Two recent newspaper articles struck me today and had me wondering just how far we have to go to be a civilized society. The first was the assassination of the Pakistani governor of Punjab who, according to his killer, was guilty of heresy because he promoted tolerance of heresy. The second was the report of infanticide in Ethiopia. Children were being killed because they were either bastards, conceived without the village elder's notification, or had their upper teeth emerging before their lower teeth.
Surely God is powerful enough that he doesn't need his followers to defend his honor or fight his battles. Or does he? Are we respecting God by fighting his battles for him or are we really treating him like we would a little sister and protecting him from the "big bullies"? Apparently a significant number of Pakistanis know the answer to that.
As for infanticide - is it any worse than abortion? Are we any more civilized if our society decides an "early infanticide" is justified if the fetus resulted from fornication or adultery or if the baby will be downright inconvenient? Do our "good" reasons for abortion sound any better than the Ethiopians' reasons for killing babies?
My thoughts exactly. One of the reasons I believe in God but tend not to believe in various religions.
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