What’s the Issue?
Abortion is such a taboo topic for Christians. On the one hand, we see read verses like Jeremiah 1:5 (“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you”) and Isaiah 49:5 (“And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb…that Israel might be gathered to him…and my God has become my strength”) and see that God views us as his child in the earliest stages of our development. God forms us before we are born for his purposes. Therefore, if God is forming us, like Jeremiah and Isaiah, in the womb, then even an unborn baby is God’s child and murdering one who bears God’s image as his child is sinful (Gen. 9:6).
However, on the other hand, we recognize that we don’t live in a theocratic country. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution explicitly states, “Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion…” This means that Congress, our legislative branch, shall not promote nor negate any religion – including Christianity. As it pertains to the Supreme Court, our judicial branch, it's their responsibility to uphold the First Amendment and hold the legislative branch of government accountable for their actions. What does this have to do with abortion?
When it comes to the abortion issue, Christians try to argue from a theological perspective. If we lived in a Christian theocratic government, a theological perspective is probably the most impressive argument you can make. However, we don’t live in a theocracy. Even the founding fathers were mostly deists, and deists believed God (or a god) made the universe but doesn’t participate in the universe. This gut check is what we need to make any significant progress as citizens in the United States and, most importantly, citizens of God’s Kingdom.
How do we Proceed?
To proceed from this point, we need to realize not everybody shares our beliefs. We also need to realize that we can’t legislate our beliefs upon others. You can’t force somebody into believing your religion. We can try to say the Roman Empire did it after Constantine, but if you examine the history of Christianity in government, you’ll find out just how corrupt Christianity became. Examining the corruption Christianity took over the course of centuries is beyond the scope of this article but here are just a few examples: selling indulgences, the crusades, inquisitions, Catholics issuing arrest warrants for Martin Luther, etc.
So, we shouldn’t want the Church to rule the USA because of a long history of corruption that comes with the merging of the two institutions. As Christians, we need to find common ground with people and build our relationships up from there instead of unjustly condemning people for not having our beliefs separate from the government. There are a few avenues we can take from here.
If Christians are part of any form of government, we need to find a baseline to begin conversations. As Christians, it’ll be easy to go straight to theology, but that isn’t constructive to those who don’t believe what we believe. Instead, let’s start with this fundamental truth we can all agree: Life is good, and we should preserve it. I highly doubt anybody of any belief system will deny this. Although, we may disagree where life begins.
Starting with the baseline notion that life is good and we should preserve it, we can now begin discussing what life is and where it begins. Since Roe v. Wade (1973), life has generally been viewed as when a fetus is viable, meaning the fetus can survive outside of the womb. This precedent has been in place for almost 50 years, so this may be a good starting point as we talk about life. I am not a doctor or a scientist, so I can’t weigh in on the scientific aspect. However, science is the common ground we should all share as well as the notion that life is good. This means politicians should involve scientists and doctors to understand the intricacies of pregnancies. Science should help inform these decisions since it is common ground. We should also note that science isn’t the end of the discussion. Science tells us what happens during pregnancies, but doesn’t definitively answer when life starts. This is where philosophical conversations can happen to help determine where life begins. Something important to point out is that philosophy and theology are two different fields. Philosophy is the study of general questions of life, reason, and existence, while theology is the study of God. For Christians, the two ideas can be conflated into one, but that shouldn’t be the case as we enter into the public and political sphere. Philosophical conversations with the help of science should dominate the topic of abortion. Now, this process isn’t and shouldn’t be easy. It’ll be messy and people won’t agree. The consensus will probably not satisfy everyone, and everyone needs to be okay with that. Most legislation passed doesn’t satisfy everyone, but if we start on common ground and understand each other we can at least be civil. (Christians, you will need to be okay with the decision that comes out of the conversation, but don’t fret because there is more that you can do.)
