Friday, June 18, 2004

Dialog with a Christian Postmodern – Part 1

It all begin after Jane read my (Alex's) commentary about the pro-choice march in DC. In that piece, I contrasted the abhorrent actions and demeanor of the “choicers” against that of pro-lifer, Lori McCormick to show the depth of the clash between these worldviews.

“Alex, all I got from your commentary was a one-sided view of the pro-life movement. What about all of the ‘so-called’ pro-lifers who bomb abortion clinics, terrorize clinic staff, and block women’s legal access into such clinics?”

“Jane, I admit that Christians have been guilty of incredible acts of violence. And in the broader view, the Church has had several dark and shameful periods in its past (the Inquisition, Crusades, witch trails, condoning slavery, etc.). However, most of these blemishes were motivated and propelled more by political and selfish human agendas rather than for religious reasons. In fact, all (including abortion clinic violence) were in direct conflict with Christ’s teachings which could have been readily discerned by any honest seeker of the truth.

So yes, there are fringe Christians who engage the culture in ways that are incompatible with Christianity. However, their acts can be clearly shown contrary to the Christian Worldview. But the raging pro-choices are acting consistently with the worldview that says, ‘the only absolute is choice and those who don’t agree are either ignorant or oppressors that need to be silenced.’”

Not about to budge an inch, Jane responded, “Well, I can see both sides to this moral dilemma. On each side there are moral and decent people.”

“Jane, You’re quite right -- there are sincere and decent people on both sides of the issue who do good things and bad things. I'm sure we each could name a few atheists who outshine many Christians in altruistic acts. However, those acts do not make the atheist good any more than the lack of acts make the Christian bad. So how do you view this moral dilemma?”

“All I know is that there are situations when to allow a child to develop to full-term would be cruel to both parents and child. To outlaw all abortions, to me, would create more problems than it would solve. I believe getting an abortion should not be easy, but it should be available in extenuating situations. So you could say, that I am pro-choice if strict regulations and controls are applied. ”

After a period of speechlessness, I finally countered with, “It seems that the issue should be plain.
If the unborn is not a human person, no justification for abortion is necessary. However, if the unborn is a human person, knitted Imago Dei in the “hidden places,” no justification for abortion is adequate.”

Without conceding that point she turned the discussion to the “misnomer” of pro-life and the incoherence of its stance…

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