Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.
Well, recently, eminent British theologian and former Bishop of Durham N.T. Wright, famous for his defense of the doctrine of the resurrection, showed a shocking lack of familiarity. With even the most basic moral case against abortion. Answering a question on his Ask NT Wright Anything podcast, Wright asserted that abortion can sometimes be the best choice. Quote, there are many, many cases where it's about the mother's health versus the health of the child.
Particularly, as you cited, in cases of rape, in cases of incest, there may be a very, very strong argument for saying this ought never to have happened. And with sorrow, because we do not want to do this in principle, but with sorrow and a bit of shame, the best thing to do is as soon as possible terminate this pregnancy. End quote. Bright went on to emphasize that killing a later term baby is repulsive, and rivals the evils of postbirth infanticide, which he called pagan, and said that early Christians were correct to oppose. But what is a later term baby?
Wright said that he doesn't consider himself qualified to answer that question, partly because, and I quote again, it's very hard for a man to talk about this. Also, he considers men who are dogmatic about abortion to be bullying women. He then said, and I quote again, I'm not medically qualified to say what point I would draw a line when this is a viable human being that should then be cherished, end quote.
So, according to Wright, abortion is sometimes the best course of action, especially in cases of rape, incest, and severe deformity. In these cases, it should be done with sorrow and shame, but as soon as possible to avoid committing the morally repulsive act of late-term abortion, which is comparable to infanticide. But when and where that moral line exists is not for men, as opposed to women, without medical degrees, to say. Even though he immediately added that viability is the moral line when a child should be cherished. But what he doesn't say is: why should abortion be performed with sorrow and shame unless it's wrong?
And if it is wrong, then how would killing an innocent human be compassionate for someone suffering deformity? How does another evil undo the evil of rape or incest? And what about the quote, many, many other cases that he alluded to where it is about the mother's health and he explicitly included mental health versus the health of a child? Who makes that call? And what kind of abortion couldn't be justified by appealing to mental health?
For that matter, why should a human with severe deformity only be killed before birth, but not afterwards? And if Wright doesn't have the credentials or the chromosomes to say when a child should be cherished, how does he know it has anything at all to do with viability in the first place? Look, every one of Wright's arguments are familiar and is inconsistency obvious. But in fact, that's always been the point of these rehashed arguments for abortion. It's a scattershot approach that confuses the issue rather than illuminates it.
And they all start with the same premise, that the pre-born aren't valuable human beings that need to be protected. And that Wright has absorbed these assumptions and is now repeating them shows that he's either unaware or he's intentionally ignoring the actual case for life. It also shows that even if pro-lifers are tired of making the basic pro-life arguments, we have to continue to make them. even to eminent theologians. In fact, the concise formulation of the pro-life argument by Scott Klusendorff, the author of The Case for Life, exposes every one of Wright's claims.
Here it is. Premise one, It's always wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human being. Premise 2. Abortion kills an innocent human being. Conclusion abortion's always wrong.
So anyone, including Wright, who thinks abortion is the best thing to do in some circumstances, has to either disprove one or both of these premises or show that the conclusion is somehow invalid. Write waffles on this task. By the way, in another problematic answer to another question, Wright seems to question whether a belief in Jesus' bodily resurrection is an essential belief for Christians, including for fellow theologians who know better what's at stake. Such people, Wright said, can love Jesus, but they're just very, very muddled. But his very muddled answer, especially when applied to studied biblical scholar Marcus Borg, contradicts Paul's assertions about the physical resurrection and the faith.
It's especially disheartening coming from NT Wright. whose book defending the resurrection is absolutely incredible. In fact, Wright's long list of books and teachings on Scripture and Jesus have been of enormous benefit to the church. And make him one of the preeminent scholars of our lifetime. And all truth is God's truth, including the truth that he articulates in his work.
But so is the truth about the pre-born and the evil of abortion that he neglects and denies in his answer. And even basic truths have to be repeated and defended, even at times to fellow Christians who ought to know better than anyone else. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. Today's Breakpoint was co-authored with Shane Morris. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, please leave us a review wherever you download your podcast.
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