Ohio State Budget Abortion Restrictions

[ASTalumna06]

I don't think there's a problem with religion affecting people's thoughts, beliefs, decisions, etc., but I have an issue when people use that as the ultimate reason for creating policies and enacting laws.

I'm not religious, but I can respect the fact that other people are. In my opinion, to have faith, go to church, and pray when you need/want to is all fine and dandy. It's those people who take the words in the Bible (or whatever readings/teachings they follow) and take them so literally and think that's how things should be, and that even those who don't follow their religion should live the way they do. And of course, there are many people who pick and choose the things in those readings/teachings that are "most important," and only follow those in their most literal sense.

I'm all for gay marriage, for example, and I understand that there are people who are against it, or don't agree with it, or think that it's morally wrong (for both religious and non-religious reasons). That's their opinion, and they're entitled to it. However, I don't believe that anyone has the right to tell someone else who they can love. There is nothing about allowing gay people to marry that would affect a straight person who disagrees with it. And there are many people who start the argument with, "Well in the Bible, it says..." I don't care, because I don't live my life by the Bible. And we shouldn't create laws based on what it says in the Bible, either.

Look at it this way: Let's take one of the 10 Commandments - thou shalt not steal. We have laws against stealing. If one were to make an argument about why stealing should be illegal - BASED on their religious beliefs - they could say it emotionally hurts the person from whom something was stolen, that person may not be able to get that item back or purchase a new one, it could truly financially burden the person if the loss was big enough, there would be chaos and looting if nothing was done to stop it, etc. Those are good arguments for why stealing should be illegal. To make such an argument, religion would never even need to be mentioned.

Now make an argument for why gay marriage should be illegal.

I think the truly amazing thing to me is that people can question the genius of some of the greatest minds of our time; they can read a newspaper article, and they can roll their eyes; they can see a huge hole in the side of the Pentagon and deny that a plane ever hit it; but they can read a book, written thousands of years ago, which at times, talks of things that don't even seem possible or plausible, and they believe that that is the word of the world, and all who don't follow that word are destined to go to hell.

Regarding the abortion debate: as MysticCat basically pointed out, the vast majority of people look at murder as being morally wrong, regardless of their backgrounds, faith, experiences, etc. However, the question isn't about whether or not murder is wrong, but about whether or not abortion is murder. In a sense, religion should have no place in such an argument. But again, people use it as a way to force their ideas and desired policies/laws on others. I'm not saying that everyone does, but it obviously happens frequently enough for the majority of us to notice.