This essay deals with various concepts of Christianity. For this essay, the chosen topic is ‘Abortion’. There are different Christian concepts regarding the aspect of ‘Abortion’. This assignment has discussed many views and responses about ‘Abortion’. Every religion has its own philosophical view about different subjects of society or politics and economics. However, ‘Abortion’ has also been described by different views of Christianity.
The author has chosen ‘Abortion’ to discuss many Christian views regarding this topic. As discussed by Black (2015), abortion is considered as the end of pregnancy by removing the embryo from the womb of the woman. There are some legal proceedings or frameworks regarding ‘Abortion’. Different countries have banned this as it can be considered as indirect crime. It is a premature ending of pregnancy. According to the Christian views there are also some regulations for the people. Representatives of Christianity have set different rules and regulations for different Christian countries. They also did many required activities for preventing this. However, there are many positive and negative directions of ‘Abortion’ in society (Ford, 2015).
However, Christians have many ethics to describe. Ethics is the branch of study dealing with the moral principles governing an individual’s behavior or conducting a particular activity. It is more concerned with the interest of society or other individuals or, as a believer of God would say, it is more related to God’s interests. Ethics help us in proving a moral road map for tracking our difficulties in life and enabling us to solving the same. Most philosophers believe that the way that an individual behaves in his life helps in governing his/her fortune. Ethical reasoning provides us meaning and purpose to our lives by helping us in defining our goals and guiding us for achieving the same (Petro and Yang, 2015).
Ethical principles, thus, are a set of rules related to the ethics that helps us in making better decisions in complex circumstances by providing useful guidance to a wide range of situations. Although, following the ethical principles is complex, cumbersome, confusing, and complicated, it helps us in making correct decisions for ourselves as well as our society to prosper in the future. Hence, we, as human beings, are to follow the ethical principles for the welfare of ourselves as well as the humankind (McLoughlin, 2015).
Abortion has been legalized in different countries across the region. There is question of morality of abortion. According to the concept of Bible, abortion is wrong. It is not moral work of people in the society. Bible forbids the killing of innocent people (MacLochlainn, 2015). Bible treats unborn child as a ‘person’. Therefore, abortion resembles the incident of innocent killing. Therefore, moral representation of Bible prevents one to kill innocent baby whether he/she is born or unborn. Bible uses same word for ‘born’ or ‘unborn’ baby. Divine author of Bible did not recognize material difference between ‘born’ and ‘unborn’ baby. Catholic view considers abortion as a great evil of society. It is the deliberate killing of a human being who is very innocent. It is considered as moral disorder. This doctrine is solely based on natural law and the written word of god (Equipoise, 2015).
According to the liberal view of abortion, a woman has the sole right to decide about her baby and body (McDowell, 2015). Every individual human being has the right to think, do, and overcome any of the issue of his/her personal circumstances. Liberal thought considers fetus as non-human. Therefore, fetus should not have any separate individual right. Decision of abortion is a personal choice of a woman. Every woman has the right to have a safe and legal abortion for the safety of her personal health. American evangelicals are ‘pro-life’. It is the most important theological aspect (Black, 2015).
The response of Christianity is also associated with the aspect of Natural law. According to Keane (2015), Natural Law is considered as the foundation of Roman Catholic ethics. The background of Natural Law is Greek philosophy. Thomas Aquinas has combined the philosophy of Christian theology and philosophy of Aristotle. Aquinas has posted four kinds of law; Eternal Law, Natural Law, Positive Divine Law and Positive Human Law.
The theory of Natural Law has given rise to the development of human rights and international law. Natural law refers to the moral revelation. According to the Natural Law, almighty God gives creation itself. Natural Law covers a very large area. Many Christian thinkers have argued that natural law can be considered as standard government or civil law (Keane, 2015).
As discussed by Klauza (2015), Natural law is included within the general revelation of God. Christians have the belief that all know the will of God. They know the natural law of Christianity through the will of god. According to the concept of famous figure William Blackstone, human being is considered as an effective creature. Human being must be the subject of laws of the creator. The view of Blackstone is consistent with Biblical account of moral order, divine law, and creation (Klauza, 2015). According to the Natural Law, legal theory of Christianity should consider special revelation of God. Natural Law has explained the accountability of each person towards god and his activities. Natural law provides the general concept of wrong and right. Natural Law explains the consideration of God in terms of lawful and moral activities.
