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It's not the Christian Republic of America, so why is it those who are religious can hold the bodies of secular women and of other religions hostage?

I see the abortion debate as a religious minority forcing their views on an entire country and I don't feel that's right.
BlueVeins · 22-25
Eh, it's a bit more complicated than that. I'm an atheist and a secularist myself, but I'll readily admit that I can't provide a provably valid moral distinction between a first-trimester fetus and a baby. The best I can do is say that babies are probably sentient while fetuses probably aren't. But if you think that us humans derive our intrinsic human worth from something other than sentience (i.e. heartbeat, unique set of genes, other silly shit like that), then banning abortion is morally necessary as an extension of banning murder. And again, I can't prove that any of those perspectives are less valid.

Now you could say sure, most people who believe that fetuses are people do so because they believe that fetuses have souls and souls are what make people intrinsically valuable. That's probably true. But then for those people to put their religion aside to pursue the principle of secular governance, they would have to basically accept what they wholeheartedly view as an ongoing holocaust type of situation just for the priviledge of saying that they stand on principle. Principles are valuable, but they can only take you so far; Hell, there's a principled argument against Roe V. Wade (it's legislating from the bench & the logic was pretty dodgy), but I still support Roe V. Wade because the consequences of eliminating it are too bloody and horrible.

As far as I'm concerned, sincere Christians don't have much choice in opposing abortion, so the best options (which we can take contemporaneously) are appealing to those who aren't sincere Christians AND working to shrink the base of sincere Christians that we have to put up with. There's nothing wrong with using religion to allay your own mental health/make you feel better in the moment; fuck, I've done that just last month. But viewing it as a source of objective reality is just a fancy way of buying into misinformation and poisoning your entire worldview.
JoeyFoxx · 51-55, M
@BlueVeins it’s a logical question that ties back to your proposal and has nothing to do with Christianity.

If society forces a future mother to carry a pregnancy to term, shouldn’t we also force the father to remain engaged?
BlueVeins · 22-25
[@JoeyFox] If society decided that a fetus was a person, that would mean that killing it is murder. This wouldn't have any impact on whether or not [i]either[/i] genetic parent should have to be engaged, since leaving =/= murder (or any particular crime, really), but society nonetheless forced uninvolved parents to stay engaged barring adoption through child support. This system is defensible since it reduces child poverty, primarily at the expense of people who risked creating it in the first place.
@LamontCranston Nope. The other five Federalist Society hacks will vote to overturn [i]Roe[/i], and abortion will immediately be illegal in half the US. Roberts’ wishes are irrelevant.
QuixoticSoul · 41-45, M
They’re not even good Christians tbh.

GeistInTheMachine · 31-35, M
Ok, look. Take religion out of it.

Sperm hits the egg. Cells divide. It's just a bundle of cells. Biology or whatever, yeah?

Then - BOOM, at some point fetus has heartbeat and can also feel pain and is thus sentient and capable of suffering.

Hurting living things that can suffer is BAD, mmmkay?

Unless you have VERY good reason to.

And most of the time, said reason is not good enough to kill babbeh.

BUT - Unwanted pregnancies can be PREVENTED.

And therein lies the solution.

Prevention is the best medicine.
@basilfawlty89 Not surprised they are at the point of passing moral judgement with blanket statements. There argument up to this point has been emotional manipulation to justify bad faith arguments.
Adaydreambeliever · 56-60, F
@GeistInTheMachine just adding... killing unless there's a very good reason is arbitrary, who decides.. does not killing life that feels pain include fish and animals...
AND as others have said, preventing unwanted pregnancy isn't nearly as easy as some people think
@GeistInTheMachine And if prevention doesn’t work, force the woman to give birth at gunpoint to teach her to not be such a slut, right?

