Christians Should Be Able to Argue the Other Side

I found a refreshing take on arguing religion by a devout Catholic. He is an admirer of Saint Thomas Aquines. Aquines, he says, was diligent in studying his opponents argument. He studied it until he had mastered it so well he could have been its advocate. By knowing his opponent's central case he could attack it effectively.

This diligence was not present in the gay marriage debate. Advocates argued gay people should have equal rights. Their Christian opponents have never come up with a good reason why gay people should not have equal rights. Maybe there is some reason but we've never heard it.

The gay argument seems mostly over but the argument about women's right to abortions goes on. But, the argument is trending toward the same end as gay marriage. It is trending toward being widely available because its Christian opponents refuse to master the main argument they face. The argument is that women, like gay men and women, have certain rights and taking away abortion as an option also takes away these rights.

Women have rights to medical services that are private. They have the right to earn a living that supports their other children and sometimes their parents and a husband. When there is no right to an abortion there is not right to these other things. I have yet to hear one leader of anti abortion address how these rights will be maintained in a no abortion U.S.