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Carnes: The secularity of freedom

Alabama’s Republican governor recently signed the nation’s strictest abortion ban into law, making performing an abortion a felony in nearly all cases, punishable by up to life in prison, and with no exceptions for rape and incest.

On the Freedom Scale of 1 to 10, I’d say that’s about a -69.

Notice I wrote “Republican” governor, but only because that’s how most media outlets are reporting the story, although, in my opinion, the political affiliation should be irrelevant to the issue.



Governor Kay Ivey went on to say the law she signed is a testament to the belief that “every life is a sacred gift from God.”

Notice she didn’t say which god, as the word itself is simply a generic term for whichever supernatural deity she happens to believe in at the moment, and this is extremely relevant to the issue.

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Just like leaders of the Taliban and ISIS, Vice President Mike Pence also believes religious law should rule over secular law, but of course, this applies only to the religion he happens to believe in at the moment.

These points are relevant because both the governor and vice president are doing the exact same thing so many Americans have been terrified of Muslim extremists doing for decades — attempting to legislate their particular religious beliefs upon all Americans, whether they like it or not.

Imagine, just for a moment, a single law being passed in the United States based upon Sharia Law, which is the legal system for Islam.

American heads would explode nationwide, including mine, as this should be the response for any laws being based upon any supernatural belief system.

I should probably also mention that the penalty for aborting a raped pregnancy in Alabama (up to 99 years) is now more severe than the penalty for the rape itself (20 years max).

Religious logic, I suppose.

As to the act of abortion itself, consider the following scenario: Your 12-year-old daughter is beaten, raped and is impregnated by the beast who attacked her.

She is forced to carry the monster’s child to birth. Meanwhile, her childhood and innocence are gone forever, her future drastically altered in inconceivably negative ways.

The Christian version of “Sharia Law” in Alabama, or Talibama if you prefer, would allow this to occur.

If you’re OK with this, well, all I can say is I hope you enjoy living in the Middle East with all the sand and crap, because that’s where you belong.

However, if you enjoy the secular freedoms we have in America, especially those spelled out in our United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights, then I strongly suggest you continue to allow those who think, speak and act differently from you to continue to do so, lest you wish for them to impose their particular belief systems — no matter how backward and archaic they appear — upon you.

It’s so simple: If you oppose birth control, don’t use it, and if you oppose abortion, don’t have one. No deities required; no legislation necessary.

Richard Carnes, of Avon, writes weekly. He can be reached at poor@vail.net.


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