The weeks around the December 2020 US presidential elections have spurred a round of vivid discussions; discussions I for once actively engaged in. This post will not get into the utter embarrassment Trump turned the US into once the results came out.
To my utter surprise I learned that some people voted for Donald Trump on the single issue of his stance against the legality of abortion. Some of the people I talked with share this opposition because of religious conviction. As most people probably know, the various Christian cults base their ideas on a compilation of ancient stories, generally referred to as the “Book”. The latter is a major contributor to my surprise because nowhere does this bible take a stand against abortion! Clearly, Christians who vote for a presidential candidate sharing their religious stance against abortion have never read their own scrolls of magic, or only know some parts of it. Not only does the bible never speak out against abortion as something immoral, in at least one instance it is actively used as a means to an end.
"I will never cede power."
There is much to be said as to the why and how so few Christians are knowledgeable about the foundation writings of their misguided religions. Without getting into the reasons here, it seems to be a widespread phenomenon. Although all Christian cults and sub sects are based wholly or in part on the same holy fiction novels, Christians find themselves diametrically opposed to one another on this (and many other) social issue. It also shows how utterly useless the bible (and religion) is to solve moral questions. Christianity, Judaism and Islam are very primitive moral systems as a whole and are lagging centuries behind our slowly but undeniably improving morality.
The number one example of the latter is always slavery (1). Some Christians still justify slavery (with the understanding of course that they are not the enslaved) by their belief that if the bible and thus god is okay with it, then they should be too. Most people however utterly condemn slavery. Rightly so, for it is simply wrong. Most Christians would nowadays condemn it as well, in spite of their holy instruction manual. Luckily most humans live life better than prescribed by their religious dogmas. Fancy a pretty young girl but she doesn’t fancy you back? Simply rape her. And while our modern societies deem rape wrong and punishable, god totally gets your urge and even rewards it: she has to marry you and you get to rape her as long and as many times as you want. Is that what they mean by “the good old days”?
Likewise, the bible does not condemn abortion, far from it. So why do Christians condemn abortion as wrong or sinful? Certainly it cannot be out of the obedience to the commandment “thou shalt not kill”, because god orders people to kill each other on every possible occasion or for whatever petty reason. And why is it that abortion is a sin to some Christians, but not all? Maybe those Christians who are “pro-choice” know their bible better? Possibly they don’t know their bible either, but simply agree that a woman should be able to decide for herself what she wants to do or have done to her body? Or are the “pro-lifers” simply anti-choice?
Although many countries have legalized abortion under specific circumstances, it remains a matter of hot debate. In other countries it is still illegal or may become so again under pressure from mainly religious groups. But to any woman or man who supports the outlawing of abortion under any circumstance, I would ask them the following: Do you think I have the right to use or abuse your body in any way I see fit? Do you think that you should do with your body as I decide? I presume that your answer would be no. But if so, what gives you the right to decide what someone else should do with their body? I have no problem with you being against abortion as far as you apply your convictions to yourself. If you impose your convictions on others through law, you take away their choices and most personal freedom, their freedom to determine how they would treat themselves. We are of course talking in general and about sane, normal thinking adults (Evidently this opens the door to all kinds of variations on the latter description).
Another remark that needs to be made is that not all people who are strongly against abortion are so because of religious ideas. As Christians find themselves on opposite sides of the issue, so do non-believers. But certainly you cannot be against abortion because of what is written in the bible.
First off, in the bible unborn babies, in whatever stage of pregnancy, are not considered persons. If you think you can make a case for the contrary, then you’re just making the bible even more immoral than it already is. There are several examples where god orders or threatens the murder of babies, whether born or unborn (see reference 2 below). I will limit the citation to perhaps the most clear cut case where abortion is specifically sanctioned by divine law.
Numbers 5:16-22
“‘The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the Lord. 17 Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. 18 After the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder-offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. 19 Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. 20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”— 21 here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the Lord cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. 22 May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.”
“‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.”
Imagine the same being applied in our own day and age: poisoning a woman to cause a spontaneous abortion as proof of adultery and this under god’s thundering applause. By the way, what if the woman is guilty of adultery but pregnant from her husband? Whatever the case, it is clear that the bible is not “pro-life”, doesn’t care the tiniest bit about unborn babies and even less if they are to be born outside of god’s master race.
Circling back to the political side: whether Donald Trump is against abortion out of religious ideas is something he only knows for real. But as with most issues, he stands where he thinks the majority stands or what profits him most, so it is not unthinkable that he hasn’t got the slightest clue of what the bible says. Being advised by his in-White House spiritual advisor Paula White, a certified lunatic and biblical law breaking “Christian” doesn’t help matters. Voting for Trump because of your assumed shared religious view on the matter of abortion, is something that cannot be grounded in the religious laws of your “holy” scriptures. Donald Trump has always had a hard time making any sense. Joining him in his idiotic black-or-white stand against abortion, a matter that does not affect the majority of the people that are screaming the loudest about it, you too are turning yourself into the typical Trumpiot. Luckily, it is never too late for anyone to question why they believe what they believe. This plants the small seed of hope that the idiocy shared between Trump and many of his worshippers can gradually be cured.
Charles Dalet, PhD, January 2021
(1) See for example: Noel Rae, “How Christian Slaveholders Used the Bible to Justify Slavery”, February 23, 2018 3:30 PM EST, Time Magazine, https://time.com/5171819/christianity-slavery-book-excerpt/ (2) Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc., Nontract #7, “What does the bible say about abortion” https://ffrf.org/component/k2/item/18514-what-does-the-bible-say-about-abortion
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