Last night, Janet and I watched the second Republican presidential debate. The seven participants took aim at each other, President Biden for his perceived failings, and former President Donald Trump for not attending. While our ministry does not endorse candidates, I will say how grateful I felt to live in a country where candidates must go through such a rigorous process to be elected. Across much of human history and in much of the world today, last night’s event would never have occurred.

In light of the value of our democracy, it is odd to me that so many people these days—men, especially—seem to be fascinated with the Roman Empire. Even when it was a republic, Rome was never anything like the democracy we embrace and appreciate. Colonial Americans went to war to remove themselves from the power of a despotic ruler whom many of Rome’s emperors would have recognized and celebrated.

However, a noted historian of the Empire explains that “ancient Rome is a kind of safe place for macho fantasies. It’s where men can pretend to be macho men.” Another historian adds that “the display of might—especially when backed up by color, clamor, and overpowering architecture—can be stirring, even thrilling.”

Cultural edifices aside, there is an even more urgent parallel between Rome and America, one to which Christians need to respond with passion today.

“The fall of an empire and the fate of America”

I have long been fascinated by the ancient Greco-Roman world. I’ve led more than forty study tours to various parts of the Roman Empire and did my doctorate in philosophy of religion with special emphasis on ancient philosophy.

I was especially interested some years ago in Cullen Murphy’s Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America. Here are similarities he notes between their empire and our nation:

• Both built the most powerful military in their world, by far (America invests as much in military expenditures as the next ten nations combined).
• The Roman road system, stretching some fifty-three thousand miles, was about the length of the US interstate system.
• The Roman Empire and its Mediterranean Sea would fit neatly inside America’s lower forty-eight states.
• Both cherish a glorious past and embrace a Manifest Destiny. Rome claimed to be an imperium sine fine (empire without end), while America’s dollar bill proclaims us to be a novus ordo (new order).

Of course, dissimilarities are conspicuous as well:

• Rome never left the Iron Age; America has evolved from the agricultural to the industrial era to the Information Age.
• Slaves made up half of the Empire (some emperors owned twenty thousand or more), while America eventually rejected slavery.
• Rome had no middle class; the middle class is America’s core sociological fact.
• As noted earlier, Rome was never remotely as democratic as America.

“If it is female, cast it out”

Here’s the intersection that I believe especially deserves our notice and response: the parallel between abortion today and infanticide in ancient Rome.

Folk remedies and herbs such as silphium and pennyroyal were used as abortifacients in the ancient world. However, unwanted pregnancies were much more often resolved by abandoning the children after birth.

In a fascinating and troubling article on abortion and the “repaganizing” of our culture, Louise Perry quotes the anthropologist David F. Lancy, who describes the “far more common pattern”: “Among the ancient Greeks and Romans sickly, unattractive, or unwanted infants were ‘exposed’ or otherwise eliminated.” For example, we have a letter from a Roman soldier named Hilarion to his pregnant wife Alis in 1 BC: “Above all, if you bear a child and it is male, let it be; if it is female, cast it out” with the trash.

As I noted yesterday, infanticide is the logical extension of reasoning for abortion: no unwanted children should be born (or allowed to live), mothers should make birth (or parenting) decisions in light of their circumstances, and society has no right to tell mothers whether or not to choose abortion (or infanticide).

Perry cites Princeton University bioethicist Peter Singer as recognizing the logical parallels between the two: “Newborn human babies have no sense of their own existence over time,” he explains. “So killing a newborn baby is never equivalent to killing a person, that is, a being who wants to go on living.” In Perry’s view, the decline of Christian influence in our culture is escalating such a paganized rejection of the value of life.

“All this wealth has been laid waste”

Ancient Canaanites often worshiped their god Molech through child sacrifice. The Lord sternly prohibited such atrocities: “There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering” (Deuteronomy 18:10). When the Jewish people rejected his command and “slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire,” God destroyed their nation in judgment (Ezekiel 16:21).

As we have seen, Rome likewise endorsed and practiced the wholesale killing of preborn and newborn children. Theirs was the most powerful and wealthy empire the world had ever seen (cf. Revelation 18:16), but when God’s judgment came, “in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste” (v. 17). This text is in God’s word as a warning to all who would follow.

Are we listening?

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US Senate leaders have revealed a plan that would avert a government shutdown for seven weeks. If such efforts are unsuccessful by Sunday, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed and a wide range of services will be suspended.

