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If religion didn't exist, would opposition to abortion or LGBT rights even be a primary poitical issues?

It might take some thought, but if there was no religion then I wonder if opposition to abortion or LGBT rights would even be political issues. What do you think?

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snytiger6 9 June 16
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10 comments

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2

Yes because men would still want to control women and they would still feel threatened by homosexuality. They'd just use other justifications.

Carin Level 8 June 17, 2019
1

In this issue the religious view becomes part of the capitalist slave laborers view. It is that simple.

3

I don't think either issue is just a religious issue.

Agreed. Its a bigotry/tribalism issue. Using religion just makes it socially acceptable to hate lgbt

2

It's hard to imagine an atheist society being sexually repressed.

It isn't hard to imagine an atheist society debating the dangers of a government making medical choices, or the morality of abortion.

4

I think politicians would just find another minority to declare as "the enemy to hate". It's like a horrible game of tag.

Buxx Level 7 June 16, 2019

As history has shown us, multiple times

Yes. I think you re right that scapegoats will always be found, with or without religion. It's a sad summation about human nature.

4

yes of course it would. men would still want to control women. men don't control women because of religion. religion is just one of their tools.

g

5

The abortion thing was largely manufactured into a religious issue. I just googled "the bible and abortion" and the first result is the Freedom from Religion Foundation. The second is "Billy Graham's Answers on Abortion". So I click the second link, curious if they actually found some bible quotes that I've never found on the issue. Guess what? There were no bible quotes. Just claims about how god loves all life, bla bla bla.

The FFRF, however, has a long list of bible quotes. Some I already knew, some I did not know, that illustrates no agreement between the bible and contemporary religious positions on abortion.
[ffrf.org]

Some interesting references there. Nice one!

Posted that FFRF link on my Facebook timeline. I'll remember it an dpost it when I encounter pro-life posts. Thanks.

@snytiger6 I found this also. Very interesting:
[ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
"Abortion was frequently practiced in North America during the period from 1600 to 1900. Many tribal societies knew how to induce abortions. They used a variety of methods including the use of black root and cedar root as abortifacient agents. During the colonial period, the legality of abortion varied from colony to colony and reflected the attitude of the European country which controlled the specific colony. In the British colonies abortions were legal if they were performed prior to quickening. In the French colonies abortions were frequently performed despite the fact that they were considered to be illegal. In the Spanish and Portuguese colonies abortion was illegal. From 1776 until the mid-1800s abortion was viewed as socially unacceptable; however, abortions were not illegal in most states. During the 1860s a number of states passed anti-abortion laws. Most of these laws were ambiguous and difficult to enforce. After 1860 stronger anti-abortion laws were passed and these laws were more vigorously enforced. As a result, many women began to utilize illegal underground abortion services. Although abortion was legalized in 1970, many women are still forced to obtain illegal abortion or to perform self-abortions due to the economic constraints imposed by the Hyde Amendment and the unavailability of services in many areas. Throughout the colonial period and during the early years of the republic, the abortion situation for slave women was different than for other women. Slaves were subject to the rules of their owners, and the owners refused to allow their slaves to terminate pregnancies. The owners wanted their slaves to produce as many children as possible since these children belonged to the slave owners. This situation persisted until the end of the slavery era."

8

If politicians weren't actively courting the support of believers, they'd have
NO reason to even bring it up.
If religion weren't an influence, most people wouldn't even care what other
people are doing.
Neither issue has anything to do with them. If they weren't all twisted up by
religion, they probably wouldn't even think about either.
At least not to the point of making either a political issue.

5

I don't believe they would be issues at all. IMO

4

It might be possible that they would still be political issues, bu I highly doubt it.

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