In Memory of Dr. Harold O. J. Brown
by Motte Brown on 07/18/2007 at 4:20 PM
I was on vacation last week when it happened but I wanted to mark the passing of Dr. Harold O. J. Brown on Sunday, July 8, 2007. Dr. Brown was the founder of Care Net, a pro-life organization that supports a network of 1,090 pregnancy centers in North America.
Here's an excerpt from Care Net's press release:
Considered one of the great theological and philosophical minds of our generation, Dr. Brown gave his life to impacting the culture with the hope and healing offered through Jesus Christ. After the Roe v. Wade decision, Dr. Brown was moved by the tragedy of abortion, both for the unborn child and the mother, and troubled by the apathy within the Protestant church. With the inspiration of philosopher Francis Schaeffer, and the guidance of Billy Graham and pro-life Catholic leaders, Dr. Brown founded the Christian Action Council in 1975. In 1980, one of the first pregnancy centers was opened in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1993, the organization changed its name to Care Net, with a new, laser-focused mission of mobilizing Christians to plant and support pregnancy resource centers.
In a 2003 interview with the Care Net Report, Dr. Brown spoke about the apathy within the Protestant church and of how Roe v. Wade caught evangelicals by surprise when the decision was handed down.
It was Sunday night, the 21st of January and Arimond Nicolia (Professor at Harvard), including [myself] and others were gathered to discuss the impending decision. Dr. Lou Bird, then with the Christian Medical Society (later to teach at Grove City College, PA) said, "What are we to say regarding the extreme cases of abortion?" Most people thought only about the really "hard cases."
Then the next morning the Supreme Court dropped the bomb. But few Evangelicals really thought through the consequences of Roe v. Wade. The late A. W. Criswell (head of the Southern Baptist Convention) was critical of the early pro-life movement, saying essentially "we don't really know" what abortion is. Later, Criswell changed his mind and came out against it. The Evangelical response was weak. The mainline churches basically supported the decision as it was the "law of the land" and this was generally viewed as a good thing. The Baptists waffled, the Presbyterian Church USA, United Methodist Church and the Religious Coalition of Abortion Rights all supported abortion rights. Only the Presbyterian Church in America, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the various conservative Lutheran denominations opposed the decision.
It took the late apologist Francis Schaeffer to galvanize the Evangelical community against Roe v. Wade.
But as Kurt Entsminger, President of Care Net, said, it was Dr. Brown's rallying call that led hundreds of thousands of Christians to open pregnancy centers in their communities. And hundreds of thousands of children's lives have been spared from abortion as a result.
1. Robert J Espe said the following at 8:15 AM on Jul 19:
It took a good man to do something like this when most of the American church was asleep. We would do well to remember this bit of history whenever we are tempted to highlight the past failings of other churches. Pregnancy care centers are a tangible good Christians can invest in to help reverse this tragedy.