Atheist Writer Asks Why 'Thoughts and Prayers' are not Offered in Fight Against Abortion — Here's the Answer

An interesting article appeared at Patheos recently, suggesting that conservative Christians should spend more time offering “thoughts and prayers” to those undergoing abortions, rather than simply attempting to outlaw the practice.

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On the face of it, I don’t think many would disagree with this. As Christians, we must be compelled to show the grace of God to all people and to love others unconditionally, no matter what their situation.

But the article did not stop with an invitation to compassion. Instead, “Friendly Atheist” writer Sarahbeth Caplin momentarily forgot her namesake and venomously attacked a non-descript group of Christians for their supposed love of guns and hatred of abortion.

Citing a piece in the Washington Post written by the notorious evangelical critic, John Fea, Caplin insisted that conservative Christians were issuing a prayerful response on just one of the two issues and that this was a “sign of hypocrisy on the Right.”

But is that fair, or even true?

Of course, Christians and politicians on both the left and the right want to see less gun-violence. However, other countries with similar gun laws do not suffer from the same scourge of mass shootings. This simple deduction strongly indicates the issue runs much deeper than the ease by which you can lay hands on a weapon.

The central problem with Caplin’s argument is the fact that she is comparing two wildly different issues and attempting to pull the hypocrisy card without thinking carefully about what she is insinuating.

“They don’t care about “life” after all. They never did,” she writes, presumably referring to conservative-leaning Christians.

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Well then, what of the innumerable organizations that seek to give refuge to those embroiled in pregnancy crises, or the adoption agencies who put forward loving families to care for and love babies that would otherwise be aborted? Sure — it’s easier to label those with a differing opinion to you as dispassionate and heartless, but it doesn’t make it true.

Unabashed, Caplin went on, insisting that “it’s just easier for them to find electoral success by taking action on a “problem” that doesn’t exist while offering nothing but lip service for a problem that does.”

Well, assuming she is referring to abortion here, let’s start with a simple response question: is the intentional killing of 300,000+ innocent unborn babies per annum a non-existant problem?

While America is a country where guns can fall into the wrong hands, everyone wants to see an end to that. However, America is also a nation where you can pay someone to legally pull apart the limbs of an innocent human child — and there are millions of people fighting to keep that legal.

Some even celebrate the practice, as evidenced by the recent campaign to ‘shout’ your abortion.

Yes, abortion most certainly is a problem that exists. It is also an issue that cannot be logically compared to gun control without leaping to politically-charged presumptions and unhelpful straw-man argumentation.

Right now, legislators are trying to figure out what they can do to protect America from such horrific acts of violence at the hands of sick individuals — this is vitally important.

Other legislators, however, are spending their time tackling a sordid practice which is claiming 1,000 innocent lives every single day — this action, too, should be applauded.

Perhaps, as both issues are tackled in their own way, we should cover these lawmakers in prayer, instead of issuing lazy and generic criticism? Just a thought.. and a prayer.