Why pro-life atheists are relevant

The direction of my life changed when I found out that there were many pro-life atheists out there. Looking back, I wonder why I assumed that there were none. Christopher Hitchens was the first I knew about but there are many others. With the power of the internet, I plan to learn all I can about what they are doing.

Finally theists and atheists found something that they can agree on! The reason I choose to write about pro-life atheism is because it is something that people are not as educated about. It was also a revelation to me that belief in supernatural invisible people in no way changes how someone feels about life.

There was a day when I first encountered the website: “http://www.numberofabortions.com/”. Faced with the information of just how bad it was, I could no longer stay silent about it. I would never forgive myself if I did. On that day I decided that there was no possibility of changing this problem by debate, prayer, or protest. People have already done those things for years and yet it has not stopped over one billion babies from being killed. That is not even counting the illegal uncounted abortions. Few people are honest enough with themselves to admit that this is a problem which affects them and that will not go away by ignoring it.

Most of the people in the pro-life movement have been Christians who have damaged their own efforts by teaching that those who do not belief in their God or Jesus in the correct way are going to burn in an eternal fire called hell.

The idea that somehow believing a certain religious doctrine determines an afterlife is offensive to all who had not chance to even hear of it. Think of all those who have died before birth in an abortion or miscarriage. Because of the irrationality of such a claim, I have decided that I place higher value on action than belief. I also can not even think of a way that an afterlife is possible or something that I want. I don't want myself or anyone else to be tortured after death anymore than I want them tortured in this life.

I have meditated on the meaning of my life and have decided that my life is an awkward stage between conception and death. I do not take it as seriously anymore now that I know I will not get out of it alive.

I desire that theist pro-lifers unite with the atheist pro-lifers instead of fighting about the existence of a God or gods. I got bored with such irrelevant debates. No longer can humanity afford to waste time and money on such things.

My opinion is that pro-life atheists are relevant to me in my personal fight against abortion because they often are more honest and have learned more about science and history than other people allow themselves to.

Becoming an atheist, agnostic, or deist will not change their opinion on abortion. I learned this when I accidentally became a pro-life atheist. If the other pro-life atheists all “come out of the closet”, the world will see a change.

Here are some links to things other pro-life atheists have written.

http://www.fnsa.org/fall98/reed.html

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/03/11/yes-there-are-pro-life-atheists-out-there-heres-why-im-one-of-them/

http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/28/confessions-of-a-pro-life-atheist-why-i-fight-abortion/

Why pro-choice Christians are irrelevant

For a long time, the majority of those who claim to be Christian have also called themselves pro-life, but recently, more of them identify as pro-choice. What has happened? Is being pro-life or pro-choice the correct position for Christians?

What standard are Christians going by? Some say they are going by the bible, then they are picking the verses they like and ignoring other verses that disagree with them. Basically, they are pro-choice about their bible, which means they can pick verses which support a pro-life position about abortion, but that they can also find verses to support a pro-death position just as easily.

Many Christians have heard “Thou shalt not kill.” because it is mentioned in the bible six times.

Exodus 20:13

Deuteronomy 5:17

Matthew 5:21

Matthew 19:18

Romans 13:9

James 2:11

Sometimes it may say either “kill” or “murder” depending on your translation, but they are the same thing. Anyone who kills someone intentionally has either not read or has completely ignored the commandment not to kill. The problem with the bible is that it tells us that even God kills people when he feels like it. When people kill someone, they only need to say that God told them to do it.

When thinking about the murder in the bible, I think first of all the animal sacrifices. If you aren't aware of the animal sacrifices, start reading Leviticus. I think the idea of animal sacrifices explains why sheep, goats, and cattle don't like Judaism or Christianity.

But people ignored all that because they believe that humans are the superior creation of a God that has given all humans permission to kill other animals when they want to. Since I see other animals as being equal to humans, I disagree.

But to those who think that human life is special and should not be killed, what do they do with the biblical God who kills humans when he feels like it? What about the flood of Genesis 6? What about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19? What about the plagues God sent on Egypt in Exodus 9?

Even if you say that God had to punish people for being evil, wicked or sinful, you have to explain the death of the innocent too. There is no way that every single animal deserved to die. Aside from that, without a solid moral standard, there is no way for anyone, not even God, to decide who is evil enough to be killed.

Now that I have learned enough to understand that the bible is not a standard of morality, I see how Christianity has accepted relativism. To most of the Christians, it doesn't matter what you say, what you believe, or who you kill. Whatever happens must have been God's will.

