Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) is known for her vapidity. She’s a social media diva who sprinkles platitudes between earnest and detailed expositions of her latest makeup hacks. Her fans lap up her pablum the same way they fawn after and devour the crumbs other glitterati brush from their tables. She’s a Tesla-driving, new money elite who panders to low-income minorities, twisting their pain, frustration, and grief into adulation and political power—oh, and she plays a congresswoman on the side, representing New York’s 14th congressional district.
AOC is truly a sign of our times, shallow, greedy, and desperately ignorant. But last Thursday, May 19th, AOC dipped her well manicured toe into the deep end of the pool on YouTube.
Rambling about Roe v. Wade and the larger abortion issue AOC said, “There are so many faiths that don’t have the same definition of life as fundamentalist Christians.” AOC went on to claim that defining life at conception is “theocratic...and wrong.” First, the word “wrong” seems strange coming from someone whose value system is defined by the expedient. Right and wrong are the purview of religion, and AOC’s Vatican is state power. She’s no different from the long line of would-be and actual totalitarians who claim the mantle of moral authority in the name of the state.
It’s also strange that she’d use the word “theocratic.” She’s not a serious person, so meaning and context is lost on her, but she’s in favor of imposing raw statist power on those whose religious beliefs conflict with her Marxist agenda. She’s more comfortable with the capricious diktats that issue from the state, than with the moral law of God proved practical, just, and wise by millennia of human experience. We all serve a master. There’s just no escaping it. All AOC has to offer are the hollow promises of the collectivist, the fascist, the socialist, the progressive, the democrat—all synonymous in our day. The secular state has a history as well, and it is steeped in blood and misery. AOC is simply too avaricious to see that truth.
The world’s religions do not agree with AOC’s infanticidal fervor. The world’s five major religions—Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism do not agree on much of anything, but they do agree with surprising consistency on protecting the life of unborn children. It seems, except for the demons that statism spawns, murdering children is universally abhorred.
Islam boasts 1.8 billion followers, according to the World Atlas. Islam, or more appropriately, Muhammadism began in Mecca in the seventh century A.D. Muhammad, Islam’s prophet, lived from 570 to 632 A.D. The infanticide question has been obfuscated by liberalism in religious practice as well as in politics, but the orthodox position of Muslims for the last two thousand years has been fairly consistent and based on passages from the Koran, Islam’s holy book. “And do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden, except by right.” (Our’an 17:33) Also, “Do not kill your children out of poverty; We will provide for you and them.” (Our’an 6:151) These passages, as well as Shari’ah provisions support the majority view condemning abortion except when the life of the mother is in imminent danger.
Judaism claims 14 million followers and began with the patriarch Abraham some three to four millennia ago. As with Islam, liberal Judaism seeks to depart from orthodoxy and create a space within Judaism for infanticide. However, the weight of long history is on the side of the right to life. The principal Biblical source for Jewish law on abortion is Exodus 21: 22, 23. The passage describes a hypothetical fight between two men that results in a woman being battered and subsequently suffering a miscarriage and live birth. Given the Torah’s clear presupposition of life beginning at conception (see Psalm 139: 13-16) the meaning in Exodus 21 must be the fetus as a living soul. Any harm to the fetus resulting in death is to be met with “life for life,” executed by the state.
Hinduism has 1.1 billion followers and is an ancient religious system. The classical and authoritative Hindu texts, the Vedas and Upanishad forbid abortion except when the life of the mother is threatened. The Satapatha Brahmana compares those who eat beef with those who perform abortions. And the Kaushitaki Upanishad (1.2 UpR, 774) describes abortion as the moral equivalent of killing one’s parents. Also, the Atharva Veda (6.113.2 HE, 43) lists the fetus slayer as among the most vile sinners.
Buddhism is followed by approximately 500 million people worldwide. According to Buddhist teachings, life—rebirth—begins at conception. So, in accord with the Five Precepts the taking of life is an immoral act. The fetus is considered a sentient being and interfering with the developing life generates tremendous negative karma.
Finally, Christianity at 2.3 billion followers is the largest religion in the world today. As with the other major world religions, Christianity is plagued with factious denominations. However, the Bible remains Christianity’s central and authoritative text. Among the world’s religious texts the Bible makes unique claims to inerrancy and authority. It claims to be the very Word of God. So, it’s either a tattered old text of unsurpassed complexity and cohesiveness, or it is as it claims to be—the mind of God in written form. Jesus recognized the Old Testament as inspired, and the New Testament makes the same claims. So for any serious Christian, the Bible’s consistent condemnation of murder and it’s recognition of life beginning at conception (Psalm 139:13-16) is dispositive—abortion is the murder of an unborn child. Therefore, only in saving another life, the mother’s, may abortion be considered—a life for a life.
The religious questions surrounding infanticide are only complex when original, authoritative texts are ignored. The tradition of millennia stand in stark opposition to AOC’s opportunistic and shallow remarks. The world’s major religions, including the Judaism that AOC references, oppose the slaying of an unborn child for reasons that are obvious to an honest and thoughtful mind. Jesus had something to say about people like AOC, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:15,16)
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