On today’s episode of Useless Things Christians Say to Win Likes and Retweets From Strangers Online: Samantha D. is this close to saying children should be abducted from their mothers over their political views. Abducted and placed in our already overburdened, messed up, and underfunded foster care system, I presume? I’m guessing pro-choice fathers simply don’t exist in her world, since she specified only mothers.

I decided to do some incredibly lazy, probably very incorrect research to determine how many children this could be, because what she said was so stupid I’m actually struggling to believe she thought of this, typed it out, and posted it. Online. For others to read. But not ironically.

Anyway.

According to pew research center, 59% of Americans support abortion. So let’s say 50% of women, and therefore 50% of mothers, are pro-choice (this doesn’t count the fact some may only be pro-choice in certain instances, not generally i.e. the mother’s life is in danger, the mother is a child herself, or the pregnancy is a result of rape/incest). According to the census, in 2009 there were around 85 million mothers. That number has no doubt increased as it’s 2022 but whatever. Halving that leaves us with like 42.5 million mothers who are pro-choice in America alone. The average household has 2.5 kids, so let’s just assume all 42.5 million mothers had 2 kids. Sam here is advocating for the government to kidnap some 85 million kids from their homes because of their mother’s views. Mind you, she’s not even advocating that mothers who’ve had abortions have their children taken away from them, but merely those who are pro-choice.

I don’t know about ya’ll, but kidnapping children from their mothers over their political views is what sounds psychotic to me. Unless she plans on adopting all of these kids, which is still psychotic but if so, I’ll gladly start a GoFundMe for her so she can feed these 80 million children.

The abortion debate leaves no room for dialogue that could lead to any sort of meaningful changes in regards to what both sides want. Generally, if someone sincerely believes a fetus is not alive, there’s no point in trying to convince them otherwise. Taking into consideration the treatment of women throughout history, of course those whom are pro-life seem awful, cruel, and oppressive, wanting to strip women of their autonomy, voice, and ability exist in society as something other than “Earthen vessels”, which is dehumanizing. On the flip side, if one sincerely believes an unborn child is a living being that can feel and is aware of what’s happening to it, those whom are pro-choice seem awful, reckless, and murderous, killing innocent children merely because they view them as an inconvenience. Consequently, neither side can ever have any meaningful conversation about how to prevent women from getting pregnant, or how we can support women who do end up with unwanted pregnancies, because they view the world through entirely different lenses. When your worldview vastly contradicts someone else’s, there’s no way to agree to disagree, and there is no middle ground, because the other side will only be content if they get the opposite of what you want.

Which brings me to my problem with Christians. Certainly there are Christian groups who focus on aiding mothers, but the majority of Christians treat being pro-life as the most important moral issue in the entire Bible, while simultaneously putting forth the bare minimum effort in actually resolving the issue. Evangelicals generally are the loudest and most outraged about everything without lifting a finger to resolve a single thing they’re mad about. They seem to spend more time talking about problems, than even praying about them. It’s become a dangerous, lazy form of Christianity that has mistaken the triumph of a political party, or certain political views, as a triumph for the kingdom of God. Particularly when these political parties do nothing but promote culture wars and encourage division. Just because a politician is pro-life, doesn’t make them Christian.

Banning abortion is like putting a band-aid on gangrene. We may no longer see the problem but there’s still a festering, dying limb beneath all that gauze that needs to be addressed. And not addressed using caricatures and logical fallacies like deliberately finding the most obtuse, wealthy liberal women who say things like “I’d have 547543895439 abortions at 36 weeks pregnant after feeling my child kicking in the womb and if they were still alive after that, I’d strangle it to death with my bare hands and bathe in their blood” to prove a point, when these sort of individuals with their blasé attitudes constitute a minuet portion of women whom get abortions, or support them. That or saying nonsense like “How can U claim to care about children dying because of Gun Violence when u overlook abortion” which I’ve yet to find any scripture where Jesus used this sort of logic for anything but I digress. It’s possible to want children to not have to worry about getting shot-up in school and also be pro-life.

The issues that often cause abortion (lack of healthcare, lack of access to birth control, lack of sex education, lack of support, be it emotional or financial, among other things) will exist with or without heartbeat bills, yet I’m sure many Christians felt some sort of accomplishment at the Supreme court overturning Roe despite it achieving nothing. But again, this is where Christians ought to stop engaging in culture wars and step up. Jesus preached, sure, but He healed the sick, ate with sinners, and protected the vulnerable. He didn’t endlessly rail against the government and sin. In fact He barely had much to say about the government being far too busy actually helping people, instead of complaining online in the synagogues.

Circling back to my sister in Christ, Prolife_Sam is posting generally useless pick-me energy type stuff on Twitter instead of actually doing something. Like I doubt she’s fostering any kids or volunteering/donating at whatever the equivalent of AvaCare is where she lives. Sam is like many Evangelicals more concerned with spouting off useless “hot takes” to win the applause of man whilst doing nothing to resolve the issues they’re talking. Approximately zero pro-choice individuals read that tweet and went, “well gosh golly gee, you’ve changed my entire view on abortion by threatening to kidnap my children. I am now pro-life!”

Faith without works is dead. Instead of using their faith and platforms to work towards solutions that eliminate the problems that plague society, Christians like Sam sit around feeling morally superior for not partaking in certain activities as if that makes them any less of a sinner than everyone else. Furthermore, Amos 5: 21-24 says, “I hate, I despise your feasts and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; … Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps, I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like and everlasting flowing stream.” (ESV)

Christianity shouldn’t simply be synonymous with pro-life, marches, and signs advocating for the unborn, but for supporting mothers around them in whatever ways they can, even if it’s something as simple as offering to watch someone’s kids for a night, or cooking them a few meals. Care about the children who have been born and advocate for their safety just as hard as you do for the unborn. Push for laws that don’t simply ban abortion, but provide better access to affordable healthcare, paid sick leave, maternity leave, and flexible working hours so mothers don’t have to feel as if they’re choosing between having a kid and being one pay-check away from homelessness. Rather than wait for the limb to die, prevent the wound that caused the gangrene in the first place.