Children, Guns, and Abortion

Children, Guns, and Abortion April 11, 2023

Children, Guns, and Abortion

Christmas card of US Rep Thomas Massie (R KY) From 2016 to mid 2022 the NRA contributed $153,815 to elect Kentucky Representatives. Thomas Massie denies having received such contributions from the NRA.

I’m confused about children, guns, and abortion. Perhaps someone can explain some contradictions to me.

Now, I happen to love children. I bet many of you readers do as well. I’ve raised children in a warm and exciting home life. I’ve got grandchildren whom I adore and for whom I have high hopes. I wish that every child enjoy a safe, affectionate, and healthy experience at home, school, and playground.

I even wrote a book titled, For the Love of Children. It deals with loving children in light of innovations in reproductive technologies. No, you don’t have to rush out and buy it.

What confuses me is the political debate in America between Republicans and Democrats regarding children, guns, and abortion. It’s become patently clear that Republican politicians receive cash incentives to distribute widely the kind of guns that murderers use to kill children in schools. Yet, those same Republicans pass cockamamie legislation to protect unborn children from abortion service providers. Can someone explain this seeming contradiction to me?

Now, the Democrats claim they want to protect our living children from military assault weapons and from Republicans who profit from their sales. Yet, when it comes to yet-to-be-born children, Democrats vehemently support abortion access. Even Planned Parenthood connects gun reform with reproductive freedom. Can someone explain this seeming contradiction to me?

For the sake of coherence, one would expect that gun rights and abortion rights would come together in a single package. But, they don’t. Can someone explain this seeming contradiction to me?

“Christians: when in God’s name are we going to end gun violence?” I get this. I understand this religious impulse. But, the political debate regarding children, guns, and abortion puzzles me.

Something else confuses me. It’s language. I get the feeling that language is selected to obscure the relationship between children, guns, and abortion.

Republicans obscure their willingness to allow living children to die by claiming to support the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Democrats obscure their willingness to allow yet-to-be-born children to die by claiming to support women’s health. We all support the U.S. Constitution. Right? And we all support women’s health. Right? Yet, I’m confused. Can anyone explain to me how to sort out the relationship between children, guns, and abortion?

Other attempts to sort out the confusion regarding gun control.

Gun Deaths in Ukraine and the US

Gun Safety Prevarication and Legislation

America’s Two Killing Fields

A Billion Bucks for Bullets and Blood

Two Mass Shootings Per Day

School Shootings Meet AR-15 Lapel Pins

One final comment about abortion. I’ve long thought that the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling should be supported, because it provided protection of the mother’s health in consultation with her doctor. To my reading, Roe v. Wade did not entirely forsake the dignity of the unborn child while registering concern for the mother’s health. Somehow this important factor has been obscured in recent public discussions. Why?

Ted Peters

For Patheos, Ted Peters posts articles and notices in the field of Public Theology. He is a Lutheran pastor and emeritus professor at the Graduate Theological Union. He co-edits the journal, Theology and Science, with Robert John Russell on behalf of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, in Berkeley, California, USA. His single volume systematic theology, God—The World’s Future, is now in the 3rd edition. He has also authored God as Trinity plus Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society as well as Sin Boldly: Justifying Faith for Fragile and Broken Souls. See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com.

Watch for his new 2023 book, The Voice of Public Theology, published by ATF Press.

About Ted Peters
For Patheos, Ted Peters posts articles and notices in the field of Public Theology. He is a Lutheran pastor and emeritus professor at the Graduate Theological Union. He co-edits the journal, Theology and Science, with Robert John Russell on behalf of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, in Berkeley, California, USA. His single volume systematic theology, God—The World’s Future, is now in the 3rd edition. He has also authored God as Trinity plus Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society as well as Sin Boldly: Justifying Faith for Fragile and Broken Souls. See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com. Watch for his new 2023 book, The Voice of Public Theology, to be published by ATF Press. You can read more about the author here.

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