Questions

Preface :
I am sorry to equate a woman’s right to choose (in the case of an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy) with horrible acts of terrorism or female genital mutilation. Please understand that I am only comparing the logic used to justify those positions, and not saying there is anything close to a moral equivalence between the two! I have stated in the past how much I admire your family’s achievements, generosity and dedication to the culture of life – (for what is faith without works?).

I ask the following questions not to put anybody on the spot, or to play “gotcha”. I ask these questions because I respect the divergent opinions - I know that you arrived at your positions with much reflection, and I’d like to understand better. I do not question your intelligence in holding positions different to my own.

Questions -

If a mother loses her unborn fetus due to natural circumstances, can that fetus be baptized?

If so, from which point after conception can that fetus be baptized? Does a fetus have a soul? Is that soul present at conception?

What is the church’s attitude (and your own) towards artificial insemination and other means of combating a “natural” inability to conceive or carry a child?

How would one weigh the value of lives “created” or "saved" by our modern civilization and technology against the 48 million abortions (quoting number from earlier email) practiced since Roe v Wade? Can there be a moral break-even point in the evolution of society and its norms, if the culture of life is what is most important?

Is an aborted fetus any different from the soul of someone who hasn’t been baptized in the eyes of God? If I remember church doctrine correctly, an un-baptized soul cannot enter into the eternal kingdom of God. In the notion of “saving lives” (eternal lives in any case), wouldn’t obligatory Christian baptism save more souls than the quoted 48 million abortions over the past 40 years?

Wouldn’t it be a better “return on political engagement” (in the eyes of God) to fight for a constitutional amendment making Christian baptism obligatory in the USA rather than fighting to over-turn Roe v Wade?

Wasn't this type of thinking used to justify the crusades, and couldn't it be done again?


Honest, intelligent people who believe they are doing God’s work are fervently opposed to abortion rights (or personal choice, depending on how you want to frame that). I am personally opposed to abortion, but not personally convinced that life starts at conception, and therefore support a woman’s right to choose, although if that person came to me for advice, I would argue in support of life. The logic behind the pro-life position (using an arbitrary defintion of when life starts) strikes me as eerily similar to the justification for female genitalia mutilation in Somalia, Jihad in Iraq, suicide bombing in Israel, the obligation for females to wear a burkha in areas controlled by the Taliban… All of these horrible things are done by people who believe they are doing God’s work. It’s a different scripture, different interpretations of that scripture, a different culture – but all in the name of God. If we disagree on when “life” starts, who wins ? For me, “God” and religion have no say in our secular democracy. I’m pretty sure a lot more than 48 million people have been killed in the name of “God” throughout history. I’ll take my politics anyway you like, but please hold the religion…

That last paragraph is a bit long and blustery, let me resume the “questions” :
How can you have the right to define for others when life starts?
What empirical evidence can you use to support your position?

Is it not a slippery slope to introduce YOUR FAITH into political discourse, would you accept to have your genitalia mutilated if ever you were obligated to live in a country where that act is considered “God’s way” ? What’s the difference?

Once again, please don’t confuse my disagreement with some of the logic used to support the desire to over-turn Roe v Wade as insinuating ANY moral equivalency between what you believe and some of the barbaric fundamentalist Islamic positions… I am only trying to make the point of the slippery slope of introducing faith into the political discourse.

I love you all…really, I do, and always will