It is not your place to dictate another person’s morality.
Here I am with another one of my unpopular opinions: Abortion should be legal. I consider myself a God-fearing Christian woman and would not want to get an abortion myself. However, being a God-fearing Christian woman does not give me the right to impose my own morality or my own personal beliefs onto anyone else, nor does it give me the right to shame another person for what is a deeply personal and often times already difficult decision. My right to practice my religion freely does not supersede anyone else’s right to their own morality.
Do I believe killing an unborn child is a sin based on my own religious beliefs? Yes. Does that give me the right to judge another person for making that choice, or to prevent them from seeking out the means of a medically safe abortion? No. It’s that simple.
The founding documents of our nation give me the right to practice my religion freely and to speak out against things I disagree with. It does not give me the right to harass, harm, or prevent anyone from doing anything I don’t agree with. Preventing people from practicing other religions or choosing to base their morality on something than a religion goes against one of the tenets of this nation: personal freedom. People are allowed to dictate their own morality, even if you disagree with it.
That’s what separation of church and state is about. The state is not bound to the church, or the mosque, or the synagogue because then the state would be obligated to follow one moral code and impose that moral code on all of its citizens. We live in a country where religion does not dictate law, and that is, in my opinion, how it should be. This nation is as diverse as the ocean. There are people of every race, every religion, and every background. Their beliefs are not mine, and that’s alright with me. Just because I’m a member of what’s considered to be the dominant religious group in this nation doesn’t mean I have the right to dictate people’s actions. Which is why even though I’m personally pro-life, I’m politically pro-choice.