Rebecca Merrill Groothuis on a lapse in moral reasoning:
I have heard the argument that God cares as much about social justice issues (such as poverty and racism) as He does abortion, making a vote for Obama okay. I certainly believe God puts a very high priority on caring for the poor and I, too, have wanted to see equality demonstrated through a "minority" president. But to equate having a better income or the desire for a first black president, regardless of his positions on abortion and morality, to the issue of killing 50 million babies is not justice—it is a gross distortion of justice and a great deception. I fear that we have been desensitized to this issue of abortion. I believe it kills babies and takes innocent life. Let's not forget this in our noble attempts to be kind and conciliatory.
"the issue of killing 50 million babies"
ReplyDeletePutting it this way makes it sound like we should all be single issue voters. But that's not all. Putting it this way makes it sound it as if we're worse than Nazi Germany. That's fairly dangerous when folks reading this might have sympathies with Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
So, should you be using such language? Shouldn't you rather make it clear that you are talking about unborn babies, or fetuses? This would be more accurate, as well as more responsible.
The quoted material from Rebecca Merrill Groothuis is actually from Dutch Sheets, whom she quotes in her piece. The link takes you to her comments along with those of Sheets.
ReplyDeleteOne should not be so quick to condemn the view given until one has read Rebecca's entire article.
Against appearances, Doug Groothuis's observation is actually relevant. We must take heed to the language we use precisely because the surrounding context often gets lost in quotations.
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