As discussed by Ford (2015), Catholic Church has opposed all procedures of Abortion. The purpose of Abortion is to destroy the blastocyst, embryo or fetus. The opinion of Catholic Church is to hold and respect every human life. Every human life should be protected and respected from the moment of conception. A human life must be recognized as the right to live. Every human being has the right to live at the moment of conception. It is considered as the inviolable right of every human being. Catholic Church has made the statement regarding the abortion. According to Catholic view, ‘Abortion’ is considered as the immoral practice of the society. Catholic Church has also opposed to the legal area of abortion (Ford, 2015).
On the other hand, Free (2015) stated that many Catholics also have disagreed with the official position of Catholics. It actually opposed abortion and its legal process. Catholic Church has always condemned the aspect of procured abortion as immoral since the time of 1st century. In the era of 5th century, St. Augustine has considered the ill practice of induced abortion as a crime. According to the Catholic Christians, abortion is a crime in any stage of pregnancy of a woman. However, St. Augustine also has accepted the prior distinction between ‘unformed’ and ‘formed’ fetuses in the translation of ‘Exodus 21:22-23’.
However, Gorman (2015) discussed that in the middle age, the Church has destined all types of abortions. In the 14th century, Dominican John of Naples has made an influential as well as explicit statement that one should consider the purpose of abortion. According to him, if the abortion happens for the sake of the health of mother then abortion can be justified. On the other hand, there are other catholic Christians who have not accepted any form of abortion. According to the Catholic theologians, direct killing of fetus is always unacceptable incident for the people and the society.
In the 17th century, Francis Torreblanca has approved the aspect of abortion when it respects the life of a woman. There was a ‘Holy Office’ that is known today as Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. According to the Pope Innocent XI, ‘It is lawful to procure abortion before ensoulment of the fetus lest a girl, detected as pregnant, be killed or defamed’.
According to the Canon Law of Catholic Christian, automatic excommunication cannot be applied to the woman who aborts for graving fear or graving innocence. Catholic Church has also assured the possibility of forgiving the women who has initiated abortion for the sake of a valid reason. As Pope John Paul II has stated to women that the Church is always remained aware about the influencing or forced factors of abortion. Women need to be honest in the situation. One should have trust and respect within oneself. The hierarchy of Church has always been remained anti to the system of abortion. Many catholic Christians also have proposed anti view of Church regarding the aspect of Abortion (Aniteye and Mayhew, 2013).
As evidenced by Williams (2014), many catholic Christians of United States has differed from the view of official doctrine of Church. 64% Catholic Christians of United States have disapproved the statement of Church. They have not supported that abortion is always not been remained as moral thing. There are many situations where a person is forced to do abortion due to some unavoidable circumstances. According to the findings of survey, 16% to 22% American Christians have supported the view of Church that abortion is always illegal in all cases. However, rest of the people neither have nor supported the view of Church (Gorman, 2015).
According to the poll of 2010, only one among fourteen Catholics has accepted the concept of Church that abortion should not be allowed in any single circumstance. In Australia, 72% Catholics have given their opinion regarding abortion. According to Australian Catholics, decision of abortion should be left for the concerned doctor and women. On the other hand, 18.65 to 83.2% Catholics have accepted abortion that is dependent to the situation or unavoidable circumstance (Carlson, 2012).
As far as our Evangelists are concerned, they are also of the belief that Abortion’ is an immoral practice of the society. They are of the opinion that the deliberate killing of a human being should be considered as moral disorder and those who are associated with the heinous acts should be considered as murderers. According to Carmichael (2015), the evangelism is the proclamation Gospel and should be followed by every Christians. These evangelists believe the issue to be severe and should be prevented in order to execute their main objective of making this earth to be the ‘Kingdom of God’ (Carmichael, 2015). (Genesis 1:27) is seen depicting the human life to be created in the image of Lord Jesus. Thus, they opine that aborting the life as provided by God would be like disobeying and disrespecting God Himself.
The evangelists state that the fetuses have life and it begins from the very stage of conception (Job 31:15). Thus, they stand with the point that the abortion is sinful and immoral and those who defend abortion should be considered as atheists. These evangelists have been taking the initiatives to eradicates the immoral behavior of the humans by themselves and have been very emotional, bigoted, violent and excessive passionate with this particular sin (Moore, 2015). They are being seen protesting in front of the abortion clinics in order to eradicate this abortion. They have been involved with the protests against the abortion in the society such that most often they have been observed to cross over the limit of protestations (Iep.utm.edu, 2015).
