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I had the badge. You know, the one for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. I used to be a dedicated member of the anti-nuclear motion and proudly wore my badge. Sometimes I wore it to political conferences the place it served as a reminder that I used to be ‘on the precise aspect of historical past’ and suitably ‘progressive/socialist’. I have never seen that badge, besides on previous hippie vans, for a few years. As a problem it does not even register in our elections. But there may be one other image, one other trigger which in case you do not assist you’re clearly past the pale. What is it? Let’s begin our story in my very own turf of Australia.
A wierd factor occurred within the State of Queensland up to now month. The ruling Labor party appeared on track for a crushing defeat within the State elections, when the Premier Stephen Miles determined to make abortion a problem. Taking a leaf out of the Kamala Harris playbook he instantly began arguing that ‘ladies’s reproductive well being rights have been at stake’. Although the opposition Liberal party had no proposals for altering the present regulation, even the suggestion of a menace was thought-about to be a vote winner. It could have been, however the Labor party nonetheless misplaced, and the brand new Liberal State authorities has simply been sworn in.
Meanwhile within the US Kamala Harris, dealing with a downturn in polls (though they’re so shut that it’s anybody’s guess who is actually forward) determined to play once more what she considers to be her profitable ticket – abortion. Together with Michelle Obama and Beyoncé, she has upped the rhetoric claiming that any restrictions on abortion are a ‘healthcare disaster’ and that, what she incorrectly calls ‘Trump’s abortion ban’ is killing ladies. Apart from the truth that she conveniently ignores the truth that greater than 20 ladies have died due to the abortion tablet, she additionally makes quite a few false claims that want reality checked – see my earlier article on this.
Meanwhile the Scottish authorities, which can also be struggling, agrees that abortion is a vote winner. Last month new laws was enacted which prevents any form of protest, prayer and even presence inside a 200m ‘excluded’ zone outdoors an abortion clinic (an identical regulation exists in England). Such is the zeal with which this order is being enforced that The Daily Telegraph reported it may very well be a criminal offense to wish in your individual dwelling.
A letter was despatched to residents inside an Edinburgh exclusion space warning them that whereas the offences on the whole solely utilized in public locations, “nonetheless actions in a non-public place (comparable to a home) inside the space between the protected premises and the boundary of a zone may very well be an offence if they are often seen or heard inside the zone and are performed deliberately or recklessly.” The letter warned that regulation breakers may very well be fined as much as £10,000. Religious preaching, prayer or silent vigils may very well be topic to prosecution if they’re performed with “intent or recklessness”.
As a preacher I do not know how you can preach with out intent! And I worry that a lot of my preaching is likely to be known as “reckless”. After all, weren’t the early Christian preachers accused of ‘turning the world the other way up’ (Acts 17:6) as a result of they dared to talk phrases which weren’t acceptable to the authorities of the day?
If I dwell in a so-called exclusion zone and we’re singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing with the road ‘offspring of a virgin’s womb’, what if somebody discovered that offensive? What if I write on my Facebook that that day I had been praying Psalm 139 – how I used to be knit collectively in my mom’s womb – and somebody studying it mentioned: wait a minute, that’s inside the exclusion zone of the abortion clinic I work at – that’s intentional and reckless! What a state that Scotland – as soon as often known as the ‘land of the individuals of the Book’ has come to – that personal prayer inside a non-public dwelling can now be criminalised.
There is a deep contradiction right here. Humza Yousaf, the short-lived First Minister of Scotland, lately tweeted on the anniversary of the Scottish authorities organising a ebook of remembrance for infants miscarried earlier than 24 weeks. He acknowledged that the mother and father have been grieving as a result of that they had misplaced a child – a member of their household. On the one hand he was saying that it was a cause to grieve as a result of a baby had been misplaced; on the opposite he defended the precise of the household to take the lifetime of their very own youngster.
So why is there this obsession with abortion? How have we moved from ‘it needs to be secure and uncommon’ to it now being a badge of honour? When did questioning abortion and arguing for the precise of the infant to dwell, turn into a badge of fascism?
I believe a part of what’s going on is that our society, having deserted its Christian rules – that are rules of life – has ended up endorsing a tradition of demise. In our want to be as God and to be in management – trendy society calls it autonomy and freedom – we wish to have the ability to decide which of our youngsters we should always let dwell and, with the push in the direction of assisted suicide, after we or our mother and father can die.
And it will not finish there. The proper to die will turn into the responsibility to die. The proper to abort can simply turn into the responsibility to abort – I’ve personally identified individuals who have been put beneath monumental stress to abort their youngster as a result of it might be ‘the precise factor to do’.
Abortion is now far more than a determined measure required in probably the most horrendous of circumstances. In a society the place we’re worrying concerning the delivery alternative price and the next depopulation menace, how does it make sense to encourage the killing of wholesome infants? Is it not ironic that Scotland’s inhabitants is about 400,000 under what it needs to be – virtually precisely the variety of infants aborted because the 1967 Abortion Act. Over 96% of abortions within the UK are carried out for social/financial/psychological well being causes – not for extreme incapacity, rape, or menace to the mom’s life.
Where is the Church in all of this? In September 2021, Pope Francis declared that, “Abortion is greater than a problem. Abortion is homicide.” He has additionally acknowledged, “How can an motion that ends an harmless and defenceless life in its blossoming stage be therapeutic, civilised or just human? Is it proper to rent a hitman to unravel an issue?”
Many Catholics are proper behind the Pope on this and are commendably lively in defending the unborn. But many should not – whether or not it’s President Biden who flatly calls that which his Pope calls homicide, ‘a human proper’, or the extraordinary behaviour of the Australian Catholic University. When Joe de Bruyn, an essential commerce union chief and determine within the Labor party was awarded an honorary doctorate on the ACU final week, in his acceptance speech he talked about abortion whereas encouraging Catholic college students to uphold Catholic doctrine – at a Catholic college. There was a broadly reported mass walkout from some college students and workers.
The vice chancellor apologised and supplied any college students attending who have been offended a refund of their commencement charge and counselling. The poor wee souls could not address what was a gentle assertion of Catholic perception. One shudders to suppose what remedy they would wish in the event that they heard the Pope’s views.
What amazes me is the beautiful silence from many Protestant and Evangelical church leaders – though there are additionally honourable exceptions – who will guarantee their congregations in non-public that they’re against abortion, however they are saying nothing in public. After all, why ought to we be caught breaking the Unholy State’s blasphemy legal guidelines?
I appear to recall that there was as soon as a strong king who ordered that every one individuals should obey his legal guidelines on prayer and when a younger Jewish man refused, he ordered him thrown into the lion’s den. The subsequent day, anticipating to be gathering his bones, he was astonished to search out him nonetheless alive – and promptly gave the lions their meal by throwing in his accusers.
The lesson is clear. It’s time for the Church to face by the sacrament of life – baptism – and reject the secular sacrament of demise. They can threaten us with their equal of the lion’s den, however everyone knows that ultimately, love wins.
David Robertson is the minister of Scots Kirk Presbyterian Church in Newcastle, New South Wales. He blogs at The Wee Flea.