Many Christians are not civil servants. What do we do if abortion is legal? Simply put, we need to put our money where our mouth is. In his book To Change the World, James Davison Hunter astutely points out that true changes are made from the institutional level. We like to think if we can get the common person to vote the right people in, we can make changes, but that isn’t realistic. It’s institutions that make changes for good or worse, and whether we want to admit it or not, the Church is an institution. So, what hope can Christians have to make any significant changes or impacts with regard to abortion? If Christians actually operate under the conviction that life begins at conception, we need to leverage our institution of the Church. Churches have money. They don’t always have a lot of money, but it is a common practice to tithe to the local church for the church to do upkeep on the building, pay salaries, support missionaries, have various programs for all ages (youth group, Bible studies, etc.), support soup kitchens, and much more. If this topic of abortion is pressing on your heart, why not petition your church leaders to support women facing a tough choice? Why not allocate some of your finances or reprioritize your spending to help and support potential mothers to carry their baby to term? Of course, every church budget is different, but why not leverage your church to fundraise for your organization? Churches have more than just financial resources. They also have contacts and abilities to open doors. That is part of the reason why the church exists after all – to help those in need (Acts 20:35; Luke 12:33; James 2:14-17; Matthew 25:44-45; Deuteronomy 15:11). If you really care about life, prove it. Go beyond trying to elect the right official to legislate your beliefs because that will only divide the nation and destroy any hope of actually helping pregnant women. Help start an organization that will help provide financial, emotional, and physical help to pregnant women facing one of the most difficult decisions of her life. Do this unconditionally without any pressure on the mom to join Christianity. Again, true faith cannot be coerced. This is not a quid pro quo situation. Jesus didn’t heal people so they would go to synagogue the next day. Show the light and love of Jesus as you help guide the woman through the process of making a decision. Show her resources and how you can help. Exactly what a program like this would look like greatly depends on the specific culture it is in. If this sounds like hard work that’s only because it is and it will be. It is easy to elect someone to do what you want and sit back to do nothing else. It’s hard to get your hands dirty and help. It’s hard witnessing the truth of what many pregnant women are going through. They have to make life changing decisions within a matter of weeks or months. However, if you want to take your faith seriously and this issue is pressing, then do something about it the right way. This is how we show the love of Jesus and how people truly experience him.
What I haven’t mentioned
It’s important to see that I haven’t mentioned numerous details. This section is a catch-all and doesn’t fully fit into the article, but it’s important to see these things exist and they need to be considered. I’ll mention them here just to acknowledge they exist and comment briefly, but it’s beyond the scope and purpose of this article to do a deep dive.
Rape. It is ugly, disgusting, repulsive, abhorrent, and frankly there aren’t enough horrible words to describe this detestable thing. I have no idea what it is like to be raped or even sexually assaulted. I have seen what it does to friends of mine though, and those secondhand accounts have taught me that I have no clue what emotional damage rape can cause. I acknowledge this horrid act and understand it has a place in the abortion talk. Since I’m not a counselor, psychologist, or victim, I am just not qualified to speak on it more than this. I realize special laws may need to be made for victims of rape.
Incest. Everything above is basically the same thing for incest with the exception that I haven’t personally met anybody affected by incest.
Harm to the mother. Early stages of pregnancies are so fragile. How the human race is able to reproduce amazes me. The odds of miscarrying or something going wrong for the mother are higher than one might think, especially in the first trimester. Mothers may develop preeclampsia, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, or other issues that may harm the mother. Again, I’m not a woman and I’ve never been in a situation where a pregnancy might affect my body. I realize here too there may need to be special laws for mothers in danger.
I mention these points because I don’t want to be naive and myopic in my discussion on abortion. I want to be humble enough to say I have no experience nor expertise to properly have a discussion on these topics, but I still recognize they exist and need to be discussed.
Recap
Christians need to stop trying to make the USA a theocracy.
When Christians try to legislate their beliefs, they fight against their own supposed cause because they push people away from Christianity.
Christians in government need to find common ground with others in order to discuss abortion. Common grounds are the belief that life is good and should be preserved and science.
If Christians actually care about unborn children, they need to leverage their institution for good to help pregnant women financially, emotionally, and physically. In other words, Christians need to embody what it means to be the Church.
There are special/awful circumstances which may require special laws outside of normal abortion laws.
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