{"id":321414,"date":"2024-11-09T13:51:20","date_gmt":"2024-11-09T19:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=321414"},"modified":"2024-11-08T17:53:44","modified_gmt":"2024-11-08T23:53:44","slug":"abortion-americans-render-caesar-more-deserves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/abortion-americans-render-caesar-more-deserves\/","title":{"rendered":"GUEST OPINION: On abortion, Americans have ‘rendered to Caesar’ far more than he deserves"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this guest post are solely those of the guest author.<\/i><\/p>\n

There was a time when abortion was seen as immoral and scandalous. In 1973, however, the <\/span>Supreme Court<\/span><\/a> arbitrarily ruled that abortion was legal and since then, over 65 million babies have been legally aborted in the U.S. In 2022, the decision was <\/span>overturned,<\/span><\/a> yet there is still an <\/span>overwhelming view<\/span><\/a> in this country that abortion should be legal. How did Americans turn from valuing life to being okay with throwing it away?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The root of the answer lies in how people see themselves as human beings. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are two views that Americans have historically viewed themselves in the context of how to live. One is the Judeo-Christian worldview that humans have a fallen intellect, and the other is a humanistic worldview, which emphasizes the human intellect as entirely sufficient to define morality. The contrast between the two was reflected during the Renaissance and Reformation periods. The Renaissance centered on the intellect of man, advocating a life led by the human being, whereas the Reformation centered on the intellect of God, advocating a life led by a divine law. As these worldviews are completely different, they are also incompatible with each other, and this incompatibility has shown itself in government and law.<\/span><\/p>\n

The United States has experienced a shift from one worldview to another and it has not been in the right direction. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the 1933 <\/span>Unites States v. Macintosh<\/span><\/i><\/a> case, the Supreme Court noted the importance of \u201cassuming the existence of a belief in a supreme allegiance to the will of God,\u201d regarding a conscientious objector\u2019s religious liberty. In 1961, however, the <\/span>Supreme Court acknowledged<\/span><\/a> \u201csecular humanism\u201d as a religion, and in the 1970 <\/span>Welsh v. United States<\/span><\/i><\/a> case, the Supreme Court noted that a conscientious objector need only \u201cessentially political, sociological, or philosophical views, or a merely personal moral code.\u201d The shift from the 1933 to the 1970 case has been one that diminishes the acknowledgment of a superior God in daily life, and it has been moving in that same direction, one that favors the humanist religion over the Christian, ever since.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another case of the shift is seen in America\u2019s freedom of religion concept. <\/span>George Washington said<\/span><\/a> regarding the First Amendment, \u201cThe liberty enjoyed by the people of these states, of worshipping Almighty God agreeable to their consciences, is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also of their rights.\u201d Today, however, the First Amendment is used to silence the church, leading to the removal of religion as having any influence on government and law. Marx and Engels wrote in <\/span>Manifesto of the Communist Party<\/span><\/i><\/a>, \u201cCommunism is the stage of historical development which makes all existing religions superfluous and brings about their disappearance.\u201d The U.S. has adopted this principle in the way modern-day legal academia interprets the First Amendment, and has trended toward this disappearance of religion entirely in government.<\/span><\/p>\n

The First Amendment was instituted to restrain the government, but it has become a tool that religion, particularly Christianity, must now overcome.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n