1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

Greetings. I am a voting constituent in rural west Texas. So the Alabama Supreme Court decided that cells awaiting implantation for in vitro fertilization are children and that the accidental destruction of such an embryo falls under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. In an opinion concurring with the ruling, Chief Justice Tom Parker declared that the people of Alabama have adopted the “theologically based view of the sanctity of life” and said that “human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God.” Is this guy a real judge? Of course presidential candidate Nikki Haley went on to agree that “embryos, to me, are babies. Until she realized her oops moment and tried to backpedal. As usual. Then we hear that House speaker Mike Johnson, who identifies himself as a Christian, argued that the United States is a Christian nation, and has called for “biblically sanctioned government.” So he thought it would be a good time, at a retreat of GOP leaders this weekend, as the country is grappling with both the need to support Ukraine and the need to fund the government, to rally attendees with what some called a “sermon” arguing that the Republican Party needed to save the country from its lack of morality. “I try to do every day what my constituents want. But sometimes what your constituents want does not line up with the principles God gave us for government. And you have to have conviction enough to stand [up] to your own people….” What we read this week is more of the continuing effort to subvert our Constitution by defining once and for all, with the help of elected officials, America as a Christian nation. This will not work. It has never worked, all the times in the past it has been tried. But what is working is more suffering imposed on women and couples who want a child. Now the same factions who say an unwanted, and potentially life-threatening, pregnancy must be carried now tell her she cannot have a wanted pregnancy of her choosing. No family planning through abortion. No family planning through IVF. I expect the next logical leap will be no family planning by contraceptives. No family planning except as God’s will. Things are going too far. The meddling in individual personal matters in the name of God needs to stop. Keep religion off our bodies. If we need guidance in these matters, we’ll go to church and speak to God directly. So please don’t confuse elected office with the powers of the Almighty. Anger on these issues are not and will not go away. Believe it.