Find out what position the major world religions take on abortion.
Religion and abortion
Religion and abortion
All the religions have taken strong positions on abortion; they believe that the issue encompasses profound issues of life and death, right and wrong, human relationships and the nature of society, that make it a major religious concern.
People involved in an abortion are usually affected very deeply not just emotionally, but often spiritually, as well. They often turn to their faith for advice and comfort, for explanation of their feelings, and to seek atonement and a way to deal with their feelings of guilt.
Because abortion affects heart as well as mind, and because it involves life and death, many people find that purely intellectual argument about it is ultimately unsatisfying.
For them it's not just a matter that concerns a human being and their conscience, but something that concerns a human being and their God.
The theologian Stanley Hauerwas puts it like this:
It may be that issues such as abortion are finally not susceptible to intellectual 'solution.'
I do not mean to suggest that we cease trying to formulate the problem in the most responsible manner possible, but rather that our best recourse may be to watch how good men and women handle the tragic alternatives we often confront in abortion situations...
For no amount of ethical reflection will ever change the basic fact that tragedy is a reality of our lives. A point is reached where we must have the wisdom to cease ethical reflection and affirm that certain issues indicate a reality more profound than the ethical.
Stanley Hauerwas
Individual religions' teachings on abortion
See also
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