Wednesday, April 25, 2001
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Wednesday, April 25, 2001 |
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Freedom, U.S. style As the National Day of Prayer approaches, I am reminded of the plight of two women 18 centuries ago, who sat in a jail cell waiting to be executed. One woman's name was Perpetua, the other Felicity. Their only crime was being Christians. In the year 203 A.D., that, of course, was illegal in the Roman world. While Perpetua was certain of the day she would be martyred, Felicity was not. Why would that be? After all both women had confessed to being Christians. Neither one of them had any intentions of denouncing their faith. So why was Felicity unsure of her execution date? The answer is she was pregnant. Abortion was illegal, as was executing a pregnant woman. To kill a child in the womb would be shedding innocent and sacred blood. Now we live in a country where we are guaranteed by our constitution the right to worship as we please. We even have a National Day of Prayer. So what have we done with all this freedom? We, as a nation, unlike the Romans, condone the killing of the unborn. Eighteen centuries from now when historians look back in time, I wonder which culture they will view as being more barbaric? One that killed adults because of their religious beliefs or one that killed unborn babies before they even had a chance to form beliefs? Richard Zellner Sharpsburg
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