The Choice by Danielle D'Souza Gill

Author:Danielle D'Souza Gill [D’Souzagill, Danielle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Center Street
Published: 2020-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

MYTH: The pro-life argument is inherently a religious one, and the only people who are pro-life are religious. Keeping abortion legal affirms the separation of church and state.

“As an atheist, I believe that we don’t have the consolation of an afterlife. We have only one life to live. So it had better be good.”261

—CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, atheist and writer, Crisis Magazine

Some pro-choice advocates seek to dismiss pro-life arguments on the ground that the pro-life argument is based solely on religious grounds. They say pro-lifers are getting it from the Bible or some other religious tract and to impose that argument on the public violates the norms of democracy and specifically violates the doctrine of separation of church and state. Liz Hayes, who writes for a group called Americans United, puts it this way: “The aggressive abortion ban bills being considered in states across the country may not explicitly mention religion, but it’s clear that these bills and the restrictive policies they propose are religiously motivated.”262 Americans United says on their website that they “use high-impact litigation, powerful lobbying, and grassroots advocacy to ensure that religion does not affect public policy.”263

What Americans United may have going for them is that when you go to a pro-life demonstration or rally, you do see religious people there. You see nuns, you see people with rosaries, you see evangelical Christians praying to end abortion. If you listen to pro-life speeches, you will hear references to God. Clearly, there is a religious aspect to this debate. The Catholic Church has consistently opposed abortion throughout its history. Strong evangelical churches are also passionately against abortion. Orthodox Jews are a strong part of the pro-life cause. So there is a religious pro-life coalition. Many pro-lifers are held together by a philosophical worldview.

But this is equally true of the pro-choice camp. What we must realize is that no one can escape having a world-view. Even if you say you are unbiased, there is no such thing. You may say, well, “I’m not religious, Danielle,” but even so, secularism is a worldview. Atheism is a worldview. Agnosticism is a worldview. A worldview is simply the larger way in which we view the cosmos, our purpose, and our life on Earth. People live based on their worldview and vote based on their worldview all the time, even if they don’t realize it. When someone who is secular and pro-choice points the finger at a religious, pro-life person, they are naming themselves as Hypocrite of the Year because their political beliefs clearly stem from their religion, too, or hatred of it. They are not an unbiased observer, as much as they say they are. No one is.

Separation of church and state was created to protect religious freedom, not stamp it out. The term “separation of church and state” does not appear in the Constitution but is a phrase lifted from one of Jefferson’s letters. The Constitution uses the phrase “no establishment,” which is what we call the “no-establishment clause.” So, what is it? It is the clause that says that the government cannot “establish” a national religion.

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