Catholic Culture Liturgical Living
Catholic Culture Liturgical Living

The Demonic Religion of Abortion

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | Dec 07, 2009

It’s getting more and more obvious. Last week, in two separate incidents, those favoring abortion set forth their goals and services in religious language. During a December 2nd “Stop Pitts” rally in Washington and in new video advertisements for a Michigan abortuary religious language was used to seize the moral high ground. Clearly, we are dealing with something spiritual. But what is really being championed here is the work of the devil.

The final speaker at the "Stop Pitts" rally was Rev. Carlton Veazy, head of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. Veazy encouraged the few hundred rally participants to take on the Catholic bishops “because no one religion, no theological perspective should get the kind of weight that they can [to] put pressure on the Congress.” This is admittedly an odd argument for a religious coalition aiming at political influence, especially since Veazy’s message was deliberately religious: “Don't let anybody tell you that religious people don't support choice. You not only have a constitutional right for abortion, but you have a God-given right.”

But perhaps Veazy is consistent after all. Perhaps it is only true theological perspectives (as in deriving from the study of God) that shouldn’t carry any weight. But what if Veazy's god is really the devil, and Veazy's position is really a demonic suggestion. After all, nobody has said demonic suggestion shouldn't be a potent political force. Indeed, Veazy's program is reminiscent of child sacrifice to Ba’al, the “god” worshipped by the Phoenicians at Carthage. In return for future favors, parents sacrificed their babies on the arms of a bronze statue over burning coals in a ritual that even other pagans in the region identified as demonic. This is one reason Cato always ended his speeches with the statement “Carthago delenda est”—Carthage must be destroyed.

Then there was the video advertisement put out by the Northland Family Planning Centers of Michigan. In this ad, a spokeswoman points to a sign hanging in their abortion facility which reads: “We do sacred work that honors women and the circle of life and death. When you come here bring only love.” But whom should we love? The concept of the circle of life and death is primarily associated with Hindu reincarnation and Wicca, both of which are rooted in polytheism, the worship of multiple gods or “forces”. Universalists, who have emptied Christian doctrine of as much meaning as possible, tend also to go down this road (and I emphasize the word “down”).

In any legitimate Christian theology, and indeed in any world-view derived even remotely from the natural law, these “sacred” powers—these bloodthirsty recipients of our love—can only be construed as demons. Pro-lifers have long realized that the fight over abortion was a fight with principalities and powers, as St. Paul said: “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:1). But it is one thing to know this is so and another actually to see the culture of death take an overtly religious form. It is yet a third thing to call these gods of death by their right names.

Jeffrey Mirus holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history from Princeton University. A co-founder of Christendom College, he also pioneered Catholic Internet services. He is the founder of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.

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  • Posted by: Miss Cathy - Dec. 14, 2009 11:41 AM ET USA

    PeggyAnn, your statement indicates a proposition of will. The aborted child does not consent to the sacrifice of his/her life, the parents, aided and abetted by the culture of death, do. Truly, the ones who lay down their lives are the parents who choose life for their children and the faithful who refuse to compromise their dignity from the first moment of their conception to the end of their natural lives.

  • Posted by: peggyann - Dec. 10, 2009 6:40 AM ET USA

    There is no greater love than this, than to lay down one's life for one's friends. Does this mean that the aborted stand with Jesus?

  • Posted by: msorensen71798 - Dec. 09, 2009 10:54 PM ET USA

    Sometimes I wonder if, to them, abortion is a sacrament.

  • Posted by: - Dec. 08, 2009 3:07 AM ET USA

    One abortion clinic featured in Vanity Fair had women—and men—write their thoughts on pink hearts which were then posted on the walls of the clinic. The overriding theme was: "I love you so much. This is SO hard to do, but it truly is best. I'll miss you but I'll see you in heaven." It's a win-win situation: the parents get rid of a major nuisance; the baby is happy in heaven. No harm is done; nobody gets hurt. They honestly haven't got a clue what pro-lifers are complaining about!

  • Posted by: Bellarminite1 - Dec. 07, 2009 5:11 PM ET USA

    Isn't it interesting (and sad) that "pro-choice" so often means the avoidance of a little hardship, a little embarrassment for a mother as opposed to the very life of a baby?

  • Posted by: sparch - Dec. 07, 2009 2:09 PM ET USA

    This thinking is rooted in the cultural revolution of the sixties and seventies. Some in the Catholic Church railed against the Church in the name of moving forward, of being modern (As they still do. When they talk of God's will, they beleive they are God and speak their own mind. This how Satan works. It is who and what stands with them that give the indication what they stand for.)