Abortion: If an atheist or agnostic is pro-life, is religion hurting anyone by having a pro-life position?

Question

As many of the regulars know, I am an agnostic, and not trying to convert anyone,

So in the interest of creating a database of questions and answers, I am wondering if I could get answers to this question.

If an Atheist or an Agnostic is pro-life regarding abortion, they would not be wanting to push their religion on the rest of America. Therefore, is it really a harm to society that anyone who is religious has the same point of view?

Specifically would like the questions and answers to this question to be limited to the topic of abortion.

Thanks

Answer 1

Still harmful. Assume an atheist or agnostic would have secular reasons for his pro-life position. They can be examined, discussed, critiqued, and falsified. Society as a whole can debate the merits of their secular arguments and either accept them or reject them based on the principles of reason. A religious person holds this belief "just because." It cannot be changed, nor can it be questioned, examined, critiqued, or falsified. No basis exists for the examination of any idea advanced "just because." Such a person would never change their mind or give those who do not blindly accept their answers any reason to change their minds. Thus, harm is still done to society by burdening society and government with irrational beliefs that cannot be evaluated or changed if found to be wrong. I can't say it strongly enough - the concept of wrong doesn't even exist for a belief that is supposedly revealed truth. It is so problematic words fail me in describing it.

Answer 2

there really isn't any harm in a religious person having the same point of view....the harm comes in how they express it.

Most of the extreme actions (violence, protests, clinic bombings) have been done by religious "extremists" - not all of them, but MOST of them....in most cases the only time you even hear an atheist or an agnostic even bring it up is when to give their point of view when asked by a "religious" person....otherwise they just keep their mouth shut b/c they are secure enough in their own beliefs and don't need the approval or acceptance of others to feel that they are right.

As this was answered with the topic of abortion in mind, it could very well be used for many other topics concerning similar points of view between "religious" and the "non-religious."

Answer 3

An Atheist or an Agnostic would inherently deny or question the validity of the soul damaging element of the abortion question.

Without that consideration, a human is simply another biological being...one no different from the rest of the animals. Nobody ever faults a robin who throws a sickly chick from the nest to die. It would be the same thing for an Atheist or Agnostic.

A "Pro-Life" Atheist of Agnostic is actually an oxymoron since it would be necessary for a person who adopts that title to acknowledge the importance of goodness defeating evil. Simply, this is what God's all about.

If one equates goodness with evil or believes that relativism is Truth, then such a "Pro-Lifer" would in-fact be "Pro-Choice"...in other words, he'd believe that neither good nor bad comes from giving birth or killing the child.

Answer 4

I'm not sure that "If an Atheist or an Agnostic is pro-life regarding abortion, they would not be wanting to push their religion on the rest of America" is really a logical statement and therefore this is really a difficult question to answer.

Answer 5

An atheist or agnostic is as likely as anyone religous to push a prolife view. People with a prolife view just usually push it. Yes It is a harmful view I feel, It oversteps peoples rights, and it pushes on unwanted children being born in an overpopulated world.

The worst thing besides that of prolifers is that the hypocrites are just about always pro war and pro capital punishment and therefore are not pro lifers at all. There just pro control over a womans body, as if a womans body should have less rights then a mans.

Answer 6

Yes. It has to do with a person's reasons for the things they believe. It has been my experience that religious people don't listen to reason. As such, though their belief in one area might coincide with yours in that same area, the harm they do in all the other areas of society out weigh the benefit. For instance, I am agnostic and I oppose late term abortions, but I don't have a problem with stem cell research. You can't say the same for a lot of religious people. They don't really know why they oppose things, so they take an across-the-board stance on the issue. And there's no reason for it. There's no middle ground with them. If there's no middle ground, then there's no getting along with them.

Answer 7

I'm an agnostic, yet actually lean towards pro-life. Not completely, but I feel that abortion is used more as birth control than as a legitimate last ditch option, which I feel is wrong. (Though I also feel that I have no right to force this opinion on anyone else).

And yes, I feel that the fundamentalist extremists hurt the idea of moderation in abortion.

Answer 8

I as you know I am agnostic. I am pro-life in the sense that I would never ask anyone I loved to do that. I am pro-choice in that I know it is non of my business what anyone else does with, or to themselves. As usual it is an interesting question.
In answer to your question, it isn't the postition that religious people have on the issue, it's the bombings, shootings and other such non-sense. They in effect harm their own cause by acting this way.

Answer 9

It is only a harm on the rest of America if someone tries to legislate their personal beliefs so as to use the rule of law to force it on other people.

I have no problem with people who are pro-life. Let them not have an abortion, and let them fund charities that try to offer assistance to pregnant women who need it. But a huge line is crossed with such people want to FORCE everyone else to live by their standards.

Answer 10

Atheists and agnostics are usually pro-choice (a woman's right to choose whether to carrry a child to full term - I know many other progressive thinkers and none of them are actually in favour of abortion.) Religionists are being dishonest when they refer to themselves as pro-life. If they are pro-life why are they all so fanatically in favour of war and the death penalty. What they are really doing is trying to impose their moral values on everybody.
The religionists try to twist the argument to seem as if the pro-choice campaigners are PROMOTING abortion when the reality is that pro-choice is only about it being availabe as an option.

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