SYMPOSIUM
The dangers of judicial cherry-picking
This article is part of a symposium on the court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Cari Jackson is director of spiritual care and activism for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. She is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and earned a J.D. and Ph.D. in Christian social ethics.
Throughout my life, I have observed scriptural cherry-picking used as a strategy by Christian religious leaders to control the moral behaviors and lives of religious adherents. Cherry-picking of scriptures is a methodical process of reading a passage out of context, misapplying it, ignoring other passages that offer important insight into the textual meaning, and then framing certain passages in ways that run counter to the intent of justice and liberation in the Gospel.
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