Some Clergy Plan To Mention Mourdock Comments In Sermons

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First Christian Church in Columbus, Ind.

Some members of Indiana’s clergy say they plan to mention U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock’s debate comment that “rape is something God intended” in upcoming sermons.

Mourdock sought to clarify his statements in a Wednesday news conference – something Senior Minister Justin White of Columbus’ First Christian Church says he plans to do in a sermon in a couple weeks.

“I don’t think [Mourdock]believes that rape is ever a good thing, and I don’t think he said that in the right way,” White says. “I want to believe that he was trying to say that we still don’t have a right to take the life of that baby.”

In contrast, Associate Pastor Rachel Pedersen of First Presbyterian Church in Bloomington will not be mentioning Mourdock’s statement in this Sunday’s sermon.

“I believe that God is present and in response to some of the most tragic situations in the human experience,” she says. “At no point we’re separated from God’s love, and no experience can take us away from God’s love. It’s a very different thing to say that God wills an act of human evil, and I think that that’s a really a tragic thing to think that a loving God would ever will such harm and violence to occur against another person.”

Mourdock did not apologize for his comments directly Wednesday, saying only that he was sorry if they were misinterpreted by people who heard them.