Religion Christian group conducts study on abortion, finds that Christians have the most abortions

[BonesJones]

I'd be careful diving into abortion statistics, smug athiests. In the quest to smear Christians you could easily open a racist can of worms. The exact bullshit argument being made against Christians here could be used against minorities. Just something to keep in mind before you decide to shit on an entire group of people.

No it couldn't, because religion and race aren't the same thing.

 

[jonnyboy]

No it couldn't, because religion and race aren't the same thing.

Only things that are the same can be compared to one another? I'll let the entire world know you've changed the rules on free thought.

 

[crandc]

For the life of me I can't see how Christians are being smeared. The article pointed out facts. I know these days anything one disagrees with becomes "fake news" but there really ARE such things as fact

 

[jonnyboy]

For the life of me I can't see how Christians are being smeared. The article pointed out facts. I know these days anything one disagrees with becomes "fake news" but there really ARE such things as fact

Yeah that's fair, and all I said was that those statistics could be used in the exact same way to disparage minority groups, which would also be a cheap shot. Everyone on here took it as a dig at minorities but it wasn't. I was trying to draw a parallel the left leaning people (the ones generally criticizing Christians) could relate to and understand.

 

[e_blazer]

I usually try to avoid getting involved in message board conversations about faith. They usually don't accomplish much other than causing irritation. But there are a few things about this thread that I'd like to comment on.

On the subject of the study itself, given that about 75% of Americans identify themselves as Christian in surveys about religious preference (link), it's not too surprising that 70% of women having abortions would check that box in a survey. According to the study that Sly referenced, about half that number were actually attending church once or month or more when they had their first abortion. Here's a link to the full study: (Study).

In my opinion, there are a lot of misconceptions about Christianity and Christians that I see when reading comments on topics like this one:

The first misconception is that Christianity is some kind of a monolithic organization with a single doctrine and a single way of treating people. If you think that Christianity is about right-wing Republican views and voting for Trump, you're confusing a certain bellicose segment of the population who would like to usurp the faith to support their politics. I'm not saying that there aren't good, well-intended believers who have those views, but rather that Jesus's message had nothing to do with politics. In my view, it is regrettable that there are churches and church leaders who get confused on this point.

The second type of misconception is that the personal decisions and failings of those who identify themselves is an indictment of Christianity itself as being hypocritical. There aren't any moral entrance exams required to attend a Christian church or call yourself a Christian. People who attend church are in all sorts of places in their walks with their faith. Christians struggle with exactly the same issues that plague society as a whole: drug addiction, sex addiction, anger issues, marital issues, sexual fidelity, etc. We believe that a relationship with Christ can help us with these issues, but unfortunately, getting baptized doesn't immediately instill perfection. There are certainly hypocrites who call themselves Christians, and I suspect that nearly all Christians are at times hypocritical on certain issues and actions, but don't confuse that with the overall message of Christianity. Jesus was perfectly clear in his instruction not to judge other people. That's his job, not ours. Nothing makes me more sad than seeing Christians in a position to comment publicly on some social issue fail on this point.

 

[crandc]

I see - well, in looking at statistic you need to look at a lot of issues. They can show what, you still need to ask why. For example some opponents of abortion have said higher rates of abortion among African-Americans mean abortion is being selectively used for genocide but a more likely cause is again less access to birth control. I mean, if you want to prevent abortion, you can pretend people won't have sex or you can provide education and contraception. The Netherlands and Scandinavia have free abortion on demand and very low rates of abortion, because they also have universal sex education and easily available free contraception.

 

[MarAzul]

African-Americans mean abortion is being selectively used for genocide but a more likely cause is again less access to birth control.

Aren't the Planned Parenthood centers predominately located near the urban areas where a majority of Black people live?

Their top recommendation is a condom. How can you have less access to a condom living in a city?