On Facebook today, I posted a comment made by Facebook friend Brian Douglass:

On 9/11/01 3,000 people killed by people who abused the skills they have been taught was called terrorism and mass murder. On every day in this country the over 3,000 people who are killed legally by people who abuse the skills they have been taught are called “a woman’s right to choose”.

Soon after I posted this, my favorite atheist Steve posted this:

Hey guys! Abortion doctors are just as bad-if not worse-than the 9/11 hijackers! I know this because Kevin O’Brien says so. Boy, have us secular progressives been morally confused for the past 10 years, going after those “terrorists” when the real terrorists are living comfortable lives at home. Killing a fetus because you aren’t ready to be a parent and killing thousands of living, breathing human beings in cold blood because you want to restore an Islamic Caliphate are actually the same thing!

Now, Steve is a good guy and a very intelligent young man, one of my son’s good friends, and a lot of fun to debate with – so much fun that at the last meeting of the ChesterBelloc Drinking and Debating Club I swore at him at the top of my lungs. But, seriously, Steve is no slouch, so I commented on what he had said thus:

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Steve, my favorite atheist, if a fetus is an innocent human being, which it is, then yes killing an innocent in the womb is as bad as killing an innocent in a skyscraper. You follow the logic I’m sure.

You may not agree with the logic, but you follow it. However, you confuse the issue in your post above by bringing motive into the picture.

If the fetus is a person, then it matters not if you kill him because you don’t want to be bothered with having a kid or because you want to establish an Islamic caliphate.

But if the fetus is not a person, then motive is also irrelevant. If the fetus is a clump of cells, then why bring up motive at all? It’s convenient for me to take a crap and flush the clump of cells down the toilet. I could therefore understand you saying, “Kevin O’Brien compares the slaughter of innocent human beings in a terrorist act to taking a crap and flushing a toilet!” But what I don’t understand is why you bring up motives.

If the fetus is a person, motives don’t matter. If the fetus is not a person, motives don’t matter. Unless your thinking is clouded by a conscience that’s not so sure.

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I have suggested that the discussion on Facebook move to my blog where it can be followed by more than a select group of friends. We’ll see what happens!