{"id":83628,"date":"2015-12-30T14:06:52","date_gmt":"2015-12-30T19:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=83628"},"modified":"2015-12-31T00:06:05","modified_gmt":"2015-12-31T05:06:05","slug":"transhumanist-writer-defends-abortion-shortcut-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/transhumanist-writer-defends-abortion-shortcut-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"Transhumanist writer defends abortion as a shortcut to heaven"},"content":{"rendered":"
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To say it\u2019s logically tricky to reconcile support for abortion with Christian religiosity would be an understatement. Pro-abortion Catholics like Joe Biden<\/a> and Nancy Pelosi<\/a> manage to skate by because their target audiences don\u2019t really care how seriously they take their faith, but the fact remains that the circle simply can\u2019t be squared. The Bible\u2019s prohibitions against shedding innocent blood are clear, it carves out no exemption for the preborn, and pro-abortion interpretations of Scripture invariably collapse under scrutiny<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ostensibly mainline Christians trying to justify abortion are unconvincing enough, but when self-professed pro-abortion nonbelievers try to get clever about it, things just get weird. At the Huffington Post, Transhumanist Party presidential candidate (yes, really) Zoltan Istvan argues<\/a> that spiritually speaking, abortionists are really doing their victims a favor by sending preborn babies straight to heaven…<\/p>\n

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From a strictly biblical point of view, being born on Earth is a test. All our actions will eventually be judged by an omnipotent God who will determine whether we go to heaven or hell. Our deeds, sinful or not, determine where we spend eternity. The Bible even says many people will not get into heaven because it’s quite difficult to be a sin-free Christian–meaning the majority of human souls may spend an endless amount of days in hell. Like it or not, about 2.2 billion people on Earth believe in these ideas. Another 1.6 billion Muslims believe in mostly the same thing, too.<\/p>\n

Where the Abrahamic rabbit hole gets weird–at least for me–is the fact that many Christians (and Muslims) believe that an aborted fetus goes to heaven.<\/p>\n

The metaphysical impact of that religious belief is just bizarre. It means that the most sure thing to do to get a soul into heaven is to abort a fetus before it leaves its mother’s womb and has the chance to sin. The crazy thing is this makes abortion providers some of the most considerate, humanitarian people we know–at least from an Abrahamic religious perspective. Abortion providers and pro-choice advocates have long been filling heaven with pure souls–instead of committing them to a lifetime on Earth, challenged with trials of sex, drugs, and transhumanism.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

(Istvan also prefaces and closes out his piece with references to the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooting<\/a> that slyly attempt to tie pro-lifers to violence\u2026 apparently because he thinks eschewing the Bible frees him to disregard the moral imperative against bearing false witness<\/a>, as well.)<\/p>\n

How daft is this argument? Let us count the ways.<\/p>\n

First, you\u2019d think that those who demand a more secular approach to America\u2019s issues would be the first to recognize that getting religion out of the way wouldn\u2019t end the discussion on abortion. Surely Istvan knows that the pro-life movement is not uniformly religious and is familiar with secular opposition to abortion<\/a>? That while religion may tell us to value human life, science is what ultimately defines<\/a> membership in that category? But no, instead we get an article all about why religious pro-lifers\u2019 opposition is supposedly groundless.<\/p>\n

Gee, it\u2019s almost as if religion isn\u2019t a real subject of debate here, but a pretext for deflecting facts he can\u2019t so easily dismiss\u2026<\/p>\n

Second, he inadvertently provides one answer to his own question. If, as he says, our time on Earth is meant as a test, it\u2019s because God wants it for us. There\u2019s something of value to the experience He has decided everyone should have\u2026 and, therefore, something abortion takes away from a child in defiance of God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not a terribly difficult conclusion, Zoltan. Of course being sent to heaven is better than being sent to hell, but just because the victim\u2019s fate ultimately works out after being wronged doesn\u2019t mean he or she wasn\u2019t wronged, just as getting stolen property returned to you doesn\u2019t mean the original theft doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

Third, the theological concept he\u2019s referring to\u2014the age of accountability for sin\u2014doesn\u2019t automatically stop at birth. In fact, there\u2019s plenty of disagreement about it among Christians. Some place it roughly around puberty<\/a>, some believe it’s older<\/a>, others surely think it\u2019s younger.<\/p>\n

So depending on what point one accepts, you could just as easily use the exact same logic Istvan uses here to justify abortion, to excuse murdering any<\/em> preteen kid on the grounds that you\u2019re just sending him to heaven. Nobody would buy that for a minute.<\/p>\n

Fourth, the reason everyone would dismiss that logic post-birth is that we know it\u2019s incompatible with what the Bible says about murder. To recap:<\/p>\n