The recent ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that frozen embryos are children (“Bible-quoting Alabama chief justice sparks church-state debate in embryo ruling,” Feb. 23, TribLive) points out the dangers of a theocratic government that the Founding Fathers feared.
The statement of the chief justice, an associate of Q-Anon fanatics, is saturated with fundamentalist dogma. This decision is causing great anxiety for couples hoping to have children via in-vitro fertilization.
Although the judge quotes the Bible in explaining his decision, the idea that a fertilized embryo is a child is not even supported by scripture. In Exodus 21, the same chapter that speaks of “an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth,” the penalty if someone strikes a pregnant woman and causes a miscarriage is a simple fine, like a goat or two, not “a life for a life.”
As a former evangelical Christian myself, I find it incredibly ironic that a religious movement that labels itself “evangelical” espouses political positions that are repellent to so many intelligent, compassionate people, and causes them to be hostile to Christianity itself.
Richard Krepski
Highland Park