More Abortion Thoughts

In the very large arena of the abortion debate, people like to throw around the phrase "right to life." I'm curious as to where this concept comes from. It definitely does not come from the Bible. God smites so many heathens in that book and sends them to hell that you would think Christians would be looking up all the time in fear of the inevitable. I addressed the concept of an infant's "right to life" some in my previous post, but I had some more ideas concerning it and thought I would bring them up here. Sure, in the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that certain rights were unalienable and were held to be self-evident. These rights were "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Of course, in the same sentence, Jefferson would have us believe that all men were "created" equal, by a "Creator." Now, I think it is fairly well known that Thomas Jefferson despised religion, and that he said many things concerning Christianity that would leave one to believe he was not a religious man. It is also quite ironic that a man who owns slaves can write about the equality of a race, and unalienable rights to happiness and liberty. But, beyond the obvious hypocrisy of what he wrote, we have to analyze it for the merit of what truth it ultimately holds.

In order for a right to be truly unalienable, I think it must stand to reason that such a right must be based on an irrefutable truth. If someone is standing there with you, having a conversation about politics, they are undeniably alive. This is truth. The problem inherent in the concept of the "right to life" of the unborn, is that it is a debatable subject as to when that life actually begins. Christians would have us believe that life "begins" at conception, from the moment the sperm fertilizes the egg. But different people of different beliefs have different ideas as to when a fetus can actually be considered alive. Therefore, all people can not be held to the belief system of one specific group. I, for one, think that a fetus should not be considered alive, until it has grown enough that it can fight for its own survival, it can live outside the womb. But different people hold other ideas on this subject. Think about this, when a zygote is first beginning to form, it is little more than a cluster of cells in the womb. What else starts out as a cluster of cells in the human body? Cancer. And we do everything in our power to kill cancer if it starts growing inside us. Further more, on some levels I think the idea of a "right to life" is just absurd. Being alive, and staying alive in this world, requires too much random chance for someone to ever think that they have a "right" to be alive. Just getting in a car and driving to work safely each day is not a guarantee. From conception, to old age, every moment, we are susceptible to the decisions of other persons and random events that could end our life without warning, and without any way for us to do anything to stop it, whether it be a mother deciding to terminate a pregnancy, or a man deciding to run a red light. Without a doubt, it is wrong for someone to premeditate the murder of someone else, because that is a decision that could be prevented, but as I have said before, in the case of an unborn fetus, most abortions take place before the person thinks of the zygote as an actual living being.

The problem here, is that Christians want the entire country to be under the rule of their personal belief system. It is a simple matter of the majority versus the minority. In matters of law, this may be a good way for deciding things, but in matters of faith it is not. This type of mentality leads to persecution of the minority, and was a key reason as to why the Separatists pilgrims left England to come to America in the first place. This is why in this country there is supposed to be a separation of church and state. But the problem is this becomes harder and harder to do when so many of your citizens prescribe to the same religious doctrines. We are quite simply on the verge of becoming an unofficial religious state, which, in a country that is supposedly founded upon religious freedom, goes against the very nature of our nation. But think about it, most people in the country are Christian, therefore, most politicians are Christian, so, the values bestowed upon the belief system of that religion, are being inherently woven into the country's legislature. In areas like abortion, this shows more obviously, because it is an area where strong deviations from Christian beliefs can easily be found. These areas are where the minority must stand up and make themselves heard to prevent total control from being established by the Christian religious majority in our society. It is simply not right for one group to force their religious based values on an entire nation of people.

For Christian readers who may see this, I have a couple scenarios that I have thought out that might make you think a bit about the abortion issue:

1. You wake up tomorrow and Christianity is the minority religion. The majority is now Druidism. Suddenly, it is against the law to chop down trees, because they are considered sacred. All furniture, and other things made from wood in the past, must now be synthetically created materials. Even firewood must only be synthetic. But this law is based of course on the religious doctrines of the Druids, which you do not share. The synthetic firewood sold at the store is rather expensive, and it has been a hard winter. You can't really afford to buy the synthetic wood this paycheck, but you live near a wooded area. Since you do not share the Druid belief, would you chop a tree down behind your house if you knew you would not get caught?

2. Satanism becomes a majority religious belief in the country and they legalize the sacrifice of animals for their religious rituals and say everyone must keep animals at their homes for future sacrifices. Mormonism becomes the majority religion and says all curse words and sexually explicit content must be edited out of all films shown in the USA. As a member of the minority, would you feel these laws would infringe upon your right to not kill an animal, or your right to see an uncensored film?

Basically, this is a country founded upon freedom of religion, a melting pot of cultures and different ideas. This freedom allows its citizens to practice whatever religious beliefs they may have, including the right to have no beliefs at all. Christians should remember this fundamental truth, and stop trying to make the whole world in their own image.