Southern Baptists Vote to Oppose Use of I.V.F. — Evangelicals Impose Christian Morality over Unbelievers

On Wednesday, Southern Baptists — the largest Protestant denomination and Christian fundamentalist political group — voted to oppose the use of in vitro fertilization (I.V.F.).

Two years after the evangelical voverturning of Roe v. Wade, “fetal personhood” could be the priority for the anti-abortion movement. For Southern Bapitst leaders, such as Albert Mohler, it certainly seems to be the case.

More than 10,000 delegates, called “messengers,” gathered in Indianapolis for the denomination’s annual meeting. It was also the first time attendees challenged I.V.F. head-on, as The New York Times reports.

The vote signals that evangelicals are willing to argue that embryos are human life are of the same moral significance. The ramifications of this are quite severe. It shows that evangelicals in the U.S. are willing to confuse the boundary between politics and religion to the extent of erasing reproductive rights for women.

So, I thought in this post that I would briefly look at arguments for why that conflation between politics and religion is so disastrous.

Let me explain.

Christians understand that rights do not come from the Constitution nor are they granted to us by government. Rights are given to us by God. Government’s…