What is a human? and the Equality Act

This Reflection is not only about politics. It's about life and death.

Before I get into the question of "What is a human?" you should know that the Equality Act just approved by the House of Representatives pretends to protect the LGBT community, but it purposely violates the Constitutional rights of multi-millions of others. Representative David Cicilline (Democrat from Rhode Island) is quoted as saying, "We cannot allow claims of religious freedom to be used to discriminate against an LGBT individual."

But he got it backward. He is allowing LGBT individuals to discriminate against the majority of Americans. Douglas Laycock, a liberal professor at the University of Virginia Law School, said this law would crush religious dissenters. Laycock is for same-sex marriage but said this would be a bad law.

Let's get real here. The homosexual person who asked the Christian baker to make his wedding cake wasn't in a bind; there were many bakers who would have gladly made the cake. In the United States of America, if a business cannot or will not meet my needs, my price or specifications, I go to another business. It's that simple. But that person was bent on intimidating the Christian baker into compliance.

Presently, any member of the LGBT community can claim discrimination -- rightly or wrongly -- and because of our unethical laws and unbalanced judicial system, the defendant is assumed guilty until proven innocent. This harkens back to the days of the Spanish Inquisition, and our government is unethical and immoral for letting it happen. We must steadfastly adhere to the idea of innocent until proven guilty; otherwise, a lot of people -- Christian or not -- may be swept up in this dictatorial dragnet. Read about Hitler in Germany prior to and during WWII, and perhaps you'll understand.

Under the mislabeled Equality Act, people of high integrity (Christian or not) could be forced to violate their personal convictions and be deprived of our Constitutional rights. Any individual could say anything derogatorily or hateful to a Christian, but the Christian would have no right or freedom to speak the truth in response. That's why the Pilgrims came to this land in the first place -- for freedom of speech and to escape religious persecution.

These problems are exacerbated when politicians set the standard for truth (the Bible) aside and base their decisions on relativism, humanism, one-sided tolerance, bigotry and ignorance.

People have often said, "We are electing a national leader, not a national pastor."

But that's misleading. All politicians lead according to their personal worldview. Don't deceive yourself about it. When we consider only the political views but ignore the personal beliefs of the candidates, we sabotage our country.

That leads me back to "What is a human?"

Last week (as of this writing) on the Chris Cuomo show, CNN contributor Christine Quinn and former Senator Rick Santorum (Republican from Pennsylvania) were discussing the status of unborn children. The discussion got heated over the question of when life begins.

When Cuomo and Quinn strongly defended the mother's right to have the living baby ripped apart inside the womb, Santorum asked, "Do you disagree that at the moment of conception that child is human and alive?"

Cuomo said the issue should only be about "viability." Cuomo and Quinn continued pushing the idea that the fetus is the property of the woman and she can do whatever she wants with it.

Many pro-abortion adherents demand the right to kill babies with "religious" fanaticism.

Quinn, a board member of the National Institute of Reproductive Health, said, in part, "When a woman gets pregnant, that is not a human being inside of her."

Quinn is absolutely wrong.

Catherine Glenn Foster of Americans United for Life told CBN News that science had long-ago disproved Quinn's statement.

Foster said concerning the unborn baby, "It's a separate, unique, distinct human being with its own unique set of DNA -- its full DNA -- laid out."

The life-form in the uterus is not cancer or primordial-soup; it's a human baby.

Foster said she had an abortion at age 19, but that she subsequently learned about life. Now she fights for truth -- not politics.

America is in this mess because many of our well-meaning leaders have been deceived by ungodly people into compromising truth for political correctness. But I stand for truth and life -- not lies and death. There is only one way to truly understand life, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ, the Creator and Giver of life.

Gene Linzey is a speaker, author and mentor. Send comments and questions to [email protected]. Visit his website at www.genelinzey.com. Opinions expressed are those of the author.

Religion on 06/12/2019