This is how religious liberty dies

One of the cardinal principles of the Biblical worldview is that all issues interconnect. The fundamental truth is that all truth is God’s truth, and it is also true that in Him, all truths hold together. It is our intellectual duty to connect one glorious truth with other glorious truths. Of course, the opposite is also part of our Christian intellectual duty. Sometimes, our duty is to connect one damnable lie with other damnable lies.

Sometimes we get unrequested help in these tasks. That was the case last week when Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for president of the United States, stated openly that her support for killing babies in the womb leads to her subversion of religious liberty. She connected the lies for us.

Her horrifying connection of the intentional death of the unborn and the death of religious liberty was made in an interview with Hallie Jackson of NBC News. After Harris recited her eagerness to run on the issue of abortion rights, Jackson raised the “pragmatic” question of political reality and asked the vice president, “What concessions would be on the table?” Jackson pressed on: “Religious exemptions, for example, is that something that you would consider with a Republican-controlled Congress?”

Harris responded with indignation: “I don’t think we should be making concessions when we’re talking about a fundamental freedom to make decisions about your own body.”

Well, she wasn’t evasive. Over time, I have sought to define and document Vice President Harris’ radical commitment to abortion. I have also sought to describe her efforts to use the coercive power of government to shut down opposition. The evidence is abundant and beyond refutation. As attorney general of California, Harris sought to silence and suppress crisis pregnancy centers. As a U.S. senator, she argued that states should be required to obtain “preclearance” from the federal government for any law that would restrict abortion in any way. She was the Biden administration’s point person for abortion, and she is proud to be the candidate of abortion rights. She was the first U.S. vice president or president to make a much-publicized official visit to an abortion facility. She has defined her public career and staked her campaign for the White House on abortion rights.

She has been dishonest since her campaign began. She has tried to run on President Joe Biden’s vague and dishonest argument of wanting to “codify Roe.” That was a convenient argument after the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, but there is no way that the Democratic Party is going to limit any federal legislation on abortion to what Roe allowed. The pro-abortion movement has never been satisfied with Roe, and there is zero chance that those on the left will settle for Roe. No, they are determined to go for broke, which their deadly logic demands. They want federal legislation guaranteeing a woman’s (oops, strike “woman’s” and insert “pregnant person’s”) declared right to obtain an abortion right up until the moment of birth and then force taxpayers to pay for it.

When you hear some Democrats cry foul when this truth is uttered, simply respond by asking what restrictions on abortion they would accept. The silence tells you everything. Vice President Harris has not acknowledged even one restriction on abortion she would accept. Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, signed legislation in his state that accepts no restriction on abortion for any reason. Period. That’s no coincidence.

But note carefully that what Harris rejected out of hand when she answered NBC’s Hallie Jackson was any suggestion that religious liberty would justify some compromise or concessions. Remember Harris’ precise and immediate response: “I don’t think we should be making concessions when we’re talking about a fundamental freedom to make decisions about your own body.”

Understand what this means. Religious liberty, which is among the fundamental rights explicitly recognized in the Bill of Rights and is the foundation of all other rights, is rejected in favor of abortion rights, which are invented rights without a historic foundation. Harris rejects the actual fundamental right, religious liberty, and asserts a false right, abortion, claiming it to be fundamental.

Don’t forget her words. You know she means them. Harris has already said that if she is elected, she will urge Senate Democrats to eliminate the filibuster and go for broke on abortion rights.

The truth is revealed in the vice president’s true radicalism on abortion rights. She said it all out loud. If Harris is elected president of the United States, she will accept no “concessions,” even for religious freedom. Kamala Harris connected the dots. The most basic evil of abortion is that babies die in the womb. But we can also see that this is how religious liberty dies. The connection is no accident.