"Another Christian Idiot"

By Seth -

Earlier this week, I discovered a fallacy-laden blog piece railing against Christianity Today and Christians in general who oppose abortion.

Unable to respond to all of the assertions made within the article, I chose to discuss the old "acorn vs oak tree" argument. The author writes, "A human embryo is not a person in the same way an acorn is not an oak tree. One is ‘potential’. The other is ‘actual’. Destroying an acorn is not the same as destroying an oak tree."

My brief response elicited this comment: "What Seth said is an acorn is an oak tree. I hate to think of the fate of the next generation that cannot distinguish an acorn from an oak tree or an embryo from a person." Seeing I'd been misunderstood, I clarified with another response.

And then I received this gem from another user (not the author):

"Seth: Another christian idiot I’m sure. A fetus can not get up and walk to the fridge for a glass of milk. Now I’ll ask you since all christians seem unwilling to answer this, I expect you’ll be the same. Why are you willing to murder 70,000 women annually (this is not debatable, pregnant women are actual persons) and leave 5,000,000 of them be left in a position where they will likely never be able to conceive again. Why do you insist that women remain as your chattel? Do you realize that 70% of the people who are against abortion are men? And, 100% of those men have never carried a fetus to birth. You can’t switch terms here. A fetus is a fetus. It is not a living walking human being and YOU are willing to witness the murder of women when they are forced to obtain and illegal unsafe abortion. You will stand by and gleefully watch as they lose their lives. GET REAL SETH. WOMEN WILL GO TO WHATEVER LENGTHS NECESSARY TO OBTAIN AN ABORTION. And, when they give their child up for adoption guess what? Most are not adopted or adoptable. These kids aren’t wanted. YOU SIR (and I use that term loosely) ARE AN IGNORANT *SS WHO WANTS TO REDUCE THIS TOPIC TO CONJECTURE AND ARE WILLING TO TURN A BLIND EYE TO THE WOMEN YOU ROB OF THEIR LIVES. Babe"

And then, after a short time without a response from one of the few pro-lifers engaging on the blog, Babe wrote, "Come out and play Katherine, Seth and A.C.T. I’m missing you all. You have the advantage of being able to confer with your god to get all the correct answers and I have to think for myself … won’t any of you tell me why you think it’s important to continue to oppress women? Won’t any of you tell me why you want women to die due to illegal unsafe abortions? This is your deal, pro-death is what you support. Come out, come out wherever you are. Babe"

Condescension? Name calling? (This isn't middle school . . .)

This causes one to wonder why I have been deemed an idiot in the conversation. Although there could be many reasons, one possibility seems clear in Babe's writing: "You have the advantage of being able to confer with your god . . . and I have to think for myself."

Could the anti-theist prejudice of our day be any clearer? Oftentimes, Christians aren't merely treated with skepticism, they're banished from the marketplace of ideas with derision.

While deeming Christians "idiots" is any easy way to write off anything they have to say about life, morality, and ultimate meaning, does it really respond to any of the actual positions we lay forth? Not at all.

Now, I want to be careful not to generalize from Babe to all atheist abortion advocates. I have in fact met many who treat me with respect in conversation. Nevertheless, I think this interchange is a sign of the uphill battle we face in today's society. When we present our case for God's existence, for the Resurrection, against injustices like abortion, we are not speaking to a culture hearing for the first time. We are speaking to a post-Christian society who finds us idiots for not evolving like the rest of them.

We can still speak to them. We just have to know how. Time to read more Schaeffer.

______________________


Note: Interestingly, I just noticed the author's "blog rules."

"Rule #1: I am not interested in ad hominem arguments, so if you must call someone a bad name, at least have the guts and intellectual integrity to (1) identify yourself and (2) back up your [sic] ascertain with compelling objective facts."

I don't think Babe is following the rules.

Comments

  1. Das ist gut!August 18, 2011 at 8:43 AM

    I have been reading the argument between everybody on this blog entry, and I think you're very right. Somehow because we are Christians we are automatically deemed "idiots" when all of your responses and the other Christian responses have never called people names but instead have just presented our thoughts like adults. I also think it's interesting that we are personally responsible for the death of 70,000 women....! I feel the argument is fruitless at this point because if they don't believe that it's murder to have an abortion (thus killing more people than women who have unsafe abortions), than it's not going anywhere. Keep up the good work Seth! I'll be praying for you! I miss you and Aubrey very much!!

    Jamie

    ReplyDelete
  2. AaronAugust 21, 2011 at 4:43 PM

    Haha I actually just posted on that thread again today, no offense to "babe" but I'm starting to think that her problem with the pro-life position isn't intellectual but is instead somewhat emotional.

    ReplyDelete

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