How about mandatory vasectomies for all men, which they can reverse if they want kids? You people want to control the wrong gender.
sunsporter1649 · 70-79, M
And the demonocrat party forcing their religious minority bullschiff kung flu shots on everybody ok with you?
@sunsporter1649 So in your mind, vaccines are abortions?
sunsporter1649 · 70-79, M
@LeopoldBloom kung flu shot mandates are an abortion, of The Constitution
BlueMetalChick · 26-30, F
@sunsporter1649 The irony being you've never read the Constitution. Nowhere in the Constitution are vaccines mentioned. You know what is mentioned? Arming terrorists. But you support that, even though it's unconstitutional.
Ozuye502 · 36-40, M
I’m going to get so much hate for this but go a head.
Putting limits on abortion is not necessarily a bad thing. I’ve seen and lived the struggle a premature birth is so I know the burdens of having child are. However, there has to be morals in society because otherwise it falls apart! So I think it’s a great compromise if abortion must exist that limitations should be put on it. If the unborn child can survive with medical assistance and feel pain the human thing to do is carry it to birth. This time period I believe is 21 weeks. Now I am also all for making adoption less expensive and more available to individuals who want to be parents. (Which is a little off topic) it’s not ending safe abortions for women who have to make that difficult decisions it’s a human regulation for a moral standard.
As far as religious beliefs I was raised Catholic however found my path in Norse paganism.
QuixoticSoul · 41-45, M
@Ozuye502 Basically nobody is arguing for unrestricted late term abortion, so there aren't really any conflicts there.
@Ozuye502 What you propose is basically what we have now under [i]Roe[/i].
Harriet03 · 41-45, F
"Religion" has always controlled & oppressed women!!

You're absolutely right about America not being a Christian Republic

👇

[image deleted]
@dakotaviper Again that is factually wrong. Even the FBI disagrees with you on that one. It is a convenient racist trope though.

And back to making excuses and trying to invent new whataboutisms and false eqivalences on the fly.
Slade · 56-60, M
@Harriet03 slag
Harriet03 · 41-45, F
@Slade [image deleted]
GeistInTheMachine · 31-35, M
I always find it ironic that so many pro-life types and liberals would (rightfully) feel that charges should be filed if someone does anything that could cause a woman to miscarry a sentient unborn child (that she wants) either recklessly or on purpose...

But if that same woman were to choose to abort her sentient unborn baby, then that's just fine? Lmao.

Not really a laughing matter, though. I just find it sad.

Of course, and if a barbarian like Chris Watts or the dude that killed Lacey Peterson kills a pregnant woman, so many of these pro-abortion people would (rightfully!) KNOW that both the Mother and BABY were murdered!

We do not say he killed the mom and "aborted" his kid, do we?

No, instead we often say something more accurate, along the lines of:

"Chris Watts murdered his wife, kids and UNBORN CHILD."

And if any abuser hurts a pregnant woman and her sentient baby dies, that man should rightfully be called a MURDERER.

So why the double standard if a woman were to abort that same baby instead?

Yes, there is always nuance at play, but in my opinion there is a clear double standard here.
GeistInTheMachine · 31-35, M
@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Dude. You're pathetic. First you failed to address any of the points made to you by myself and others against abortion.

And NOW (as I previously predicted in my other post), you are strawmanning because you think you can get a cheap shot in? STFU. You're a waste of time. As usual.

The poster child for inept liberalism, and its degeneracy as an increasingly defunct and increasingly morally bankrupt philosophy.

It is true what conservatives say that your type has attacked and damaged the family unit. The foundation of society, nations and morality.

Now bad is good and down is up to people like you! 😂🤡💩

@QuixoticSoul I don't agree with you that it is not murder, but thank you for engaging my argument in good faith.
@GeistInTheMachine So much projection. It is amusing.


Clearly just a right wing reactionary larping as a "leftist".


And for the umpteenth time I don't indulge bad faith arguments and emotional manipulation.
@GeistInTheMachine Well, many so called pro lifers have no problem with wars that inevitably result in the deaths of actual children.
The funny thing is the bible doesn't even support their position. Quite the opposite. This is more a political position being turned into morality issue that is not even supported by the religion they use as an excuse.
GeistInTheMachine · 31-35, M
@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow It absolutely IS a morality issue.