I don't claim to believe the bible, but the “Thou shalt not kill.” commandment is one that I happen to agree with. If people had obeyed that rule, Jesus never would have been killed.

When people say that the crucifixion of Jesus, or the sacrifice of animals were good things, then I know that they are not pro-life. The reason I fear them is not because they call themselves Christian, but because if they heard the voice of God telling them to kill Chandler Isaac Klebs, they would do it without hesitation.

The flip side is, people who spend their time and money doing what they can to protect life are not part of Christianity. I want to support pro-lifers no matter what religion they claim to be part of. It is the actions of these people that shows what they really believe.

I want to inspire people to think before they say things like “Abortion is a gift from God.” or “Abortion is God's will.”. I see this as a problem for theists and atheists alike. If there is a God, then he, she, or it must show up and respond to these claims.

The world has become very confused about basic things such as life and death. If you don't believe me, just try listening to abortion debates. Also here are some links to show what is happening.

http://www.lifenews.com/2014/03/28/university-sponsored-display-claims-abortion-is-a-gift-from-god/

http://mychal-massie.com/premium/obama-thinks-abortion-is-gods-will/

http://www.lifenews.com/2014/04/09/united-methodist-church-group-sends-money-to-planned-parenthood-abortion-business/

http://www.evilbible.com/god%27s%20not%20pro-life.htm

http://www.lifenews.com/2014/04/23/woman-thanks-god-for-her-abortion-because-she-wanted-to-fit-into-her-skinny-jeans/

Why fighting abortion is relevant

It is very relevant that I explain my pro-life position and my own personal fight against abortion. I have already written about why abortion laws are irrelevant. This does not mean I am ending my fight against abortion. I am just getting started.

The fact that I am very pro-life or anti-abortion is so relevant to me that it had an influence on my rejection of religion. Religions often consider sex to be a sin. Since sex causes babies to be conceived, people have a motivation to hide the evidence that they did sex. By terminating the pregnancy in whatever way, this is possible to do.

But that is not the only way that religion promotes abortion. Religion can also come up with ideas such as abstinence-only sex education. If people think that they can just tell other people not to do sex and expect it to have any effect, then they obviously have failed to notice that telling someone not to do something often has the opposite effect of what they intended.

Maybe the religious people had the idea of preventing pregnancy to begin with. It would make sense that babies who have not been conceived can not be killed. However, if this is the case, then why do they spend their time picking on the homosexuals? After all, they are certainly not a contributor to pregnancy.

The abortion issue is probably one of the most relevant topics that I could possibly write about. The trouble is communicating that my pro-life status is irrelevant to any religious beliefs I have, or lack thereof.

I think about what it is like to be an unborn baby:

I feel safe, I know nothing about the world I will soon enter. And then, suddenly, something hurts me. I am not given a reason for this. I do not know who it is that is hurting me. I do not matter. I am not wanted, needed, loved, significant, important, connected, attached, belonging, or relevant.

That is what I feel. This feeling of being something to throw away. I know this feeling. I can relate to the unborn child. I can understand. I can connect. I am RELEVANT!

And now, I must speak for those who can not speak for themselves. Rather than waste time trying to make abortion illegal, I want to prevent the motives behind what causes it. I know that religion is only one of the reasons, but I consider it a source of the kind of irrational thinking that leads people to do things that they would not think of otherwise.

When I find out that someone has no trouble killing a baby, then I know that they also have no problem with killing me. The only difference between me and an unborn baby is that I learned I was not wanted by most of society after birth.

I am aware that the abortion problem is a very complex issue. I know that even those who have made the decisions to abort their children may not have wanted to. The solution is not as simple as telling people to stop killing babies. Effort must be made so that men are made to take some responsibility for the children that they helped produce. The financial problems and social expectations of other people certainly have an influence. But in the end, there is no excuse for killing a baby as if it was somehow responsible for the problems present in the world.

The arguments for abortion as well as those against it are entirely irrelevant to the case. What difference does it make whether the child was conceived through rape or not? What difference does it make whether or not you have a book that says “Thou shalt not kill.” ? What difference does it make whether you call something tissue, an embryo, or fetus? What difference does the legality of abortion make?

I don't like the term “pro-choice”. It implies that someone has a choice in the matter. Most of the time, neither the pregnant woman nor the baby inside her is given a choice.

I am not part of any political movement to make abortion illegal. Nor do I wish to be. I see the abortion problem as part of a bigger problem. This is about murder. I think that religion and politics only add to this problem.