Why Do Anti Abortion Zealots Think they can Ignore the Elephant in the Room


Russell Moore is quite a well known person in Protestant circles. He held a high level position in the Southern Baptist Convention for several years. There he insisted the denomination and fellow travelers should not support Trump. Understandably he eventually resigned. Now he works for Christianity Today and I think is a preacher. 

He published a piece today lamenting that abortion is slipping in polling data as an issue of importance to Christians. It is wrong, he writes, for Christians not to place abortion at the top of their concerns. Of course he goes through the usual song-and-dance about the helpless fetus and how "Christian" it is to hype this.

In this entire and rather long piece he avoids the obvious. The obvious is the rights of the mother. The obvious is the role of public law enforce in monitoring and prosecuting the mother if she claim miscarriage but in some way creates doubt. If Russell and his ilk cannot resolve, or have any solution whatsoever, to this problem they have no case against abortion rights.

When polling and politics change often there are unseen or seen but not recognized changes going on. What might be going on with anti abortion polling worse than it has done previously. We have to remember anti abortion has not always polled as well or done as well politically as it has in recent decades. It stands to reason that if attitudes have changed once they can change again. Does Russell believe that in the 1950's when abortion rights were more popular voters had never been given the propaganda the fetus is a human being at conception? It was there, people just did not believe it. This can play out again.

I think, but of course do not know for certain, polling for anti abortion has slipped because of a new abortion rights narrative. First, a concerted effort has been made to have women who have had abortions talk of their abortion experience and their lives since then. Except for a tiny minority, women who have had abortions look back at it as a good decision. Prominent women in show business and politics are telling the public they are happy they had their abortions. As I recall, Justice Kennedy repeated the old anti abortion narrative by saying abortions are dangerous and women affected adversely by them. We now know this is not true. 

Second, news stories about women who had spontaneous miscarriages (abortions) but are not believed by law enforcement are being reported. Law enforcement is prosecuting these women. What could be more freighting to a woman than being jailed for a miscarriage? 

The elephant in the room on abortion is the rights of women. By taking away all of the woman's rights and giving them to the fetus Russell and in team of zealots will see anti abortion slipping. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maybe the "Original Sin" Should be Reassigned

Image
We can all agree most Catholic priests are fine people and not guilty of sexual abuse. What Catholics must face, however, it that their church harbors executives who are dishonest . There is an incredible story about the Argentine Bishop Zanchetta. The Pope worked with him in Argentina and they are considered friends. Around 2015 Zanchetta sent nude pictures of himself and they began circulating world wide. He also was too friendly with young seminarians and some left because of him.  Three different officials say they made formal complaints to the Vatican about Zanchetta between 2015 and 2017. Yet, in 2018, the Vatican claimed it was unaware of any complaints about Zanchetta. This might be a good time to repeat the Catholic hierarchy claims to have the sole authority handed down from Jesus to what the faith stands for. It condemns as sinners those who practice birth control, have abortions and gay sexual relationships. Handing the hierarchy this responsibility would make som
Read more

The Religious Capitol Invaders May Yet Win

Image
So much about U.S. society and religion can be learned from the Civil War and what happened afterwards. After its defeat, the South started a myth about the unethical soldiers from the North. The South fought for principles of God and states rights. The North did not. It was the South, this propaganda told the country, that had the high moral ground.  The Capitol invaders, encouraged by Trump, swallowed the myth that Biden's election was stolen. Thus, they think they held and still hold the high moral ground. This was reinforced by the cross and prayers during the invasion. Even with Trump is gone, we will see political opportunists like Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley stroking crowds and feeding the same lies as Trump. Like "the South will rise again" these gullible followers will talk of victory over the unclean. After the Civil War the South rallied around the phrase, Lost Cause. For decades, and maybe to this day, there are ceremonies remembering fallen martyrs, Re
Read more

Father Frank Pavone, the Ultimate Crook

Image
Recently, the Vatican defrocked Frank Pavone. His diehard fans are outraged. This is because he cleverly manipulated his fans and the press all the while living well from donations and, apparently, abusing some women. By making abortion the "sin" of the century, and himself the main opposition to this one sin, he himself could get away with any sin he pleased.  As the link points out, Pavone was the perfect priest for the Trump era. Trump is so self-important laws have no role in his life. He felt accountable to no one. Women were there to be had. Pavone and Trump are interchangeable.  Pavone was very successful raising money. In his mind, abortion was so important in Catholic beliefs and he was so important in anti-abortion the money he raised opposing it was his to do with what he liked. The Catholic Church, the brand name he used to raise this money, thought the money belonged to it. When he gave the Vatican the bird, it gave him walking papers. With polls showing the majo
Read more