Some airports may experience disruptions and delays, roughly ten thousand children could lose access to childcare starting next month, and disaster relief funds could be depleted. Current members of the military would not receive paychecks. Security at the southern border could be further imperiled. Additional aid to Ukraine could be affected.

Ironically, lawmakers would continue to receive paychecks, but other federal workers would not.

Here we find another example of the fact that what happens in the halls of power affects people far from them. Let’s reflect on this reality in light of the most urgent moral issue of our time.

“It’s time to change the conversation”

Yesterday we discussed the ongoing efforts to normalize unbiblical immorality in our culture. Here is the best (or worst) example I have seen recently: the National Network of Abortion Funds has produced a video titled “Everyone Loves Someone Who Had an Abortion.” It claims:

In order for abortion to be truly an option, it must not only be legal, but actually available, without the shame. It’s time we worked together towards a world where all people have the power and resources to care for and support their bodies, identities, and health—for themselves and their families. We need to take the hassle, hustle, and harassment out of healthcare. It’s time to change the conversation about abortion, to make it a real option, available to all people without shame or judgment. We all love someone who has had an abortion, whether we know it or not.

This strategy and others like it are working: popular support for abortion has risen after Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, and abortion rights have won in every election where they have been contested since that time.

The logic of abortion is persuasive for many: no unwanted child should be brought into the world; the state has no right to legislate personal morality; and a woman must be permitted to make pregnancy decisions in light of her health, the circumstances leading to her pregnancy, and her other life challenges.

Here’s the point I’d like you to consider today: each argument works equally well for infanticide.

The change that occurs at birth

If no unwanted child should be brought into the world, should one be allowed to continue to live in it? If the state cannot legislate personal morality, why does it have the right to forbid infanticide? If a woman should be able to make pregnancy decisions in light of her health and life circumstances, why does this right end when she gives birth?

The only change that occurs at birth is that the preborn baby moves a few inches from inside the womb to outside it. Inside the womb, it has its own autonomy, brain, nervous system, and blood circulation. From the moment of conception, it has its own chromosomes and unique genetic blueprint. It is as distinctly a human being as its mother or father.

Some abortion advocates support the right to end the preborn baby’s life prior to “viability,” its ability to live outside the womb (around twenty-three weeks into pregnancy). But is a newborn baby truly viable? How long can it live without the nurture and protection of its caregivers?

In summary: if we oppose infanticide (as we obviously and adamantly should), we should oppose abortion. A mother has no more logical right to kill the preborn baby living in her womb than a homeowner has the logical right to kill a guest living in their house.

“The man who moves a mountain”

Here’s the problem with my reasoning: I am reasoning. I am employing logic in response to a deeply emotional and personal issue. But this can be a “category mistake” like asking how much a circle weighs or the color of the number 7.

While it’s vital that we defend the cause of life in reasoned terms (cf. 1 Peter 3:15–16), it’s also vital that we help women facing unplanned pregnancies deal with the very real pressures they face. The No. 1 reason women choose abortion is that they are “not financially prepared.” “Not a good time” comes in second, followed by “issues with partner,” “need to focus on other children,” “interferes with future plans,” and “not emotionally or mentally prepared.”

The church can help with each of these issues. We can support pregnant women financially, relationally, socially, and personally. We can help them raise their children or choose adoption. We can be pro-life, not just pro-birth.

Where to begin? The artist Agnes Martin noted, “Your path is at your feet, whether you realize it or not.” Confucius advised, “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” Pray for women considering abortion and for those who have chosen it in the past. Encourage your pastor and other faith leaders to be bold, courageous, and compassionate on this issue. Pray for local pro-life ministries and support them financially. Encourage adoption and consider it personally.

“All that borrows life from Thee”

The forces aligned against life—from our nation’s capital to local abortion providers—are powerful and well-funded. But they do not have our Father’s blessing. They do not have access to his omnipotent strength, omniscient wisdom, and omnibenevolent compassion. So long as we are on his side, we are on the winning side.

In the words of Isaac Watts:

There’s not a plant or flower below,
But makes Thy glories known,
And clouds arise, and tempests blow,
By order from Thy throne;
While all that borrows life from Thee
Are ever in Thy care;
And everywhere that we can be,
Thou, God, are present there.

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