Whether the Bible or God has anything to do with it is irrelevant.
Burnley123 · 41-45, M
I get that people have religious reasons to be against abortion. That is valid for them but not to impose their views on everyone else.

Murder is something committed against a sentient being.
SatanBurger · 36-40, F
@redredred Your first comment was this:

[quote]redredred · M
@Burnley123 That’s not the legal definition of murder. Killing a comatose or brain dead patient is still murder.[/quote]

Nothing to do with as you say "it's not unreasonable for some people to view abortion as homicide without religion." Also a brain dead patient has nothing to do with abortion. Also, you did in fact say murder, it's in your first comment right there.

You responded to Burnley with a moral argument, suggesting something entirely different. If you mean something different than what you said, you should edit your first comment.
redredred · M
@SatanBurger I responded correctly to another persons use of the term “murder” who claimed it only applied to sentient beings. Many medical conditions humans are prone to cause a loss of sentience and killing those unfortunates can indeed be murder.

Please point out my use of MY moral outlook. I simply pointed out that in a civil discussion, a common ground would allow some reasonable people to view abortion, the ending of a human life (life, undeniably and equally undeniable no other species than human) as a homicide. One need not agree with that position to understand it is a reasonable position.

Last, one need not be religious to object to what one views as a homicide.
@redredred Warfare would be another example of homicide but not murder.
Graylight · 51-55, F
Because this is a very, very religious country, despite all pagan and nihilistic signs. This country self-identifies as roughly 30% evangelical right off the bat. Those are what we Catholics and Protestants call the "serious" religions. Fanatical, perhaps.

30% isn't too too much until you discover it's the single largest identified religious group in the country, followed by the more conservative factions of Christianity. (https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/)

They may be in the minority of the US, but their power is strong for two reasons, I believe. One, they have money. Plenty of it. Two, they have passion. Where more relaxed groups often adopt a live-and-let-live approach, the conservatives seek to control every aspect of life, from conception to birth to education, to healthcare to employment and childcare. Even death. So they fight tooth and nail, feeling they're doing the will of God when they're really juts preserving the block the way they like it.

Social justice is about rewarding all those deserving. Conservative power grabs are simply about keeping the fortress walls strong.
wildbill83 · 36-40, M
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here." - Patrick Henry

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion... Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” - John Adams

"Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure (and) which insures to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments." - Charles Carrol

"It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible. Of all the dispositions and habits that lead to political prosperity, our religion and morality are the indispensable supporters. Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that our national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." - George Washington
KiwiDan · 31-35, M
It kind of reminds me of the decade+ of that same minority screaming about Obama causing "Sharia Law" (preceded by just Muslims in general)
spjennifer · 56-60, T
You're not entirely wrong and to compound the issue most of the Evangelical Right don't want sex education taught in schools. It is long past due that the Fathers of unwanted children be held to account for their actions. The responsibility for a child does NOT rest solely with the Mother nor does the responsibility for contraception. I don't agree with abortion as a form of birth control but in the cases of rape, incest or birth defects do think it can be appropriate. I know women will say their body, their decision but they too must take responsibility for their actions and not use abortion as birth control, I am certain it's easier to take a pill than to have a fetus aborted...
sunsporter1649 · 70-79, M
@spjennifer [image]
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SatanBurger · 36-40, F
In numerous countries where abortion is clearly outlawed, there's more than a number of cases of courts forcing little kids to have babies, even when it was shown to be the by-product of r-pe. In other examples the mother would have died in childbirth or the kid would have died due to some condition. It was made to be delivered anyways.

At any rate, no one even needs those excuses not to have children because coercion is a very real factor in relationships and thus not everything works out the way people plan all the time.

The fact remains, this has always been about controlling women. The "pick me girls" and the pro life males have always been that way, they pleasure themselves with the thoughts of delightful power fantasies in which they aren't deemed irrelevant in a society that ignores them.

