🚨 New Weekly Rhythm
Beginning this week, “with Sean Dreher” is rolling out a new cadence of short-form notes. Most Wednesdays, you’ll receive a brief but thoughtful reflection from one of my three newsletters:
→ Work These Words (spiritual formation + the way of Jesus)
→ Against the Grain (culture, conscience, and curiosity)
→ On My Shelf (book reviews + recommendations)
The longer, feature-length writings will be released monthly, primarily as primers for our upcoming teaching series at Kingdom South. These weekly notes will help us stay connected in between.
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:8-9 NIV
There’s a proposed bill in South Carolina that would make abortion illegal with almost no exceptions and criminalize anyone who helps someone pursue one.
Let me be clear: I am pro-choice. And I believe God is, too.
Not in the way the culture frames it, but in the way the Scriptures reveal it, starting in Eden. If God’s highest value were mere compliance, the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil would’ve never been planted.
But it was.
Right in the middle of the garden.
Why? Because love that’s forced isn’t love.
And obedience without the option of disobedience isn’t devotion, it’s domination.
From the very beginning, God dignified humanity with agency. He extended invitation over imposition. He honored freedom even when it led people away from His preferred future and into pain.
So, if God Himself didn’t impose obedience in a world untainted by sin, what makes us think laws that impose obedience in a world marred by it will somehow produce righteousness if that’s even what we’re truly after?
That same ethic should inform how we navigate the complexities of abortion, not just with policy, but with presence, not just with conviction, but with compassion.
Let me be clear: No, I don’t believe abortion should be used as casual birth control.
But I also believe the government has no business forcing a woman to carry a child at the expense of her health, autonomy, or trauma recovery, especially when the systems that create the conditions for unwanted pregnancies go largely untouched.
We can do better than performative policy. We can build a life ethic that tells the truth about women, poverty, access to healthcare, maternal mortality, and racial disparities.
Tell the truth!
Oh, and before I go, let me be clear: I am not against those who are pro-life, but I am against hypocrisy. If you’re going to be pro-life, be all the way pro-life. 🤸🏾♂️
Happy trails.
Against The Grain
Against the Grain is the second newsletter from the “with Sean Dreher” Substack. It focuses on culture, conscience, and curiosity. As a missional thinker, I remind myself that Paul said not to be conformed, he didn’t say not to be informed. In these writings, I’ll wrestle with the cultural realities (and assumptions) of our day and how we can process them as followers of Jesus. It’s my best attempt at imagining what Paul would say if he were writing a letter to America.