Abortion & The Religious Opposition Research Paper

Abortion & The Religious Opposition - Research Paper Example Belief in religion was so strong earlier which prevented people from performing abortion. Most of the religions, especially the Christian religion, oppose abortion because of the serious ethical issues involved in it. According to Christian belief, only the creator (The God) has the sole right over creations and doing something against the will of God is unethical. Christians or the church argue that even after tremendous advancements in science and technology, the mysteries around life and death are not unveiled yet. In other words, Christians do believe that the secrets behind human life are uncatchable to human abilities and only the God has the authority on human life. In short, church always believes that denying the opportunity of a child to live in this world cannot be justified. On the other hand, critics of above argument argue that everything in this universe is meant for the wellbeing of the human and human has the right to do everything needed to make his/her life comfort able. Thus churches and current liberal or advanced societies have different perceptions about topics such as abortion. This paper analyses the various arguments in favor and against abortion through religious perspectives. â€Å"The Catholic Church has always condemned abortion as a grave evil. Christian writers from the first-century author of the Didache to Pope John Paul II have maintained that the Bible forbids abortion, just as it forbids murder† (Abortion). Abortion is an act of murdering. It is just like a person being killed by another person. Some people believe that God forgives every sin and in order to get salvation, a confession before the end of life is enough. But in many cases, people may not get an opportunity to confess their sins because of the unexpected arrival of death. Under such circumstances, it is better to stay away from committing mistakes rather than expecting forgiveness from God later. Killing of fetus in order to rescue the life of mother coul d be the justified up to certain extent. Didache and Pope John Paul II justified abortion based on the above belief and argument. Old Testament is more critical on causing damages to a fetus. The following words from Exodus 21:22-24 clearly suggests that the life of a fetus is as important as the life of a human. If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely, but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot (Ex. 21:22–24) (Abortion) The life of a fetus is as important as the life of a human according to Moses. Destruction of a fetus is nothing smaller than killing of another person. Moses declared that a criminal who causes damage to a fetus should be punished severely which is evident from the above words from Holy Bible. However, Jesus Christ has li beralized many of the laws of Moses. Jesus gave more importance to Forgiveness and Love. Jesus came to this world in search of sinners rather than saints. So he did everything possible to save the lives of sinners. In fact he sacrificed his life for saving the lives of sinners. He taught the sinners that if they confess their sins and accept Jesus as their savior, they will get salvation. In other words, it is possible to argue that Jesus may forgive the sins with respect to abortion