for help to access safe abortion care. In 1967, Rev. Howard Moody of Judson Memorial Church, and 20 Protestant and Jewish clergy published an article in the New York Times announcing the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion (CCS). From 1967 to 1973, before abortion was legal across the country, a network of 1400 clergy grew to support women in their communities who needed access to safe abortions. (https://www.renewedccs.org/) 

You may not get to each of these questions. Participants can discuss their answers in pairs, small groups, or the full group.

•  What questions do you have about what you watched and heard?
•  What aspects of liberation theology do you see present in the work of CCS?
•  What stories and theologies from your own traditions could be used to promote Reproductive Justice?
•  What happens when your faith values are in conflict with local, state, or federal laws?

Considering Lament and Imaging Liberation 

• What is a theological message you needed when you were in the midst of your religious harm/trauma?
• What message would you give to someone currently in the midst of a reproductive crisis?
• What images, sensations, words represent the hope of liberative theologies to you?

A common ritual in many faith communities is the offering. While we are not going to pass the offering plate for money, we are going to ask you to make an offering.

In front of you are your list of laments and your artistic rendering of a liberative future. I will be at this table with a bowl. When you feel ready, each person can bring both items to this table and make an offering to our shared liberated future.

First, you will offer your lament page by tearing it into pieces and placing it in the bowl. Together, we will say, “We honor the truth of your laments, and we invite you to release them.” Then we will take a collective breath.

Last, you will be asked to show the group your art and place it on the table for our collective display. At the end of the module, you will be able to take your art with you if you wish.

Before we begin, I want to remind you of our Group Covenant, namely that what is said here stays here.

Once everyone has shared, we will have a few moments to witness everyone’s creation. Then we will close with a discussion.

Discussion Questions

• Participants can discuss their answers in pairs, small groups, or the full group.
• What is one word that represents your experience of this activity?
• How did it feel to tear up and release your sheet of harm?
• What are your reactions to the display of collective hope?

In Module 4, we will start doing RJ Show & Tell, which is an activity that develops participants’ ability to identify Reproductive Justice issues in their daily lives and across their communities. Through show-and-tell, participants will expand your understanding of Reproductive Justice issues and identify overlapping and intersecting issues. This activity is intended to create some helpful sharing and community building in 10-15 minutes. We have built this time in before the official start of the session, but you may want to extend the conversation at the end of the session or use this exercise during another social gathering of your group. Whenever you do it, we hope it is a helpful practice in applying all you are learning in this curriculum.

For each session, we invite participants to bring into the space something related to a personal or communal experience of Reproductive Justice. Appropriate items might be a story from media, community, political, or personal life, including but not limited to: art, music, video, community events, fliers, news, social media, political happenings, etc. When possible, participants should bring in a physical representation of their story (for example: photos, videos, links, lyric sheets, articles, artifacts, etc). All show-and-tell materials should connect to a Reproductive Justice tenet and should center those marginalized and harmed most by reproductive oppression.

Reproductive Justice is the human right to:

•  Maintain personal bodily autonomy
•  Have children
•  Not have children
•  Parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities

1. Start looking for an experience of Reproductive Justice to share for RJ Show & Tell.
2. Watch the following videos on the Resource Page:
   • Video: Center for American Progress “Faith Voices on Reproductive Justice: Religion and Equality” (2:32)
   • Video: Vox — “How Abortion Bans Make Inequality Worse” (The Turnaway Study) (10:46)
3. Read and review the 7 short case studies that provide examples of Reproductive Justice or reproductive oppression. Find the links on the Resource Page. Look for ways that the tenets of Reproductive Justice are violated or upheld in each story. Facilitator Note: Depending on the size of your group, you may assign case studies to individuals or small groups. Be sure to email the links to the group ahead of Module 4.
   • Case Study 1: The Hill — “Story of mother sentenced to jail for enrolling child in different district resurfaced amid college scandal”
   • Case Study 2: Texas Observer — “The Fear – and Hope – of Living in Sanctuary”
   • Case Study 3: MPR – “‘I’ve never told anyone’: Stories of Life in Indian Boarding Schools”
   • Case Study 4: People — “Conversion Therapy Survivor Recalls Surrendering His Life to His Pastor for Two Years”
   • Case Study 5: TIME — “For People with Disabilities, Losing Abortion Access Can Be a Matter of Life or Death”
   • Case Study 6: “Immigration and Human Rights Law Review – Reproductive Violence at the Hands of ICE”
   • Case Study 7: Sojourners — “For Decades, Churches Forced Unwed Mothers Into Adoptions”

Journal and reflect on the following questions:

• What did you learn from these videos and articles?
• What values fuel your religious community’s advocacy for reproductive dignity and moral agency?
•  Who has power and agency in these stories?
• How are reproductive moral judgments, stereotypes, and stigmas showing up for each person?

Transforming Faith for Reproductive Justice: SACReD’s Foundational Affirmation

SACReD’s Foundational Affirmation:

Grounded in the justice principles that are at the heart
of our religious traditions, we are committed to equity,
dignity, and holistic well-being for all people.

We recognize that reproductive issues are integral to
social justice and cannot be exiled from our sphere of
moral concern if we are to fully live out our commitment to
human flourishing.

Similarly, as reproductive concerns are inherently tied to intersecting systems
of oppression, particularly those of patriarchy, racism, and poverty, we know we
cannot isolate a narrow reproductive interest from a broader justice agenda.

We acknowledge that, as religious communities, we have a particular responsibility
to promote healing, bring new understanding, and make changes as religion
has contributed to trauma, faith alienation, and mental health afflictions related
to reproduction.

May it be so.

Alternative Closing:

Offer a prayer or reading from your own tradition or select one from the bank found on the Resource Page.