‘Signs, signs, everywhere signs,” says the classic oldie. Go to any traditional pro-life event and you’ll see them: Virginal Mary and child emblazoned in a holy light, the famed pro-life icon Lady of Guadalupe, and rosary-bedecked signs a-plenty, imploring us all to “pray to end abortion”.
To the secular onlooker, the display of religiosity is plainly silly. Not only does it reaffirm the widely held belief that the pro-life position is merely a religious one to be disregarded by anyone outside of religion, it furthermore asks prayer of those least likely to be inclined to pray against a practice they don’t see as wrong.
But is that so big a deal? Other than looking silly, can any harm come from overtly religious pro-life presentations and public requests for prayer? Here are three reasons why I believe the signs are a detriment:
1. Image matters. The pro-life movement isn’t supposed to be a pep-rally, and it’s about time we start acting like we’re trying to move with our movement. How pro-lifers are perceived matters to how our message will be received. Religious icons and calls to prayer may comfort and reaffirm the faith-based pro-lifer, but they do little to persuade those passing by on the sidewalk that we are anything more than a church that fell out into the street. If our goal is to see more of them join us, we’d do well to not given them further cause to disregard us.
2. Rallies and demonstrations are an opportunity for education. We know we have good arguments on our side. Science, humanist philosophy, and reason combine to absolutely work in our favour. When addressing an increasingly secular world, these are the best and sharpest tools we ought to be pulling out of our kit. The average onlooker to a pro-life event may never have dialogued with an intelligent pro-lifer and our signs may be their only source of education. If our best case appears to be icons of Mary and appeals to prayer, onlookers are all the more likely to throw out the fetus with the holy water.
3. Prayer might be used in place of action. I can vividly recall attempting to recruit pro-life Christians to pro-life activism and outreach events. Too often I would hear “I’ll pray for you guys” in place of a commitment to participate. If you were choking, would you hope the person nearest you would merely pray to dislodge the item in your windpipe? Or would you hope that he would use the best tools and training at his disposition and perform the Heimlich?
The idea that the best thing one can do for the unborn is to pray for them, ignores the myriad of things one can do to help make abortion unthinkable. If it turns out that there is a God, we have to accept that for some reason or another, he has permitted abortion to remain legal and is permitting abortion to continue, despite 40 years of prayers being prayed on behalf of the unborn. Humanism offers a solution that works whether or not there is a God listening to prayers. Humanism says: we made the mess, we should clean the mess. I can only presume that if there is a God he would want us busy doing our best to change minds and laws with the means within our power, not sitting around waiting for him to do all the work.
You’ve prayed to end abortion for more than 40 years. Why not try adding reason, science, logic and philosophical into your arsenal, and see if we can’t finally bring abortion to an end?
Theists not only pray to end abortion. A march is only one aspect of the work Christians, and more specifically, Catholics, do in their work to end abortion. Catholics are already providing thousands of women who are.pregnant alternative options transforming their crisis into the amazing life experience having a child is for the parent(s). Not only that, but it is thousands of Catholic scientists, doctors, attorneys, and thousands of lay people, priests and deacons to build the mountain of science and reason that exists currently to show that abortion destroys human life. With that said, I fully understand how an atheist may be turned off by the relegiosity of some, but do not speak untruths by implying that the only thing Catholics do is pray to end abortion.