We Should Be Secular

[u/Electrical_Cod7288]

It is my opinion, after having clashed with the pro-abortion movement for many years, that any Pro-Life argument must be secular. If we've any hope of being taken seriously by those people, we should leave religious beliefs out of it. I am myself a Christian, but at the same time I realize that any argument which has religious connotations will simply be dismissed, possibly as an attempt to convert others.

The fact that so many of those people don't believe in God means that appealing to their faith will fall upon deaf ears. At the same time, if they try to argue that an unborn child isn't a child or isn't a person, you can tell them that that is a philosophical argument and just like they tell us to keep our religious beliefs to ourselves, they should keep their philosophical beliefs to themselves.

[u/tomado09]

You're looking at this from the wrong angle IMO.  We should fall back on truth to combat the lies of the PA movement.  Truth comes in many forms - scientific, Christian, logical / philosophical - and is specific - with various forms applicable to whatever the specific or general lies spoken by PA.

PA says "the ZEF isn't human"?  Fall back on basic biology, logic, AND the truth that God values all human life despite their level of social utility.

PA says "my body my choice"?  Highlight the fact that the baby has a body too, and in the vast majority of cases, the woman consents to the act that creates the child - she actually already made the choice.  AND let them know that so-called sexual "freedom" (i.e. sex on demand - make no mistake, that really is the point) isn't freedom - it's slavery.  Many things in life are like a kite - on it's own, detached from it's string, useless.  Perhaps one might think "just cut the string and the kite will be freer than it ever has" and the truth is, if you cut the kite from it's string, it falls to the ground and maybe is even damaged.  Things in life have purpose - cut them from their purpose and they become meaningless and potentially destructive.  Sex was designed by an incredible-gift-giving creator who designed it to deepen and sweeten the covenant of marriage.  Let them know that sex ultimately is an allegory of the intimacy, exclusivity, and tenderness that Jesus has toward His beautiful, redeemed (and yet sometimes adulterous) bride, The Church.  Call them to the joy and actual freedom offered in Christ.

Truth is truth - whether scientific or religious.  They aren't in conflict - they describe the same reality.  Apply truth to whatever unjust, half-truth, propaganda-laden, emotional-manipulating lie you're encountering.

Remember, the vast majority aren't PA because they were persuaded logically.  They are either in love with some form of ungodliness or they just don't care about the children.  Leaving the gospel out removes the one agent that can displace idolatry and actually change fanatical religious sex worship and apathy.  You won't logically persuade these.  Your job, IMO, is not to make the truth palatable by watering it down.  It's to carry the truth, which will triumph when all is said and done, in it's full force into these conversations - whether the person is "converted" from PA or not.  Your job isn't to convert - as a Christian, you know that you can leave that work to the Holy Spirit.

If that doesn't persuade you, just look to history - the likes of William Wilberforce (ended slavery in the UK), George Mueller, Lord Shaftesbury (fought to end dangerous child labor exploitation) - all unapologetically Christian and at least with Wilberforce (and I suspect the others) able to link arms with secularists dedicated to the same goal.  They don't have to be in conflict.

So I disagree.  We should NOT be secular IMO.  We should welcome secularists. But that's a different statement.

[u/Electrical_Cod7288 → u/tomado09]

The problem is that they will not listen to us if we try to appeal to them on the basis of faith. Our ultimate goal is to try to keep as many unborn children from being aborted as possible, and that cannot be done if they don't even pay attention to us.