Abortion Has Become a Religious Rite, not Just a Legal "Right"

0:00Walking a break point, a daily look and an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. Earlier this month, an Indiana judge blocked a pro-life law arguing that limiting abortion violates the freedom of religion. The claim brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, and who's your Jews for choice, argued that an Indiana law, and I quote, violates religious freedoms by burdening the ability to obtain an abortion in accordance with sincerely held beliefs, end quote. Judge Christina Kleinman agreed with the argument, saying this, quote, the court finds there's significant public interest in ensuring the religious freedom of all citizens and the state's position that religious freedom is somehow less important than other exceptions in the abortion law puts the court in an untenable position and finds a permanent injunction the only proper relief. End quote. You, which does not typically champion religious rights, responded by saying this, today's

1:01ruling is a recognition that religious freedom protects people with many faiths and beliefs not just those favored by the state. For more than three years, our clients have challenged law that forces them to choose between their faith and their autonomy. Of course, asserting a religious right to kill kids is a diabolical attempt to be clever, and yet twisting the State's Religious Freedom Restoration Act is more than just rhetorical snark. It indicates just how dramatically the conversation about abortion has shifted in recent years, even as imaging technologies in prenatal medicine has clarified what the practice really is. You see, not that long ago, politicians would campaign on the idea that no one really wants abortion, but women need it in extraordinary circumstances. Today, abortion celebrated with light shows and dance parties, as if it's a moral good and any restrictions are a fundamental violation of human rights. It used to be safe legal and rare. Today, it's shout your abortion.

2:03And pro-abortion propaganda has become even more radical, just as the political climate increasingly favors abortion. In the year since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, so-called abortion rights, have been enshrined in the constitutions of numerous American states. With rare exceptions, when voters are given the chance to curb abortion in their states, they just failed to show up. The GOP, once a pro-life party, now openly endorses chemical abortion and unregulated IVF, the two most common ways that pre-born children are killed in America. In other words, abortions not merely a plank in the Progressive Party platform. It's the chief commitment of a worldview that now dominates America. It's for many a sacrament to recognize and enshrine an honor autonomy. Abortion's not merely a legal right, R-I-G-H-T of a decadent society. It is a right, R-I-T-E, of worship, specifically a way to worship the idols of self, sex, and

3:06state. Abortion is not, nor has it ever been, merely a matter of public policy. Certainly, the politics of abortion is an essential place for us to take a stand. However, as the performative marches and handmade outfits demonstrate, abortions always been at heart a worldview issue. As important as legal victories are, the GOP has to be for abortion to become as unthinkable as the great social evils of history, like slavery and genocide. But what we're seeing is not only that abortion is thinkable, it's actually being revered as a symbol and a right of a terrible religion. That's why the loudest advocates for abortion claim that people cannot have authentic life without access to it. Of course, that betrays what they really think, not only about the value of pre-born lives, but also about the moral abilities of human beings. As such, there's no such thing in this time and place as a Christian who is not called in some degree to oppose abortion and to defend pre-born life.

4:09We need not attend every march or express every outrage, however, we must protect every vulnerable life we can. We have to support every vulnerable mother and father we can. We have to advance the Christian understanding of human dignity with every chance that we're given. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. Today, I want to say thanks to Mark and Jean of Potter, Wisconsin. Thank you for being a Cornerstone monthly partner of the Colson Center. You helped make this episode of Breakpoint possible. Today's episode was co-authored by Dr. Timothy Paget. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, please leave us a review where you download your podcast. And for more resources or to share this commentary with others, go to Breakpoint.org. Hi there, I'm Michael Craven, Vice President and Dean of the Colson Fellowship. Does this sound familiar? You're a Christian who wants your faith to inform every part of your life, but you're not sure how to make that connection, especially in the chaotic culture we find ourselves living

5:12in. That's where the Colson Fellows program can help. Colson Fellows invest time over 10 months to study how Christianity is so much more than a private God in me only faith. It is, as Colson Fellows discover, the only way of seeing and comprehending reality as it actually is. In other words, it is the truth of reality. The result is a much more confident, courageous faith that's equipped for this and every other cultural moment. And this could be you. Application for next year's class are now open and you can learn more at ColsonFellows.org. That's ColsonFellows.org. I hope to see you in the next class.