This had remarked that the evangelists have been considering the abortion as the only sin in this world of God. Later, the evangelists came to realize that just by protesting against the abortion in public places is not the right thing to do. They also came to realize that just stopping the abortion is not enough to halt the horrendous sin in our country. Thus, they realized that, in order to eradicate the abortion, they should enlighten the soul of each and every human in the ‘Kingdom of God’ (Equipoise, 2015).
However, the most valuable teaching of the evangelists towards Christian is that they are able to provide the best alternative solution to this particular sin, viz., the adoption. They are suggesting the common people to place for the adoption of the unborn child instead of aborting in their early stage of development (Margaret and Eugenics, 2015).
Thus, they have been teaching this adoption approach within every Christians which they believe, has been authored by God. By placing the adoption approach instead of the abortion of the child makes us the true believer of God as the child is regarded as the image of God Himself.
Liberal thoughts always give priority to every individual person. A woman has the right to take decision about her body and also her child. According to the Liberal thought, a fetus cannot be considered as a human life. Therefore, he has no right to be alive. It does not have the separate individual right. Liberals think that government should provide taxpayer funded abortion for every woman who has no capacity of afford abortion. Liberals also believe that law should not made by the concept of religion. They have repeatedly pointed out that decision of abortion is the personal choice of a human being. Abortion is a personal choice of a woman. A woman must make the effective decision regarding her choice of keeping her baby. This is a personal choice or right. Government should protect the right of every woman (Hauser, 2015).
However, Liberal thought is very much progressive in the real view of the world. In the world, incident like rape, molestation and similar crimes happen regularly. In these situations, abortion should be made free for the personal choice of the human being. Liberals always have supported the view of freedom as well as rights of individual within the society. Liberals always have ignored the aspect of ‘religious freedom’. Liberals also have not supported religious based legal proceedings (O’Collins and Farrugia, 2014).
According to the Liberals, every individual have the right to take the decision of abortion. Government should protect the right of every woman to have abortion. Many Christian liberal are pro choice in the aspect of abortion. Every woman should have the right to have control over her body. This is a serious concern of health. One should not force a woman to give birth of a baby under the pressure of religious circumstance (Keane, 2015).
It can be stated that Liberals are more active than the other Christians. They believe on theology which is considered as the social implication of Christian gospel. Liberation theology’ can be considered as the attempt of spelling out the political and social implications of Christian gospel in terms of liberation of women and men from injustice and oppression. Liberal theology of Christianity has taken the attempt to address the political and social aspects of love of neighbors. Liberation theology has not solely taken the social ethic of Christianity rather than any situational ethic. Liberation theology should be always seen as an example of situation ethics in the political and social sphere of every region (Williams, 2015).
Main objective of liberation theology is to bring justice to the oppressed and poor people. Liberation theology has presented the objective of justice as the necessary requirement for liberation (Niringiye, 2015). However, Jesus Christ was always for the needy people of the society. Christianity always focused on the needy and poor people of the society. Jesus Christ was always for the humanity or morality. Therefore, Jesus Christ can be considered as one important man of serving human being. Jesus Christ always served the humanity. Liberation theology presents objective of justice as necessary condition of liberation. For these above-mentioned reasons, Jesus Christ can be considered as the holder of situational ethic and liberation theology.
According to Kant and Will (2011), abortion has also been recognized as the liberal cause of modern politics. Liberal though states that woman always should have the right to do abortion. From the Liberal view it can be stated that every conception has created human life. Almighty god has loved and honored every human life. God also want that the human life will enhance with its full potential. Every abortion is very tragic as it seeks to end a human life.
On the other hand, McDowell (2015) stated that women’s life is dear to God. God loves the child as well as his mother also. God has never valued a child above mother. He has also never valued mother above the child. However, abortion is very conflicting topic. According to Liberal thought of Christianity, God has the knowledge of everything. He understands all the aspect of society and human life. God is merciful and mercies any type of situation. God is always ready to forgive. A woman who has taken the decision of abortion under any circumstance should know that she can get heart of God. It is the believe of every Liberal Christians that God will know the condition of heart of every person and forgive them. Women should take the chance of abortion. If women can get abortion of self centered reason God will judge that decision. God is always ready to receive the repentance. God will also forgive her (Tangen and Templer, 2013).
