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Warning: This blog is mainly about my views on issues relating to liberty, disability rights, women's rights, the non-aggression principle, and the consistent life ethic. This blog also contains artwork, satire, and lists of awesome music and movies. Many of the things I post will be controversial, meaningful, or hilarious. For a more in-depth description, click here.

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Religion's place in the pro-life movement

When I blog about abortion or the pro-life movement, I typically write from a secular perspective. I strongly believe that secular arguments are most effective, especially when the assumption is that all pro-lifers are religious.
Personally, I am not part of any organized religion, and spiritually, I could best be described as an eclectic Christo-Pagan duodeist. Of course, what are the chances of me meeting someone who shares those beliefs outside the Internet? Almost zero.
Anyway, it's been kind of hard for me to pray for the pro-life cause because I tend to keep my religious views separate from my pro-life activism. I always felt like I was saying, "God,* please help me to make a difference in the pro-life movement even though I'm not going to include you in my arguments." I found myself annoyed by events like 40 Days for Life (even though I knew that lots of babies have been saved from it), and I never really thought I had a place in it.
Not until I saw this picture on Secular Pro-Life's Facebook page:

The description of the photo reads: "A pagan, a Christian, and a Buddhist each pray in their own way outside the Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Austin, TX. (With an atheist behind the camera.)"
I found it beautiful that each of these people were praying in a different way, all for the same cause. It also got me to rethink my belief that I had no place at pro-life prayer-based events. It's not that I wasn't the praying type; it was that I had kept my religious views separate from my pro-life activism. And for the most part, I will continue to do that. However, now I realize that there is a place for religion and spirituality in the pro-life movement. It all depends on your audience. For example, a Christian person seeking an abortion may change their mind because they saw people praying outside the abortion facility, but an atheist would not. Churches should speak out against abortion. One of the many reasons I found myself so frustrated with my Mormon upbringing was because the church almost never spoke out against abortion, and when they did, it was typically part of a long list of "sins" that aren't nearly as horrible. Abortion is horrible, and churches need to speak out against it, just like they should speak out against other horrible injustices.

*This was back before I started praying to both of my Heavenly Parents (for the lack of a better term).

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