An invisible war between good and evil has always been a foundational component in the Pro-Life efforts of Christians. Of course, science, common sense, and basic human morality all reside in the Pro-Life harbor, beckoning people of every background to stand up for Life. But for Christians, the belief that God and Satan are both real – and fighting for the souls of humans – is a fundamental catalyst for being actively Pro-Life. “Not on my watch,” they tell the Father of Lies when Life and death hang in the balance of the abortion choice.
Christians, therefore, are not surprised that a blogger recently praised Satanists for rallying behind abortion. “…the Satanic Temple has offered up “religious exemption form letters” to women who want to receive an abortion and skip the lectures imposed by right-wing politicians,”the blogger states.
The “lectures” to which he refers are the basis of informed consent, by which doctors are mandated in many states to tell mothers seeking abortion what an abortion does (i.e., stops the beating heart of her child), and what the risks and potential consequences of the decision are. In no other medical field are physicians permitted to send a patient blindly through a procedure—especially not an elective, medically-unnecessary procedure. And anyone who has ever filled a prescription at a pharmacy is familiar with the loads of paperwork that accompany even a small bottle of pills. Informed consent is essential to patient well-being.
But the blogger spins the sharing of medical information as “religious-based,” and “highly politicized information handed to women in order to scare them out of having abortions.” Hmm, does this fact-flourishing remind you of anyone? Satan has a way of spinning the truth in such a way that individuals who lack firmly-instilled critical thinking skills can be highly susceptible to these kinds of untruths.
Thankfully, Pro-Lifers tend to have finely-tuned bunk detectors. One Pro-Life blogger highlights the Devil’s well-established precedent in the area of informed consent, raising suspicion of the Satanists’ characterizations. “After all,” he said, “the Devil has a history of depriving women of accurate information before critical decisions.”
The so-called “religious exemption form letters” concocted by the Satanists, who would rather see women subjected to abortion without being apprised of facts, is reminiscent of another set of letters. In 1941, C.S. Lewis committed a great disservice against Satanists everywhere by painting a theretofore unparalleled picture of how diabolical deception really works. In his Screwtape Letters, Lewis encapsulates one devil’s masterful use of the proverbial grain of truth:
