Andrew Brown writes for The Guardian about Nadine Dorries’s abortion bill has exposed our squishy utilitarianism.
“Abortion is defended on the basis it diminishes suffering, but the greatest good is served by adopting unwanted babies.”
Dick Gross writes in The Sydney Morning Herald about Apostates for Evensong.
Paul Handley writes for The Guardian that The miracle at Cana’s wedding feast shows the real value of friendship.
“A happy, successful wedding can be a true test of reliance on friends – and God.”
Victor Udoewa writes for The Huffington Post about Doubt: A Scientific And Religious Perspective.
I am not very impressed by Andrew Brown’s comments for once! I have many reservations about abortion and the number of pregnancies terminated is truly horrific. But adoption is not a fail safe option either. The biological mother still has to carry full term and give birth and the psychological effects of giving up a child for adoption ( not to mention one who may turn up on your doorstep one day with high expectations or resentment that you gave them away)are immense and can be a lifelong sentence( I know some would say this is true of abortion as… Read more »
Let us be clear, that adoption inflicts terrible suffering, pain and unresolvable or hard to resolve emotional issues on babies, children and the adults they become.
Let us be MORE clear: if there’s an abortion, there was NEVER a “baby” to begin with.
Re: I am not sure myself how to judge the “rights and wrongs” of abortion, the confusing thing is that there are so many different perspectives, all of which have their own validity. No. No, there really aren’t. There are a few valid positions (disagreeing about extreme cases at the margins), but the pro-choice, liberal/feminist case is completely lacking either intellectual or moral merit, and it’s outrageous than any so-called Christians seek to defend it. Abortion is homicide, as the church has taught since the time of Christ, as is evident from reason and natural law as well as from… Read more »
I have found that most abortion opponents cannot name a single pro-choice book they have ever read. Read The Facts of Life by Dr. Trefil and Dr. Moskowitz (two scientists) and it may change your view. This book actually deals with facts objectviely, unlike say John Paull II’s Evangelium Vitae which is shockingly facile. Early trimester abortions are not morally wrong. The pro-choice position is absolutely a Christian position – period.
Victor Udoewa’s piece is brilliant. It’s not so much an exploration of science vs. faith, but rather a careful exposition of how faith and uncertainty can co-exist. He presents the God who in the midst of suffering, chaos, political and social upheaval, personal and corporate moral failures, glorious and seemingly mundane epiphanies still demands that we wrestle with Him in the complete uncertainty of life. Dare any of us let go of Him as we grapple with Him for blessing? Even if we come out of the one-sided encounter limping badly? Regarding abortion, I still find it worrying that doctors… Read more »
Nadine is a courageous and prophetic woman, and I would vote for her…even though I am not a conservative. One day the legality of abortion will be seen as immoral as segregation and slavery.
Dallas Bob:
Could you explain “The pro-choice position is absolutely a Christian position – period” to us please. For once I am totally speechless.
Until the identification of the human egg in the 1830s, it was supposed that the male emission (sperm were unknown) was the whole of the new life, and the woman was only a handy pot for the man to grow his offspring in. Hence, the male proprietary interest in the female body. Fetishization of the fetus atill disregards the personhood of the woman. We now realize that of the hundreds of ovum each woman carries, few are fertilized and fewer develop. Millions of male sperm are surplus. The idea of Life is mystical, but the process isn’t. No reason to… Read more »
One wonders where is the place of spontaneous abortion (seemingly, a natural process) in all of the moral arguments here?
Those who are shocked that being pro-choice is a Christian position simply prove my point. They haven’t put forth the effort to read or understand what they say they are against. Go to rcrc.org and read the position papers there for openers. Read the Facts of Life as well. But don’t forget to read the official positions of literally all mainstream Christian Churches – The Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, and my beloved Episcopal Church. Of course, the major opponents of choice are the most radical and extreme – the fundamentalists and Roman Catholics – who are also anti-gay and anti-science in… Read more »
@ Mark W: OK, let me try. Christians believe that human life is sacred, right? [Well, nevermind war and capital punishment and genocide-by-crushing-poverty—but I digress] What does “human life” mean? What does “being made in the Image and Likeness of God” mean? Is it just a beating heart? No, unless you’re a vegetarian, you’re responsible for ending heartbeats all the time. Is it just Homo sapiens DNA? We’re sloughing it/flushing it constantly. Is it just to “look human”? While it might be very unfortunate if Madame Toussaud’s were to burn down… No, “human life” “in the Image and Likeness of… Read more »
In my extended family circle of women, there have been several events involving spontaneous abortion. As this happens fairly frequently in the lives of pregnant women (and other animals), what does this have to say about the ‘dignity of life’ for the spontaneously rejected foetus? Obviously, there is some malfunction within the womb, or within the material tissue of the unborn. So what is so different about this malfunction being assessed and acted upon by a caring medical practitioner. And this is only one instance of the need for a charitable view on the incidence of induced abortion. When the… Read more »
“One wonders where is the place of spontaneous abortion (seemingly, a natural process) in all of the moral arguments here?”
Same place, I assume, as still birth and crib death (seemingly natural processes) in the moral argument for infanticide.
@Laurence Roberts “adoption inflicts terrible suffering, pain and unresolvable or hard to resolve emotional issues on babies, children and the adults they become.” Perhaps sometimes it does. It would be more fair, I think, to say that we live in a society that doesn’t offer great support to adoptive families, and a culture where adoption is seen as a sign of neglect and rejection. But for every child that grows up feeling abandoned by their natural parents, I could show you one who is perfectly happy in their adopted family and feels no curiosity about their birth parents. (And, of… Read more »
It is with good reason that Psalm 82 declares of those who have God’s authority to set decrees that control destiny on earth: ‘Ye are gods’. It is this power of the human will as it relates to personal human expression (however limited) that distinguises us as human and most resembles God. In contrast, the ability to feel, or experience pain is not a quality that is inherent (glued in) to our humanity. We cannot equate hurt, with harm. The harm of ending a life is in the deprivation of all its God-given potential, even if it is carried out… Read more »
But libelling adoption iand adoptive families is certainly no way to defend abortion.
Posted by: rjb on Thursday, 15 September 2011 at 8:49am
I did not libel any one or anything.A sweeping, inaccurate statement, like that one of yours, won’t help much either.
Did I defend abortion by ‘libelling adoption’ ?
http://www.postadoptioncentre.org.uk/