LOCALLY SOURCED
As an Atheist, I Became Pro-life Chris Iverson
I have been doing pro-life work since 2004. I have worked on changing public opinion, helping women choose better options and pushing back on bad legislation. Today, I am grateful to be part of the Sanctity of Human Life Task Force at College Church. However, I wasn’t always pro-life. When I was 19, I was an atheist. That was the natural result of my own human nature and not growing up in church. Watching many hours of MTV probably didn’t help my worldview. I did not know the differences between Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism or any other religious tradition. I had never read the Scriptures. At that time, I didn’t know anyone who opposed abortion. Also, my own lifestyle was such that abortion could benefit me if there was an unplanned pregnancy. Therefore, I was pro-choice. One of my friend groups were guys who played speed chess, a game I still love. One day, two of those guys got together, a Protestant and an agnostic. I wasn’t there, but I heard they were in an apartment, drinking coffee, playing speed chess, and having a great time. Then, they started talking about a variety of subjects and abortion came up. The conversation got passionate. My Protestant friend said to my agnostic friend, “If a woman is nine months pregnant, and you don’t think that’s a baby in there, you’re either lying or you’re an idiot!” The agnostic was upset. He dramatically got up, said he would not have his intelligence insulted and walked out! Of course, I don’t suggest using my friend’s one-liner as a way of sharing your convictions. My Protestant friend later apologized for saying it. Thankfully, they got over it. I heard about this little drama later when I was at Caribou Coffee with my Protestant friend. I said to him, “So wait, you’re against abortion? Why would you be against abortion?” I was genuinely confused. He responded, “Chris, abortion kills a baby.” I was stunned. I asked him to clarify because I didn’t understand what he meant. He said, “It’s very simple. Take a newborn. Can you kill a newborn?” I responded, “Well no, that’s terrible.” Then he asked the question that got me thinking, “Okay, one day before they’re born, can you kill them then?” I again was surprised. I said he had a good point and I had to think about it. He asked, “Really? You have to think about it?” This exchange showed how far apart we were in our thinking.
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At that time, open-mindedness was lauded as a virtue in our culture. I took it seriously. So, the next day, I went to Caribou by myself and thought about it. I kept asking myself, “What’s the difference between killing a human just after the human is born and killing that same human the day before?” There was (and is) no significant difference. I went back further. I couldn’t think of any relevant difference one month earlier or two months earlier. I realized that permitting abortion anytime during a pregnancy was discrimination in the law that resulted in killing a human. The only line that avoided discrimination was fertilization, when each human comes into existence. I became pro-life as an atheist. Since then, I’ve read a variety of arguments on both sides of the debate by very intelligent people, and it still comes back to the principle that the unjustified taking of human life is always wrong and should always be illegal. My change of mind about abortion helped me gain respect for my Protestant friend. Later, when he would make claims about Jesus or the Bible, I listened more closely. I reasoned that, if everyone I knew was wrong about abortion, maybe they were wrong about other things. I was eventually saved through the witness of my friend and his wife!
