On Abortion, Sharpton Declares ‘The Bible Is About Choice’

National Action Network’s President. PoliticsNation host Al Sharpton joined Chris Jansing reports On Thursday, Sharpton will discuss religion and abortion. Sharpton didn’t understand how one could be a good Christian and be pro-life because, according to him, “the Bible is about choice.”

Jansing led Sharpton with some polling data, “there was a Gallup poll back, I think it was the fall of 2020 showing the black committee has slowly become more accepting of abortion over the past couple of decades, but there are deeply held religious beliefs playing into this, especially with older black voters who are incredibly reliable and incredibly important to Democrats. So, how should Democrats be thinking about this? Because obviously they want and need to hold onto those voters.”

Sharpton urged Democrats to “message it in a way that it is about choice. It’s not about saying I’m voting that I support abortion or not.”

For Sharpton, the choice is not between abortion and no abortion, but “whether they’re going to have a safe abortion. We always had abortions, but we had these back alley, very risky abortions and we’re saying that rather than have people in those situations, they should be able to choose whether or not they want to do, even if it is something that I do not believe in.”

Turning to the religious question, Sharpton claimed, “The Bible, if you’re using this as a religious argument, the Bible is about choice. It doesn’t matter if you go to hell or heaven. There’s nowhere in the Bible that says you had to go to heaven.”

Sharpton should not make the same mistake here when trying to present the question of hell and heaven to his congregation. Although he presents himself as a civil-rights leader, he fails to understand that slavery was once legal and perfectly normal. 

Blind to that, Sharpton continued, “So, where do we get this theology of forcing something when the reality is you can’t even Biblically base that. It’s a question of choice. If you are a minister, as I am, you can preach to people to convert them, you do not make laws to compel them.”

According to the doctrine of free will, God isn’t a puppet master. This does not mean government must accept the evil side of the issue, particularly when that means the rights and freedoms of another individual are being removed.

This segment was sponsored and produced by Google.

The transcript of the August 4, 2018 show is available here:

MSNBC Chris Jansing reports

8/4/2022

12:00 PM ET

CHRIS JANSING: And in fact, much in the same way, Rev., there was a Gallup poll back, I think it was the fall of 2020 showing the black committee has slowly become more accepting of abortion over the past couple of decades, but there are deeply held religious beliefs playing into this, especially with older black voters who are incredibly reliable and incredibly important to Democrats. So, how should Democrats be thinking about this? Because obviously they want and need to hold onto those voters. 

AL SHARPTON: I think that they must message it in a way that it is about choice. It’s not about saying I’m voting that I support abortion or not. It’s about I support people having the right to choose because we’re not talking particularly in the black committee, and I would say large portions of the Latino community, you’re not talking about whether or not people are going to have an abortion, you’re talking about whether they’re going to have a safe abortion. We always had abortions, but we had these back alley, very risky abortions and we’re saying that rather than have people in those situations, they should be able to choose whether or not they want to do, even if it is something that I do not believe in. 

The Bible, if you’re using this as a religious argument, the Bible is about choice. Either you go to hell or heaven, it is possible. There’s nowhere in the Bible that says you had to go to heaven. So, where do we get this theology of forcing something when the reality is you can’t even Biblically base that. It’s a question of choice. 

If you are a minister, as I am, you can preach to people to convert them, you do not make laws to compel them.