Broken Words Quotes

“Indeed, the prevalence of abortion among Protestant women (versus mostly immigrant Catholics) is widely considered by historians to be one of the main reasons that physicians, worried that immigrant Catholics were outreproducing their mainly Protestant social group, led the campaign to criminalize abortions in the late 1800s. Other reasons cited include an upsurge in belief among physicians that the embryo is human life with a full moral status throughout pregnancy, a reaction to the campaign for female equality, concerns about the safety of the abortion procedure, and an attempt to consolidate control of medical practice. Nevertheless,”
― Jonathan Dudley, Broken Words: The Abuse of Science and Faith in American Politics

“James Wilson, one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution, could write, summarizing early American legal practice: “In the contemplation of law, life begins when the infant is first able to stir in the womb.” Consistent”
― Jonathan Dudley, Broken Words: The Abuse of Science and Faith in American Politics

“Evangelicalism has defined itself by weakly supported boundary markers, which are justified by a flawed understanding of biblical interpretation and maintained by suppressing those who disagree.”
― Jonathan Dudley, Broken Words: The Abuse of Science and Faith in American Politics

“This has led evangelicals to ethnocentrism, to asserting their historically contingent cultural values as “biblical truth.” In the conservative direction, this has closed off productive dialogue between evangelicals and mainline Christians on gay marriage—because if the Bible has an obvious stance on the matter, as most evangelicals believe, the other side must be intentionally denying the truth. In the liberal direction, this has led green evangelicals to ignore the role contemporary experiences and theology have played in their reinterpretation of the Bible on environmental matters.”
― Jonathan Dudley, Broken Words: The Abuse of Science and Faith in American Politics