“You shall not murder.” Exodus 20:13
This post is the fifteenth in a series that addresses a list of “40 harmful effects of Christianity” that originated on the American Atheists Facebook page and has since made its way around the internet. In this post, I examine the following “harmful effect” from the list:
Harmful Effect #15: Women having septic abortions—or being forced to have unwanted children they resent—because religious organizations have gotten laws passed making abortion illegal or inaccessible.
I’m certainly not going to argue that this “harmful effect”, like others on this list, is completely inaccurate. To a degree, it is accurate. Religious groups do support pro-life laws. However, such religious groups are not necessarily Christian. Muslims and Mormons, for example, are anti-abortion religions. This list purports to be a listing of harmful effects of “Christianity” and yet the very wording of Harmful Effect #15 refers to “religious organizations”.
Not only is Harmful Effect #15 overly broad where Christianity is concerned, it’s implicitly condemnatory of democracy. Notice Harmful Effect #15 does not state that theocratic governments have created anti-abortion laws but that “religious organizations have gotten laws passed”. This could be and has been done in the setting of a representative democracy through the exercise of free speech and the democratic process. One is left to wonder if the American Atheists aren’t, therefore, pointing out what they perceive to be a harmful effect of representative democracy and free speech. Given the history officially atheistic nations (such as the USSR, Khmer Rouge Cambodia, Communist North Korea, and Communist China), it’s clear that many atheists do not support systems of government where laws of any kind are made democratically and where speech is made freely.
This “harmful effect” seems to be predicated, at least in part, on the insidious argument made famous by Bill Clinton that abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare.” It surely is that case that, where abortion is legal, women who want to murder their children are less incentivized to purposefully initiate septic abortions. Such women can murder their babies in ways that preserve their own personal safety, while still completely disregarding the safety of the child they choose to murder. As for the argument that some women “resent” their unwanted children, it may be true. However, some women may resent their abortions and regret them for the rest of their lives. Which type of resentment, on an atheistic worldview, is worse? It’s unknown. Of course, the feelings of mothers speak nothing to the feelings of unwanted children themselves. Their own desire to live is evidenced by their continued attempts at living. There are many such children walking around, living their lives. The phrase “unwanted children who wish they were aborted” is conspicuously absent from Harmful Effect #15.
If you are a woman reading this who is considering an abortion, please don’t do it. Your unborn child is a human being made in the image of God. It is a sin to murder him or her. If you are a woman reading this who has had an abortion, you have committed the act of murder. It is very possible that the weight of this sin against God and your own child is bearing down on your conscious. Consider that if you repent of this sin and place your faith in Jesus Christ, you will be forgiven. In accepting your abortion as permissible, you will only find wrath and judgment. If you turn from your sin, you will find the eternal love and forgiveness in the Lord Jesus Christ. Won’t you consider turning to Him now?
“For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for ‘Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” Romans 10:11-13
In my next post in this series, I’ll address the following:
Harmful Effect #16: Censorship (often destructive) of speech, art, books, music, films, poetry, songs and, if possible, thought.
*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.
Seth Dunn 