One of Nadine Dorries’ most frequent lines in the debate around abortion has been that all religious people oppose abortion. This is clearly nonsense. The existence of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice gives the lie to that. It might just be possible to argue that the overwhelming preponderance of religious opinion is absolutely opposed to abortion and that those who are religious but allow for abortion are rare anomalies.
The ever-informative Prospect magazine, in its ‘News & Curiosities’ column, has this factoid, attributed to Between the Monster and the Saint by Richard Holloway:
Catholics believe that the soul comes into existence at the exact moment of conception. In Greek Orthodoxy, “ensoulment” happens at 21 days, in Islam at 40 days, and in Judaism at 80 days.
The creation or incarnation of the soul is one of the bases of religious objections. Although the picture is rather more complicated than this – see my post of [date] on – I’m just glad that something with a bigger readership than me has noticed that religions don’t conform to certain preconceptions!
I’m sorry to bang on about this. Actually, I’m not at all sorry. I just hope I don’t become tedious. I am increasingly convinced that, should the Conservative Party win the next general election, there will be restrictions placed on abortion. Much of Ms Dorries’ opposition is based on her telegraphic memory1 and I fear the small-c conservative, religious movement may also seek to make retrograde steps elsewhere.
xD.
1 – she makes it up…
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