From the above study, it can be concluded that Christians have opposed the killing of human being. Everyone must follow the concept of Christianity. It can be concluded that Catholics have always protested against the concept of Abortion. However, some of the Catholic Christians have also considered the prior situation of the woman in case of abortion. On the other hand, Evangelicals also have supported the view of Catholics. Liberals always have supported the concept of individuals. They always have supported ‘abortion’ as it prevents the mother. It is the right of everyone. As embryo is at living stage, all types of Christians have opposed the killing of embryo. Abortion is considered as the end of pregnancy by removing the embryo from the womb of the woman. Life is provided by the divine God and we, as humans, are of no authority to take one. Our Lord, Jesus has taught us to love our neighbors and help the needy and poor. He had sacrificed His life while teaching us the same. However, there comes a situation in every one’s life where we are compelled to choose between two incidences and we are rendered to choose between the two. In this circumstance, we are bound to consider the most rational approach, which ought to be moral if we are to help the ‘mankind’, the betterment of which our Lord Jesus has served His life for.
References
Aniteye, P. and Mayhew, S.H., 2013. Shaping legal abortion provision in Ghana: using policy theory to understand provider-related obstacles to policy implementation. Health Research Policy and Systems, 11(1), p.23.
Black, G., 2015. Finding Protoevangelical Faith: A Summary of Four Ethnographic Studies. Ecclesial Practices, 2(2), pp.129-155.
Carlson, C., 2012. The American Gender Gap in Political Attitudes: From Foreign Policy to Welfare Programs, 1987-2012 (Doctoral dissertation, Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland, College Park
Carmichael, S.A., 2015. Online Curriculum for Evangelism Training for Adults with Special Needs.
Dillon, M., 2014. Asynchrony in Attitudes Toward Abortion and Gay Rights: The Challenge to Values Alignment. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 53(1), pp.1-16.
Equipoise, A.T., 2015. Paradoxes of Unity. Tradition and Authority in the Western Church, 300-1140, p.39.
Ford, L.E., 2015. Seven Biblical Mysteries Unveiled!:(Revisiting Theology You Thought Was Settled). WestBow Press.
Free, M.L., 2015. The Christian’s Behaviour. CBT and Christianity: Strategies and Resources for Reconciling Faith in Therapy, pp.297-340.
Gorman, C., 2015. A review of” The Works of Thomas Traherne” by Thomas Traherne, edited by Jan Ross.
Groups.csail.mit.edu, Abortion – A Liberal Cause? (Margaret Sanger And Eugenics) (2015) <https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/abortion_eugenics/peterson.html>
Hauser, D., 2015. Reflection for Sunday, February 22, 2015: 1st week of Lent.
Iep.utm.edu, Abortion | Internet Encyclopedia Of Philosophy (2015) <https://www.iep.utm.edu/abortion/>
Kant, I. and Will, A., 2011. Rational beings alone have moral worth. Food Ethics, pp.10-12.
Keane, K.D., 2015. ” Cast Off the Yoke of Tyranny!”: The Reformation’s Influence Upon the Enlightenment and Revolutions Around the Atlantic World.
Klauza, K., 2015. Contemporary Spiritualities In Xxi Century Catholic Social Discourse. Secularization and the Development of Religion in Modern Polish Society, p.35.
McDowell, P., 2015. Defoe’s Essay upon Literature and Eighteenth-Century Histories of Mediation. PMLA, 130(3), pp.566-583.
McLoughlin, D., 2015. On Political and Economic Theology: agamben, peterson, and aristotle. Angelaki, 20(4), pp.53-69.
Moore, R.D., 2015. EVANGELICALS WON’T CAVE. First Things, (256), p.25.
O’Collins, G. and Farrugia, M., 2014. Catholicism: the story of Catholic Christianity. Oxford University Press.
Sherry, S., 2014. Property is the New Privacy: The Coming Constitutional Revolution.
Sumner, L.W., 2014. Abortion and moral theory. Princeton University Press.
Tangen, K. and Templer, D.I., 2013. Abortion and Suicide Rates in Christian European Countries: Manifestations of Existential Vacuum. CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY, p.76.
Williams, D.K., 2015. The Partisan Trajectory of the American Pro-Life Movement: How a Liberal Catholic Campaign Became a Conservative Evangelical Cause. Religions, 6(2), pp.451-475.
Williams, R., 2014. Open to judgement: sermons and addresses. Darton Longman & Todd (DLT).
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