Welcome to Gaia! ::

I realize that many of the people here on the Pro-Life guild believe in God in one way or another, as do I. My only real problem with this is that too many people (in a debate situation) use God as their flagship. Sure we should all be proud of our individual faiths, but we simply can not use that as our main arguing point because it simply does not work, and makes us look like fanatics or idiots.
It is against our government to consider or pass a law based simply on our own religious beliefes. Though our current President seems to be getting away with passing some laws with no other reason but religion, something as sencitive as abortion is not going to go that easily.
(I must point out that I am aware that not everyone on Gaia is an American, but the majority of the people debating about abortion are from the US.)
Really this is just a plea for more Pro Life people to debate using facts that no one can argue in an intellegent non religious way.

If anyone has any questions about what I have said or what i may have meant by anything I said go ahead and ask and I will clear things up. I do not mean to offend anybody with any of my previous statements.

Religion has never played a very big role in my being pro-life. That was probably aided by my father who is pro-life but who has no religion what-so-ever. I myself am a Pagan, practicing Witchcraft, and while it plays a small role it's a very small role.

I chose to accept the religion I did partially because of it's attitude towards abortion, not vice versa. I was prolife before my parents were, prolife before my friends were, and prolife before I believed firmly in God.

I can't stand people saying I'm only prolife because of my beliefs. Why the heck are they prochoice? Because they believe it's right. THe reasoning behind the beliefs is what differs. We all do things based on our beliefs. I agree. Facts are the best tools we have.

The thing about religion is that it has a philosophy to it that has to be achieved before you can go out and preach about it. Unless you can obtain that philosophy, you're still lost.

I was pro-life long before I was very religious. There just seemed something inherently wrong about ending the life of another human being. If we, as humans, cannot agree that all life is precious and must be protected, then what is left to hold our society together? Why is murder wrong in some cases, but encouraged as a "choice" in others?

Once I became Christian, my convictions were not really altered, as I already felt strongly about the subject. I simply recieve comfort that the denomination I have chosen, Catholicism, is also quite steadfast in their views on the issue.

Well, once you use God, it gets into a matter of a religious importance to you and not social importance. Even if the two coincide in your mind, they don't in everyone's minds and they see it as forcing personal beliefs on people because of some non-existant (as far as many people are concerned) being.

Social issues of abortion, however, are solid. There are Christian faiths which support abortion and consider people who are prolife to be confused and lost. Looking at it from the point of view of someone who is Prochoice, it feels like people who are prolife are like the white people who pushed to turn back the whole civil rights movement because they believed they were better due to their skin color.

Social issues, though, are things that you and the other person both relate to eachother. It applies to everyone in society. It's one thing to argue with God to someone who shares your faith, but with people who don't, it isn't as solid as arguing on something you both share. Like, do you both have friends who can get pregnant at any time? Do you worry about a loved one being harmed due to a method of dealing with pregnancy? Those are things we all may be faced with without having a way to choose to be faced with it.

When you are debating, you don't want to just say what you feel. You want to say why you feel the other person should listen too. You need to be able to relate to people on a level which they will seriously consider what you are saying. Abortion is an issue outside of religion. TO many people who support/don't support it, they don't share your view of God.

Even using God as a minor point could turn a person off completely. You could definitely use God's teachings, as they have very practical applications in the real world. "Thou shalt not kill," is a commandment, but if you phrase it as, "It is wrong to kill another human being because our society dictates that people have rights," It is saying, Thou shalt not kill, without mentioning God. It's different than denyng your faith, denying your faith would mean you'd try to hide it. If someone asks why you personally believe it's wrong to kill, you tell the truth, but what is wrong and right for you is not true with what society says is wrong and right.

That is extremely brave of you. Just had to say that, sorry if it bugs you redface

Nah, it's all cool... I get tired of people saing" Oh, I feel so bad for you." That bothers me. I don't feel bad for me (Well, I did for a while.. at first I felt like it wasn't my fault.. it was date rape. Then again, I knew the guy didn't really love me.) so I don't want others to, ya know?