A state legislative leader has been forced from a leadership post after commenting privately to another lawmaker that abortion sounds like a procedure that comes from the "Church of Satan."
A report by Ben Johnson at the Washington Stand explained the comment from North Carolina Rep. Keith Kidwell, a pro-lifer from Beaufort, came after a Democrat in the body "tried to justify her decision to have an elective abortion by citing her church membership and believe in the 'power of God.'"
House Minority Leader Robert Reives, a Democrat, complained to House leaders, "To challenge a person’s religion when they share a deeply personal story ... that is beneath the dignity of this House, and that is beneath the dignity of any elected office."
So House Majority Leader John Bell, a Republican, asked Kidwell to resign his post a deputy majority whip and he did.
The comment about church and abortion came from Rep. Diamond Staton-Williams, a Democrat, who said, during debate before the General Assembly overrode Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of a bill protecting the unborn from abortion, that she and her husband aborted their third child "after much consideration, thought, and, of course, prayer."
The Stand reported, "She then implied her Christian faith endorsed her decision to have an abortion," saying "I am someone who has grown up in the church and believes in the power of God. I know that I go through trials and tribulations. I know we all will. And I know that, ultimately, I have been given the freedom of mind to make decisions for myself."
The report explained Kidwell apparently said privately to another Republican in the House a church that supports abortion sounds like the "Church of Satan."
The Stand noted, "The Satanic Temple does, in fact, teach that 'The Satanic Abortion Ritual' is 'a sacrament which surrounds and includes the abortive act.' The rival Church of Satan, founded by Anton LaVey, eschews the term 'sacrament' but declares that abortion 'should be within the rights of the pregnant person.'"
The claim from Staton-Williams to be abiding by the Bible drew opposition from Tammi Fitzgerald, of the North Carolina Values Coalition.
"I think it’s using the Lord’s Name in vain to say you would make a decision to have an abortion as a result of prayer." She said lawmakers should present their stand as biblical only if "it conforms with Scripture."
For some 2,000 years, Christianity and Judaism have explained the Bible has a life-affirming message that prohibits abortion.
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"Let's be clear what is happening here: The representative is cloaking anti-biblical views, positions that directly contradict the Bible’s clear teaching, into religious-sounding language in an attempt to find a middle way. But there is no middle way when it comes to these issues. You are either on the side of Scripture or against it," David Closson, of the Center for Biblical Worldview, told the Stand.
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In the greatest imaginable irony, the nation once boasting the most robust culture of freedom of speech and the press – undergirded by the strongest constitutional protections for those rights – is now ground zero for a total war on free expression.
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