[b]https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/10/mark-mccloskey-ban-abortions-for-victims-of-incestuous-rape.html[/b]

And Mark Mccloskey isn't the only pro lifer who feels that way.
dakotaviper · 56-60, M
I'm 100% Pro-Choice with this issue. In my humble opinion, it's the woman's choice whether to have an abortion or not. Even with my unfortunate moto-cross accident back when I was 15 that rendered me to shooting nothing but blanks, I'm still Pro-Choice. No One is going to change my mind on this issue. Period!
What in particular makes you feel like that's not right? Because those same religious people feel the same way about how LGBT Americans are a minority but their views are being forced onto society in certain ways as well, but we don't hear anyone start to speak against the LGBT movement because it comes from a minority. Black civil rights was against racism and black people also forced their view onto society as well. It's how movement to change a majority happen; it has to be from a minority.

You need more substance than religious Christians being a minority to discredit their stance on abortion.
BlueMetalChick · 26-30, F
@Babylon The difference here is that in one instance, a minority is telling the majority that they need to be able to do the same things that the majority is able to. In the other instance, a minority is telling the majority that they need to stop doing something because the minority is choosing, willingly, not to do it.

In the case of LGBT people wanting things like gay marriage to be legal, the reason why a minority is justified in wanting the majority to change the law is because the very act of telling a group of people that they are legally prohibited from doing something that the majority CAN do, based entirely upon an arbitrary characteristic, is in and of itself wrong.
@BlueMetalChick I agree with you mostly. I don't think the west is truly against stopping people based on an arbitrary characteristic. Because I am against incestuous relationships, for example. They're a minority that wishes to ride the same argument the LGBT community gained acceptance for but even the LGBT community typically does not support incest. Some people are guilt tripped into morally supporting incest by highlighting this double standard but the masses don't press movements for incest rights. The majority of the modern western societies aren't convinced to accept that argument because that kinda points away from how minorities push their views on society. It is rather other than appealing to morals. Rather, to gain traction, it seems that instead of principles and values, it's literally more so about the movement strength and political position the movement has. This is why I disagree, you disagree, many women seem to disagree, the majority seems to disagree with the idea that a woman should [b]never[/b] be able to abort a baby, yet some places have the right to completely outlaw that. This is the power this minority has politically on this topic. (Hence why the main poster is upset with them because he wants majority rule) but we don't accept majority rule always and we don't strictly believe or implement moral justice.
BlueMetalChick · 26-30, F
It's deliberate; they know what they're doing. It's a classic case of the age old "I'm pretending that the thing I want is the way it's always been, when in fact it's the opposite, but I have to be dishonest because otherwise my agenda has no chance."
DeluxedEdition · 26-30, F
Christians aren't entitled to an opinion like everyone else solely because they belong to a religious group?
Longpatrol · 31-35, M
@DeluxedEdition they are, I didn't say that, it's that they're forcing their opinion on everyone else.
DeluxedEdition · 26-30, F
@Longpatrol you could say that about any of the opposing parties 🧐
SatanBurger · 36-40, F
They want their glory days back where they had all of the power, where they called the shots and there was no Harry Potter. That's all it really amounts down to.
GrinNude · 61-69, C
I support a woman's right to give birth. If birth becomes a legal mandate, it is no longer a gift. I support a woman's right to give birth.
Longpatrol · 31-35, M
@GrinNude See there's nobody going around saying" We don't allow you to give birth"

What happening here is "We don't allow you NOT to give birth"
Adstar · 56-60, M
Umm No one can force their views on anyone..

In a democracy the Majority vote in the party that most represents their POV.. So if the USA ends up making abortion ellegal it will be as a result of the majority voting in a political party with that proposal as a plaform..
Slade · 56-60, M
@Adstar Do any of you abortion fetushizing ghouls have a clue what happens if/when Roe is overturned? Think abortion will disappear?

All it does is bring the legislation back to the states. Where it belongs. You know states, the local authorities upon which the country was founded?
Adstar · 56-60, M
@Slade I don't give a brass razzo about this law or that law.. Abortion is murder of the innocnet.. It does not matter to me what the laws of the state are..

