(Originally published in NewsMax.)
Since the overturning of Roe with the Dobbs ruling by the Supreme Court, millions of dollars are being spent to redefine Christian morality by, among other things, Christianizing abortion. This includes nearly $28 million for a Super Bowl ad targeting Christians titled “He Gets Us.” If successful, it could deal a deadly blow the First Amendment, protecting public moral expression that runs counter to a progressive secular narrative.
It all started in 2022 in the midst of abortion extremist violence targeting Christian pro-life pregnancy centers and churches. A White House Reproductive Health Task Force led by Vice President Kamala Harris introduced the concept of Christianizing abortion, saying that as a Christian, “One does not have to abandon their faith or beliefs” to be pro-abortion.
I warned ahead of the 2022 midterms that Christianizing abortion was going to be one of the political tactics used by the abortion industry and the politicians who protect it. Jewish rabbis then filed suit against Florida’s abortion restrictions as a violation of their religious liberty, as did the Satanic Temple. Since then, California Gov. Gavin Newsom leveraged a multistate billboard campaign using Jesus to promote abortion, quoting him in Mark 12 saying, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And New York Gov. Kathy Hochul from behind a church pulpit promoted abortion, saying, “God is out there, on our side …”
After a bill passed the House a year ago mandating that all infants born alive due to a botched abortion must be given medical care, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi chided the vote, insisting that getting an abortion is a personal decision that “must be … guided by faith.”
Harris, as America’s abortion czar, began the Biden-Harris reelection campaign on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade stumping on abortion. She has reiterated that Christians can be pro-abortion. This is a dangerous course not just for pro-life Christians, but for the First Amendment. To remove Christian belief as the basis for public pro-life expression makes abortion out to be a matter of mere personal opinion.
In light of recent ballot initiatives like Ohio’s Issue 1 turning abortion into a civil right, if being anti-abortion can be extracted from what it means to be a Christian, it will eliminate the First Amendment religious liberty protections afforded pro-life activity in the public square. This means that “enshrining abortion” as a right will go much further than merely codifying Roe. To speak or act in way that could be perceived as hindering a woman from getting an abortion may be interpreted as a conspiracy to deprive a woman of her civil rights, a violation punishable by fines and/or imprisonment.
The legal precedent that these efforts to Christianize abortion are attempting to undermine is that which defines a religiously protected belief followed by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A personal position is defined as a religious belief is when that belief “concerns ‘ultimate ideas’ about ‘life, purpose, and death,'” excluding “… political preferences.” If it can be shown that Christians can hold opposing views on abortion, then it can be presumed as merely a political preference and not an issue that touches “ultimate ideas about life and death.”
The earlier-mentioned Super Bowl ad attemps to rebrand real Christianity. The ad, “He Gets Us,” uses what looks like creepy artificial intelligence images, depicting ostensibly real Christian people washing the feet of political victim classes, such as what appear to be Black Lives Matter protesters, gay men, LGBTQ women, illegal immigrants, and women getting abortions. It is an attempt to redefine Christianity to exclude people who love the sinner but hate the sin, who believe that “God made man in His image,” and that preborn children are fully human and that both mother and baby deserve special protection.
If successful, efforts at rebranding the moral positions of orthodox Christian belief could mean that those who speak out against sin, even those who attempt to help people avoid and recover from sin like abortion, could be indicted for a conspiracy to commit a felony hate crime under 18 U.S.C. section 241. The statute states in part that it is “unlawful for two or more persons to agree to injure, threaten, or intimidate a person in the United States in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States or because of his or her having exercised such a right.”
Many pro-life Christians are concerned about the emerging persecution as a rash of Department of Justice indictments of Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) violations are beginning to notch the DOJ belt with federal prison sentences and hefty fines, punishing peaceful pro-life activity. Meanwhile the DOJ and FBI continue ignoring the rampant abortion extremist attacks on pro-life groups.
