Chicago Theological Seminary president Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, a United Church of Christ clergyperson, recently told Planned Parenthood’s Clergy Advisory Board that abortion restrictions indicate that America has “lost its soul.”
Rev. Thistlethwaite suggests the abortion issue is inherently theological, coming down to one’s view of “ensoulment,” when the soul is imparted to the human body. Pro-life Christians see this “ensoulment” at conception; she sees it at birth. Therefore, according to Thistlethwaite, the state should guarantee abortion rights so as not to interfere in such a theological matter.
The most chilling line of the Religion News Service article on Thistlethwaite’s comments, however, comes at the end:
“Ensoulment is a lifelong project but individuals and nations can not only gain their souls but lose it,”said Thistlethwaite. “The U.S. no longer knows it is or what it stands for.”
Now, Thistlethwaite has already argued that lacking a soul gives you the right to kill something. If ensoulment is a lifelong process, what stops the abortionist from coming for any of us? Maybe we’re all fetuses now.
Come to think of it, if America has lost its soul, and you can kill something without a soul, then…
Ah, it’s just a “theological matter,” I guess.
