“Where does God stand on abortion?”
August 15, 2006
Yesterday, “The Nation’s Newspaper,” USA Today, ran an opinion piece, Where does God stand on abortion?, by Episcopal priest and author Tom Ehrich. Despite his choice of title, Ehrich spends precious few words analyzing or discussing where God stands on abortion. In the few words he devotes to God’s perspective, Ehrich declares that there are only a “few biblical passages that come even close to being relevant” to the issue of abortion, and then suggests that those few passages are open to competing interpretations of equal validity. In short, “neither side [of the debate] can make an absolute [Biblical] case for or against abortion.”
With the Bible swept aside, Ehrich is left to contend that the “decision [of where God stands on abortion] ultimately comes down to . . . individuals.” And what have individuals decided? “[E]ach denomination – even those most publicly aligned with opposition to abortion, such as Roman Catholic and Southern Baptist – has a sizable minority that takes a different position.” In other words, we humans – even the religious ones – are confused and in disagreement. Amid the confusion, we should seek to position ourselves, according to Ehrich, in the “common-sense middle” rather than either “extreme.”
To recap the argument:
- the Bible contains almost nothing relevant to the question of abortion;
- the few arguably relevant Biblical passages are indeterminate;
- therefore, it is up to the individual to decide where God stands on abortion; and
- people with common sense stay near the middle, avoiding the extreme positions.
My favorite step is the twist in the argument between #2 and #3. What ought we do when God’s position is difficult to discern? Father Ehrich suggests that each of us arrogate the power to decide what God’s position is. As nice as it would be to have that kind of power, I respectfully decline.
