The Christian Compassion Revolution
In May, 2022, the US Senate rejected an abortion rights bill. A response to the possibility of the Supreme Court’s overturning Roe v. Wade, the proposed bill would have guaranteed the legal right to abortion up until birth. This flies in the face of any arguments about the “viability” of an unborn child, and exposes our culture’s true view about infanticide.
Both infanticide and child abandonment were defended by philosophers and intellectuals that are otherwise revered as foundational for the Western tradition. According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle: “As to exposing or rearing the children born, let there be a law that no deformed child shall be reared.”
Early Christians were unanimous in their condemnation of infanticide and child abandonment.[6] In this, they were radically counter-cultural.
But the early church was not content to sit on the sidelines and condemn the brutality of the pagans. They didn’t simply focus on gaining influence in the halls of power and passing laws. They got their hands dirty and they got busy saving, rescuing, and loving unwanted children.
The Christian church must recommit ourselves to the urgency and radically pro-life position and practice of the early church. We need a legion of leaders and faithful front-line workers to care for mothers in crisis, mentor young fathers, and adopt babies if necessary.