A trio of top Christian leaders is objecting to a recording created to raise money to promote abortion rights.
National Association of Evangelicals President Don Argue, Southern Baptist Convention Christian Life Commission chair Richard D. Land, and Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Pro-Life Activities Cardinal Bernard Law lodged a protest with Sony Corporation chair Norio Ohga of Tokyo concerning O Come All Ye Faithful, an album released on the label last Christmas.
Profits from the album, which promotes abortion rights in the liner notes but not in the lyrics, are going to Rock for Choice, a wing of the Arlington, Virginia-based Feminist Majority.
“We would hope Sony could admit that they have exploited a holy day to sell a product that runs counter to every teaching of Christ,” Argue says. “And that they were wrong to do so.”
In a February 20 letter to Ohga, the religious leaders wrote, “We do not oppose artists’ rights to make music. But a corporate decision to take sides on abortion in a way that deeply offends millions of Americans is a different matter.”
An appeal to Sony Music Entertainment yielded a response from senior vice president Patricia Kiel, which the leaders deemed “insensitive.” Kiel argued that advocacy for the availability of abortion differs from advocacy for abortion.
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