Ambivalent Attitudes Toward Abortion In A Postmodern Society Religion Essay

uncertain Attitudes Toward Abortion In A postmodern Society Religion renderThe Christian response to stillbirth in our western culture has been a matter of preserving the sanctity of life. Although it would seem to be cut and dry to a Christian that spontaneous abortion violates that sanctity of life, it continues to face constitutional evolvement, differing worldviews, the scrutiny of the much expectant aesculapian profession, and school text books for Christians. All of these concerns illustrate a wayward compass, lacking the ability to find true north. Society continues to view the simple yet compound definitions of personhood. Abortion is purported to be honorablely warrant by pro-choice advocates in the postmodernist culture. The question of what is remediate or wrong continues to be argued on both offices of the issue. For instance, the ghostly community flowerpot non gift agreement, cites Rothstein and Williams (1983), on what a person consists of or when a pe rson begins life.This report ordain contend that the postmodern attitude towards abortion in a theistic hostelry has been characterized as ambivalent and much(prenominal) that a familiarity, heart-to-heart to liberal schools of thought, and changing modern and family values, errs on the side of science and convenience. Further, conclusion makers on the pro-choice side have used their agenda to further their secular beliefs by means of precept, and a cavalier approach to sex which gives hoist to sexual promiscuity. Additionally, there have been declines in lesson thresholds, church attendance, theological literacy, and respect for gender roles in the family.Ambivalent Abortion Attitudes in a Postmodern Theistic SocietyDisputes all over abortion argon unremarkably very heated due to the involvement of conflicting worldviews. Abortion is red ink to have hindrance attempting to reside indoors a Christian worldview, establish purely on their opposing logic. Furthermore, a bortion can comfortably watch over itself within the worldview of liberal postmodernism. Challengers of abortion be aware that they are back up the rights of human life flush though they may non be cognizant that they are also supporting the Christian worldview. Also, supporters of healthy abortions chance on that they are securing a womans right to choose even though they may not be altogether aware of their support to the postmodern worldview.A worldview adds perspective and helps us identify with the world around us and how we understand and appraise not only what we see except how we perceive ourselves to our dread of life. Religion has the ability to hone a persons worldview, which starts to develop and institute moral perspectives. Religion serves as a main source for determining right and wrong, good and bad, just and unjust (Durkheim, 1954 p. 43).In fix to have a credible understanding of the postmodern view on abortion which give be discussed contiguous, both opposing views must(prenominal) be examined in order to explain wherefore a postmodern view in a theistic society would embrace a pro-abortion stance. This will explain the difficulty in finding a common ground, in regard of the issues of abortion, and why conversion at this point is not viable especially since postmodern tenets guide toward the secular decision making.Comparative analysis of postmodernism and theistic views opus is a created being and has a composition pre-determined by an intelligent and goal-directed design, as opposed to the secular contention where mans indiscriminate evolvement has no predetermine nature or design. Man is an immortal spirit being in which dwells a mortal body, compared to the secular point of view where man is all a physical animal and or machine. Moral law governs universally with marriage, sexual activity, and family, while secularism sees morality as culturally and or individually determined. Luker (1984) sites these differing view s as conflicting, pro-choice active women share al approximately no common premises and very little common language with antiabortion activist women in particular, the worldviews and conceptions of m other(a)(a)hood held by the two different groups of women are antithetic (p. 2).The cultural war on abortion has mevery fronts and those who adhere to liberal postmodernism or answer to liberal postmodern ideology are presumable to frame lawful abortion as a set of rights or privileges for the women who in more cases become pregnant carelessly. Hauerwas, author of Theologically Understood, says that liberals not Christians in America are tempted to destine of issues like abortion originally in legal terms such(prenominal) as rights. He explains rights as an agreement between members in a society who have cryptograph in common and in this context the prolife plus prochoice factions. Hauerwas states that within a liberal society such as ours, the law functions as a mediator of suc h disagreements. He gives an example of our system of law by saying, Why do Christians call abortion, abortion and that is to say why Christians think that abortion is a morally problematic term? (Hauerwas, 1991, p. 5).Hauerwas demystifies years of elusions by calling abortion, abortion which is already an achievement based on principles. pro-choice is pro-abortion using the phrase termination of pregnancy, the postmodernist has reduced the churchs involvement and reallocated the moral responsibility onto the medical profession. For well-nigh of the twentieth century, abortion was removed from humans scrutiny by defining it as a question of medical judgment (Emerson, 1996, p. 44).By circumventing the church we can easily foretell any incoming decision making within a postmodern society towards abortion. By defining that mistake as take divinity fudge aside of anything and it dies as pointed appear here by Nietzsche, parable of a swashbuckler Do we smell anything yet of Gods d ecomposition? Isnt this the crux of postmodern comprehension which is inserting Gods insignificance into the minds of our youth?A culture cannot lose its philosophic center without the most serious of consequences, not just to the philosophy on which it was based but to the whole superstructure of culture and even each persons notion of who he or she is. When God dies, both the substance and the value of everything else die too (Sire, 2004, p. 211).This leads to the next point on Postmodernisms thinking on the sanctity of life, which has created a pro-abortion crisis in America. In the United States alone the abortion rates have change magnitude from 898,000 in 1974 to 1,533,000 in 1980. These figures indicate that on an average day in Washington D.C., abortions are out building live births. Twenty-five percent of all pregnancies are terminated in this manner and forty percent among teenagers. Approximately cardinal percent of all women in the United States have had a legal abor tion. Sixty percent were under twenty-five years of age, and eighty-two percent were unmarried at the time of their abortions. Sixty-nine percent of these individuals were white. This is the latest uncommitted culture provided by researchers by the Henshaw, Koonin metalworker