{"id":7493,"date":"2024-06-14T11:02:15","date_gmt":"2024-06-14T15:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/?p=7493"},"modified":"2024-06-14T11:02:15","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T15:02:15","slug":"five-reasons-why-christians-should-be-pro-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/06\/five-reasons-why-christians-should-be-pro-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Reasons Why Christians Should be Pro-Choice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Christians have a history of being pro-choice. Christians also have a history of supporting body autonomy and the freedom to make individual choices without government involvement. The United States was settled by people seeking control of their lives without government interference. With this history in mind, here are five reasons why Christians should be pro-choice.<\/p>\n
Photo by Jasmine on Unsplash<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n***1) The Bible says life begins with the first breath.<\/strong><\/h3>\n*****
\u201cThen the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.\u201d \u2013 Genesis 2:7<\/p>\n
Before he breathed, Adam was mud. He wasn\u2019t a \u2018pre-born\u2019 person; he was mud. Just as a fetus isn\u2019t \u2018pre-born.\u2019 It\u2019s a fetus, unable to survive without breathing. Abortion can\u2019t end a life that isn\u2019t alive. Perhaps one day technology will allow a fetus to be removed from a uterus to be grown in a machine. But that day isn\u2019t today.<\/p>\n
In the Hebrew, God gives Adam the Spirit of Life, rua\u1e25<\/em>, the breath of God. God gives all of us the Spirit of Life, with the Divine breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cThus, says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I shall lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.\u201d \u2013 Ezekiel 37:5-6<\/p>\n
\u201cThe spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.\u201d \u2013 Job 33:4<\/p>\n
Without breath, there is no life. This is why Jewish people, based on the exact same Jewish scripture Christians call the Old Testament, have always believed that life begins with breath<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Scripture tells us that God knew us before we were born and will know us after we are dead. But in between we are only alive when we are breathing.<\/p>\n
2) Christians have historically believed life begins at ensoulment, not conception. <\/strong><\/h3>\n
Across hundreds of years of common law there are just a few isolated cases of people charged with the murder of a fetus. This is because for most of western history the fetus wasn\u2019t considered alive until the quickening\u2014 when a pregnant woman first feels the baby move. According to When Children Became People: The Birth of Childhood in Early Christianity<\/em><\/a>, Christians believed that with the quickening, the mother-to-be was feeling the ensoulment as the baby\u2019s soul entered the fetus.<\/p>\n
Modern law and modern medicine call this viability, the moment when a fetus can survive outside the mother.<\/p>\n
If life begins at conception, then governments should require death certificates for miscarriages.<\/p>\n
But the U.S. government, and the Bible, don\u2019t hold that life begins at conception; they both assert that life begins with the first breath. That\u2019s why nearly all abortions are illegal after the baby is viable and able to breathe.<\/p>\n
3) Government shouldn\u2019t have control of an individual\u2019s body.<\/strong><\/h3>\n*********
**
*********If we allow the government to outlaw abortion today, we surrender the opportunity to oppose the government that requires abortions tomorrow.<\/p>\n
In Florida, an unemployed, 16-year-old student was denied an abortion<\/a> because a judge ruled she was not mature enough to choose to have an abortion. A child deemed too immature to have an abortion was forced to have a child she was mature enough to recognize she wasn\u2019t able to care for. Why would reasonable Americans want to live with this much government control of our bodies?<\/p>\n
Besides, religiously-based prohibition of personal behavior can\u2019t be legislated in the United States successfully. The 18th<\/sup> Amendment to the Constitution<\/a> taught us that.<\/p>\n
4) Republican operatives used abortion to divide Christians. <\/strong><\/h3>\n
Southern Baptists were pro-choice in 1973, when Roe v. Wade was decided. But because Democratic President Jimmy Carter was a Southern Baptist and a Sunday school teacher, the GOP moved to split the Christian vote over abortion in 1980. (And to shore up the segregationist segment of Christian voters. If you didn\u2019t know any of this, it\u2019s because they succeeded.<\/a>)<\/p>\n
Since 1980 Christian voters have been manipulated by Republican politicians to deny scripture and freedom of choice and embrace Republicans who have systematically lowered taxes on the wealthy, on capital gains, and on corporations while vilifying the poor.<\/p>\n
5) Pro-choice isn\u2019t pro-abortion.<\/strong><\/h3>\n*************
**
Christians should be pro-choice because we believe women should have the final say over control of their bodies. Not courts, judges, priests, or politicians. It\u2019s a decision for a woman and a doctor to make in a clinic, not a decision for a governor signing legislation in a public ceremony.<\/p>\n
**
If a small segment of activist Christians can dictate a woman\u2019s legal right to reproductive health, why stop there?<\/p>\n
**
Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses reject blood transfusions. Why shouldn\u2019t their faith-based decision extend to everyone else?<\/p>\n
**
Certain Christians spurn vaccines. Should vaccines be outlawed, because some Christians don\u2019t like them?<\/p>\n
**
Mormons oppose caffeine and cigarettes. Cigarettes kill more than 480,000 Americans annually. There is no pro-life outrage dedicated to outlawing tobacco. Instead, American tax payers give tobacco farmers more than $60 million in annual subsidies to grow a product that kills people.<\/p>\n
**
*************Jews believe that life begins with breath, so why should the religious beliefs of some Christians enshrine laws denying Jewish women healthcare their faith says they are entitled to?<\/p>\n
\u03a9<\/h3>\n***************
**
***************For other articles from Jim, visit<\/p>\n
How is God like an Elephant?<\/a><\/p>\n
Is Jesus the Only Way to Heaven?<\/a><\/p>\n
Palm Sunday 2024<\/a><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jim Meisner, Jr.<\/strong><\/em><\/a> is the author of the novel <\/strong><\/em>Faith, Hope, and Baseball<\/strong>, <\/strong><\/em>available on Amazon<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, or <\/strong><\/em>follow this link to order an autographed copy<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. He created and manages the Facebook page Faith on the Fringe<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christians have a history of being pro-choice. Christians also have a history of supporting body autonomy and the freedom to make individual choices without government involvement. The United States was settled by people seeking control of their lives without government interference. With this history in mind, here are five reasons why Christians should be pro-choice. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3527,"featured_media":8598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,14],"tags":[2394,2397],"class_list":["post-7493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-civil-rights-2","category-culture","tag-pro-choice","tag-pro-choice-christians"],"yoast_head":"\n5 Reasons Why Christians Should be Pro-Choice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Christians have a history of supporting body autonomy and the freedom to make individual choices without government involvement. 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