Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: garth!dbarnes@unix.sri.com (Dave Barnes) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Separation of Church and State (mostly regarding abortion) Message-ID: Date: 8 Aug 90 08:23:25 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: INTERGRAPH (APD) -- Palo Alto, CA Lines: 47 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Forgive me if this is not the right newsgroup, but talk.abortion is just a continual flame fest. Actually the issue is not with abortion per se, but with the greater issue of being a Christian and believing God's laws have sovereignty over the laws of man when there is conflict between the two. As an American we are to respect others' views, and our religious views are not to be mandated for everyone. But what if others' views are in opposition to God's views (as we interpret them) on certain issues? Case in point is the abortion issue. My Dad and most of my family are agnostic and don't hold the same views on the status of the unborn that I do. They see the "right to lifers" as being shallow, one-dimensional people who don't believe in the separation of church and state. He sees it as a religious issue and doesn't want others telling him what to believe about what a fetus is. This is where I get into conflict. If God is real, I mean, not just a concept or a vague force, but a personal being with definite views and commands for his people, then what a Christian thinks God says is more legitimate and of greater value than anything that the citizens of the U.S. think. So my first allegience to God says the laws ought to be this way, but I can't force my dad to believe the same as I do, so the laws ought to leave room for his views, in this case that abortion is fine. I've been really struggling with this over the last few years. How have some of you out there reconciled this? I'd appreciate hearing from you. Again, I do NOT want to start a discussion on abortion, but how have believers out there reconciled this "separation of church and state" vs. "ultimate accountabilty to God" matter? -- ---------------------------------------------------------- David Barnes UUCP: {pyramid,sri-unix,ingr}!apd!dbarnes 415/852-2365 USPS: Intergraph APD, 2400 Geng Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303 ---------------------------------------------------------- [To avoid spreading the flamefest here, I'd like to avoid dealing with the issue of abortion itself. However the question of how far one can reasonably allow religious belief to affect laws is an important one that I'm willing to look at. --clh]