Christian Pundits are Starting to See the Folly of Forced Birth

It was refreshing to read a prominent Christian columnist agree with what I have been writing here since forever. Mark Silk wrote that the insistence to pass laws against abortion will take down the Republican majority. He says correctly those who insist on continuing the fight to pass forced birth laws are engaging in a kind of spiritual warfare. Another term that has been used for a set of people who cannot stop themselves from frothing from the mouth in support of a hopeless project is "cult." Is it fair to call forced birth zealots a "cult?"

Putting spiritual warfare together with the term "cult," we have spiritual warfare based on a religious view which sees, or perhaps feels, the presence of a human being at the moment of conception. That there is no basis for this view does not affect in any way the conviction their religious view is the only correct view. What have we seen in cults? 

I can recall two famous cults. One was called "Heaven's Gate." In that cult, followers were convinced that if they drank poison and killed themselves they would be put on board a space vehicle following the Haley Bott Comit. Thirty-nine died. One could say to followers death was a small price to pay for the wonderful experience ahead. 

The other was the Jonestown massacre in Guyana in 1978. Cult leader Jim Jones persuaded 918 people it was in their best interests to drink a cyanide laced beverage and die rather than be captured by a mythical enemy. Like with the Heaven's cult, followers were certain death was the smart and best option.

Comparing these two cults with forced birth zealots leaves me to see both similarities and differences. Both cults above had no rational basis for believing death was the best option. It was not possible, however, for followers to accept that they were wrong. Forced birth zealots are different in that they are not advocating anything as harmful as mass death of followers. They are the same in that they do not understand the dead-end consequences of their zealotry. 

Christian intellectuals are coming to understand forced birth politics are politics of the loser.

That said, forced birth zealots, like Haley Bott and Jonestown, are willing to suffer huge consequences from their mistaken religious conviction. The consequences are political. Watching failed elections is unimportant to them. A glorious political future is being beaten over and over while clinging to a false view that one fertilized cell is a human being. As the link author writes, they are whistling past the graveyard.

Perhaps a new term applies to forced birth, "cult lite."