Also you seem to think the USA is the entire world.. Here is a fact the USA is 5% of the worlds population living on 7% of the world surface.. ok..
Slade · 56-60, M
@Adstar I agree with you on point one. Point 2 I don't know WTF you are going on about
wildbill83 · 36-40, M
It's not the soviet socialists republic of anarchy either...

where do you think our laws come from?
redredred · M
Two obvious points to consider.

1) It’s not an unreasonable conclusion to consider the killing of a fetus as a homicide.

2) One need not be religious to object to homicide

Both of these points are valid opinions that you may not agree with but reasonable people can maintain differing opinions.
wildbill83 · 36-40, M
If we're going to discard the principles of morality in determining right from wrong and allow people to murder children based simple on personal choice

Then why not allow anyone to murder anyone they want for the same reason? 🤔
dale74 · M
Abortion is against the Muslim religion.
wildbill83 · 36-40, M
@Slade they wait till they're old enough to wear a suicide vest before aborting them... 🤔
Slade · 56-60, M
@wildbill83 Bang! Zoom!
dakotaviper · 56-60, M
@dale74 Unless any Muslim is an American Democrat. Then abortion becomes 100% Righteous.
I respectfully refer you to my reply to Blueveins above.
I do ask you this: if it is a religious [i]minority[/i], what is your problem with having elected representatives decide?
GrinNude · 61-69, C
@LamontCranston And then change laws after every election?
@GrinNude I think the poster was assuming a permanent minority. But your argument equally applies to a change on the court.
The best way to assure liberty protections is to have them expressly stated in the Constitution or an Amendment thereto so there isn't much wiggle room.
hippyjoe1955 · 61-69, M
Why is this debate so important to you?
hippyjoe1955 · 61-69, M
@JimBeam Pretty much.
Longpatrol · 31-35, M
@hippyjoe1955 lol wtf kinda bs are you reading
SatanBurger · 36-40, F
@hippyjoe1955 Yeah you read one article so that must mean it's true. There's all sorts of reasons why someone would want an abortion.
Heartlander · 80-89, M
Hmmm??? Why not listen to the scientist and medical experts when they discuss the viability of the fetus to survive outside of the womb?
QuixoticSoul · 41-45, M
@Heartlander Yes, why not listen to them? Coincidentally, nobody is really arguing for unrestricted third trimester abortions.
GrinNude · 61-69, C
I believe in a woman's right to give birth.' If birth becomes a legal mandate, it is no longer a gift. I support a woman's right to give birth.
Elessar · 26-30, M
[quote]It's not the Christian Republic of America[/quote]
the Republic of Gilead* FTFY 🤪
MarkPaul · 26-30, M
It's a pure power play.
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JimBeam · M
@BlueMetalChick

Trump asked congress to prohibit late-term abortions.

Did I cut the YouTube clip? No, I wouldn't begin to know how to do that, and I don't know why anyone would.

It's the state of the union, so the dems didn't speak.

So you have no comment on half of congress just sitting there and not applauding something that most everyone wants?

I thought it was a disgrace. Trump never called for prohibiting abortions, he just asked that the mothers do it before the baby can feel pain.
BlueMetalChick · 26-30, F
@JimBeam Of course they're not going to applaud. A republican president was giving a state of the union speech. Whether they agree, disagree, or otherwise with what Trump is saying, they're not going to give him any credit at all. And the same goes in reverse. You won't catch Mitch McConnell applauding Joe Biden during a state of the union address even if he might agree with something that Biden has said.
JimBeam · M
@BlueMetalChick

Do you have any examples of times when the Republicans didn't applaud a Dem president, with an issue like not wanting babies to feel pain?

Obviously the dems aren't going to applaud for jobs or things like that, but they made themselves look like absolute monsters for not applauding the substance of that issue.
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Heartlander · 80-89, M
@FullMetalFatPig

Agreed. It's not a religious argument, thought some try to take political advantage of the issue as they try to use it as an anti-religion weapon.

It's about when the fetus becomes a person. When it becomes aware of its own existence, when it strives to survive.
@FullMetalFatPig I only take that argument seriously if pro lifers also apply it to taking human life in other circumstances, like warfare and self defense. Otherwise, all we’re doing is arguing over which people it’s OK to kill.
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