Dear Anonymous

Dear Anonymous,

That is quite the response* to my post Stem Cell Research--A Brave New World Indeed, and I wish that you would have left your name. I enjoy dialogue, debate, etc. I am not going to get into a discussion on abortion, per se. I know all the arguments on both sides, as I'm sure you do, and neither of us will change the others' mind. The argument I was making was not specifically Christian, or necessarily religious. One need not be Christian to oppose embryonic stem cell research, abortion, etc. There are rational arguments outside the realm of religion to be used. Likewise, one need not be secular to support stem cell research, abortion, etc.--there are religious arguments (though not Catholic) in favor of them.

Just look at the books I mentioned. C.S. Lewis, though a Christian apologist, does not use religion in his argument in Abolition of Man. He just points out that all cultures throughout history (until the "Enlightenment") believed that right and wrong are independent of what man believes--it is our responsibility to correspond ourselves to objective reality. Modernity has inverted this, and made man the measure of all things, wherein man gets to decide for himself what is right and wrong. When man thinks he is free to do as he pleases, he just ends up controlling other men. Take contraception; yes, we can control whether we get pregnant or not--but the children born after this age simply become, rather than gifts of God to be appreciated, slaves to to the whims and desires of their parents (i.e. they are only alive because their parents' wanted kids at that time).

As for your comment that God gives us free will to choose to live our lives the way we wish, this is true. However, there are right and wrong choices that we can make, and just because God allows it, it does not mean that he supports every choice we make. The point of the Garden of Eden myth is that when we use our freedom to disobey God, we end up making ourselves unhappy.Feel free to respond again. And, reveal yourself if you wish. I do not mind discussion of ideas :-)

*(Here was the response Anonymous gave to my previous post: Stem Cell Research--A Brave New World Indeed) While you are certainly correct in that we are launching ourselves into a new age of humanity- the prospects of our technology are getting more amazing and terrible by the day- you are naive to consider anything from solely the confines of religion. This is not a Christian state. No matter the religious opinions of the Commander in Chief or the most forgotten of beggars in D.C.- these are not considerations of politics. Religion is a subjective choice, not a means by which to create law. If you are a true Christian, you would understand that in giving us free will, God gave us the ability to choose our lives. Those who are pro-choice respect the same. They are not pro-abortion... who could be? It is an unfortunate and devastating occurence that no women would WANT to choose. But there are occasions, based upon the experiences of the individual alone, that result in this end. IT is neither favorable or desired. IT is just truth. And there is no one that has the right to take that choice, the agent of free will, from any other human being. IT is shortsighted to think otherwise. Your experiences are your own, and no one should tell you what to believe. Similar, no one should take away the ABILITY for you to believe and choose accordingly. Matters of God, matters of the heart, matters of the human body need to be left up to the human being his/herself.