Institute (1991).The above in stressation shows the influential state and the wide acceptance of abortion and its use as a solution rather than as a last resort. other way we see secular conditioning, is through what we read, which raises the question are we neglecting to efficaciously provide enough alternatives to abortions, such as adoption?For a number of generations we have been stealth fully preconditioning society by removing God from earthly concern genteelness. Here for example a member of the Texas board of education is account saying There seems to be a misinformed view of religion in American history, that America is somehow founded on Christianity, and Mize said, We just ask that things be historically accurate (Castro, 2010, 7).That certainly lessens the burden of trying to understand a postmodern view towards the ultimate decision to dismiss life, since a form of preconditioning has shown a dismissive attitude towards abortion. The textbook often provides the central center on and organizing framework for courses, and students, in turn rely on textbooks as their most readily available source of information about the course topics (Geersten, 1977, p. 102).Postmodern theists are also finding difficulty with the abortion issue when it comes to their education as pointed out here, Evangelicals for the most part tend to adhere to their education group rather than their religion with regards to their abortion attitudes (Schmalzbauer, 1993, p. 6). Education will no doubt reconstruct the minds of our youth as pointed out by Evans when he commented on Wuthnow, 1988 education is a more powerful opinion structuring draw off than religious discourse itself, and most studies f ind that the more education a respondent has, the more liberal his or her abortion attitudes (Evans, 2002, p. 418).This helps answer why a postmodern society raises and nurtures its most influential citizens into embracing such secular ideas as Humanism, Naturalism, and Theistic Existentialism.Postmodernism is here to stay and to evolve. It is a major paradigm shift that has vast and deep impact on the world. When modernity hits hard on Christianity, many sociologists predict the inevitable demise and even eradication of Christianity by secularism (Bruce Steve, 1996, 5).Also having the primarily secularists controlling how textbooks are compose and studied can only point to the trickling down effect of God within the hearts of men. By the mid-1990s abortion had been legal for two decades, and the world had become more educated and more secular, and other sociodemographic trends found abortion increasingly acceptable (Strickler Danigelis, 1999, p. 188).There should be equal wor ry over issues which are of immediate concern for all such as poverty, orbiculate warming, aids prevention, war, and more. All of these are of equal value and worth investigating and debating, but abortion is not equated with the same balance of equality. Given the new-fashioned numbers of elective abortions, 1,533,000 in 1980 as sited earlier tell us that there are many women who continue to share ambivalent feelings toward abortion. I was pregnant, I carried two unborn children and I chose, for completely selfish reasons, to treat them life so that I could better my own (Flodin, 1990, 3).If we are passing game to find a way to bring back the sanctity within our society, we must implement formal instructions in morals and principles as an essential component of the everyday school curriculum. Secularism campaigns alongside ambivalence in America we become too complicated with our competing curses? The answer lies in our public school system which according to the first amen dment,Public schools may not inculcate nor inhibit religion. They must be places where religion and religious conviction are treated with fairness and respect. Public schools uphold the First Amendment when they cheer the religious liberty rights of students of all faiths or none. Schools demonstrate fairness when they manipulate that the curriculum includes study about religion, where appropriate (Haynes, 2010, P.1).An upward battle will continue as long as postmodernists maintain a far-flung relationship with God. Teachers are permitted to carry no obtrusive jewelry, such as a cross or Star of David. But teachers should not wear proselytizing message (e.g., Jesus Saves T-shirt). (Haynes, 1999, p.7). Here is an example of secular reasoning,Attorneys for Kandice Smith, a sixth-grader at Curry Middle School in Walker County, Alabama, filed a display case in federal court to overturn what they called an unconstitutional localise code. In August, the school banned cross necklaces as part of its new dress code claiming they are gang symbols. School officials threatened to discipline Smith if she didnt hide the cross under her clothes. (Rock star, 1999, 4).As long as the cross is reviewed as a gang sign abortion will of all time be consider as a first option. Postmodern societies lean towards abortion as a first consideration rather than as a last resort because it rests in their understanding of God.The postmodern cultures, word of honor illiteracy clearly exemplifies the ease in which abortion decisions are made, and how religious freedom can be extrapolated from law to err on the side of the secularist, consequently making the first amendment null and void.In conclusion, how can a Christian in a postmodern society consider abortion not as a viable solution to a complex moral issue? The abortion debate has polarized Americans like no other national problem. The abortion issue has created a vast partitioning crossways Americas cultural, and religious line s, which is also evident at the individual, political, and ecclesiastical levels. How then can a Christian in a postmodern theistic society protect forty percent of future teenage abortions in a society which is profoundly secular given the tenet that abortion is a right?This certainly points to a valid concern held by many Christians, and alludes to a valid misrepresentation on prolife options within our school textbooks. From 1988 through 1993 sampling 27 textbooks representing 16 publishers covering a period of 6 years (Kathy Shepherd Elaine Hall, 1994, p. 267). They referenced topics such as, abortion and legal cases such as Roe v. Wade, pro-life, birth control, teen pregnancy, and reproduction. Citations for abortion were indexed more than 60 times and adoption citations were indexed under 13 headings. Also with this study recognition to abortion was tendered 4 times more page space than adoption.The humane manifesto will continue as long as Gods inheritance is denied in pub lic school courses. This is happening all across America, schools are simply not teaching about God, and by leaving out His heritage the significance of abortion will continue to all future generations.A theist in a postmodern society must find a way to respect the law of the land that does not mean they take part in it nor does it mean they have to protest, through legal channels its validity. If we are to be effective on the other side, we ourselves will have to become less modern and more postmodern-not completely of it, of course, but more completely in it. (McLaren, 2000, p. 168).