I had the badge. You know, the one for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. I used to be a committed member of the anti-nuclear movement and proudly wore my badge. Sometimes I wore it to political meetings where it served as a reminder that I used to be ‘on the appropriate side of history’ and suitably ‘progressive/socialist’. I have not seen that badge, except on old hippie vans, for a few years. As a problem it doesn’t even register in our elections. But there’s one other symbol, one other cause which for those who don’t support you’re clearly beyond the pale. What is it? Let’s start our story in my very own turf of Australia.
A wierd thing happened within the State of Queensland up to now month. The ruling Labor party seemed on the right track for a crushing defeat within the State elections, when the Premier Stephen Miles decided to make abortion a problem. Taking a leaf out of the Kamala Harris playbook he suddenly began arguing that ‘women’s reproductive health rights were at stake’. Although the opposition Liberal party had no proposals for changing the present law, even the suggestion of a threat was considered to be a vote winner. It could have been, however the Labor party still lost, and the brand new Liberal State government has just been sworn in.
Meanwhile within the US Kamala Harris, facing a downturn in polls (although they’re so close that it’s anyone’s guess who is de facto ahead) decided to play again what she considers to be her winning ticket – abortion. Together with Michelle Obama and Beyoncé, she has upped the rhetoric claiming that any restrictions on abortion are a ‘healthcare crisis’ and that, what she incorrectly calls ‘Trump’s abortion ban’ is killing women. Apart from the indisputable fact that she conveniently ignores the indisputable fact that greater than 20 women have died due to abortion pill, she also makes quite a few false claims that need fact checked – see my earlier article on this.
Meanwhile the Scottish government, which can be struggling, agrees that abortion is a vote winner. Last month recent laws was enacted which prevents any type of protest, prayer and even presence inside a 200m ‘excluded’ zone outside an abortion clinic (an identical law exists in England). Such is the zeal with which this order is being enforced that The Daily Telegraph reported it might be a criminal offense to hope in your individual home.
A letter was sent to residents inside an Edinburgh exclusion area warning them that while the offences normally only applied in public places, “nonetheless activities in a non-public place (comparable to a house) inside the area between the protected premises and the boundary of a zone might be an offence in the event that they could be seen or heard inside the zone and are done intentionally or recklessly.” The letter warned that regulation breakers might be fined as much as £10,000. Religious preaching, prayer or silent vigils might be subject to prosecution in the event that they are done with “intent or recklessness”.
As a preacher I don’t know methods to preach without intent! And I fear that much of my preaching could be called “reckless”. After all, weren’t the early Christian preachers accused of ‘turning the world the other way up’ (Acts 17:6) because they dared to talk words which weren’t acceptable to the authorities of the day?
If I live in a so-called exclusion zone and we’re singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing with the road ‘offspring of a virgin’s womb’, what if someone found that offensive? What if I write on my Facebook that that day I had been praying Psalm 139 – how I used to be knit together in my mother’s womb – and someone reading it said: wait a minute, that’s inside the exclusion zone of the abortion clinic I work at – that’s intentional and reckless! What a state that Scotland – once often called the ‘land of the people of the Book’ has come to – that non-public prayer inside a non-public home can now be criminalised.
There is a deep contradiction here. Humza Yousaf, the short-lived First Minister of Scotland, recently tweeted on the anniversary of the Scottish government establishing a book of remembrance for babies miscarried before 24 weeks. He stated that the parents were grieving because they’d lost a baby – a member of their family. On the one hand he was saying that it was a reason to grieve because a baby had been lost; on the opposite he defended the appropriate of the family to take the lifetime of their very own child.
So why is there this obsession with abortion? How have we moved from ‘it needs to be protected and rare’ to it now being a badge of honour? When did questioning abortion and arguing for the appropriate of the newborn to live, grow to be a badge of fascism?
I believe a part of what is occurring is that our society, having abandoned its Christian principles – that are principles of life – has ended up endorsing a culture of death. In our desire to be as God and to be on top of things – modern society calls it autonomy and freedom – we wish to give you the option to find out which of our kids we should always let live and, with the push towards assisted suicide, once we or our parents can die.
And it won’t end there. The right to die will grow to be the duty to die. The right to abort can easily grow to be the duty to abort – I even have personally known individuals who were put under enormous pressure to abort their child because it will be ‘the appropriate thing to do’.
Abortion is now way greater than a desperate measure required in probably the most horrendous of circumstances. In a society where we’re worrying concerning the birth alternative rate and the following depopulation threat, how does it make sense to encourage the killing of healthy babies? Is it not ironic that Scotland’s population is about 400,000 below what it needs to be – almost precisely the variety of babies aborted because the 1967 Abortion Act. Over 96% of abortions within the UK are carried out for social/economic/mental health reasons – not for severe disability, rape, or threat to the mother’s life.
Where is the Church in all of this? In September 2021, Pope Francis declared that, “Abortion is greater than a problem. Abortion is murder.” He has also stated, “How can an motion that ends an innocent and defenceless life in its blossoming stage be therapeutic, civilised or just human? Is it right to rent a hitman to resolve an issue?”
Many Catholics are right behind the Pope on this and are commendably energetic in defending the unborn. But many should not – whether it’s President Biden who flatly calls that which his Pope calls murder, ‘a human right’, or the extraordinary behaviour of the Australian Catholic University. When Joe de Bruyn, a crucial trade union leader and figure within the Labor party was awarded an honorary doctorate on the ACU last week, in his acceptance speech he mentioned abortion while encouraging Catholic students to uphold Catholic doctrine – at a Catholic university. There was a widely reported mass walkout from some students and staff.
The vice chancellor apologised and offered any students attending who were offended a refund of their graduation fee and counselling. The poor wee souls couldn’t deal with what was a gentle statement of Catholic belief. One shudders to think what therapy they would want in the event that they heard the Pope’s views.
What amazes me is the stunning silence from many Protestant and Evangelical church leaders – although there are also honourable exceptions – who will assure their congregations in private that they’re against abortion, but they are saying nothing in public. After all, why should we be caught breaking the Unholy State’s blasphemy laws?
I appear to recall that there was once a robust king who ordered that each one people must obey his laws on prayer and when a young Jewish man refused, he ordered him thrown into the lion’s den. The next day, expecting to be collecting his bones, he was astonished to seek out him still alive – and promptly gave the lions their meal by throwing in his accusers.
The lesson is apparent. It’s time for the Church to face by the sacrament of life – baptism – and reject the secular sacrament of death. They can threaten us with their equivalent of the lion’s den, but everyone knows that ultimately, love wins.
David Robertson is the minister of Scots Kirk Presbyterian Church in Newcastle, New South Wales. He blogs at The Wee Flea.
