Come on Nancy – “Conscience thing?”

Based on a Naturalistic worldview, the final authority is the one(s) in a position of power able to assert authority. In many cases, that is simply the individual who decides for him or herself what they will do. But in other cases it is the government or some other entity with authority over the masses. With this thinking, it us understood that there is nothing wrong with the governing authorities forcing the populace to do what they decree.

It seems that one of our prominent national political leaders truly believes this. It is not that this person claims to be a non-believer. In fact, she claims to be a faithful Roman Catholic. But the truth is, Nancy Pelosi looks to herself, rather than her faith, as her final authority source.

Recently she was speaking with the Washington Post about a provision in Obamacare which forces those who disagree with abortion (even private and religious organizations) to fund and provide for it anyway. She said, “I’m a devout Catholic and I honor my faith and love it . . . but they [the Roman Catholic church] have this conscience thing [that puts women at risk.]” So, based on her belief that abortion is necessary to keep women safe, she wants to use the strong arm of the government to force everyone to kowtow to her point of view – even those who believe it is morally wrong.

Put aside the point that she is factually wrong in her assertion, she believes that the government ought to have the power to force a particular belief (that abortion is okay) on everyone else. And it is not enough that abortion has been made legal and that there are doctors who perform them throughout the country, she wants to make sure that everyone also supports it – or else.

This point of view is also prominent in another one of the modern culture war debates. Those who promote homosexual marriage have the exact same mindset as Nancy. They not only want to force a right to homosexual marriage, they want to silence any dissent and force everyone support that point of view – or else.

Of course, the Christian faith is based on principles which see abortion and homosexual behavior as sinful. But the issue here is even more basic. It gets down to the very nature of humanity. A Naturalistic approach says that human beings are nothing more than highly evolved animals and that morality is a human creation relative to the situation. A Christian worldview asserts that human beings are persons made in the image of God and that morality is defined by God.

But beyond that, Naturalism asserts that as mere animals, the ruling principle is the law of the jungle (those with power make the rules). A Christian worldview affirms that human beings are free will creatures who have personal access to God who can give guidance via their conscience. The Bible also teaches that we are to obey God rather than man in cases where authorities promote anti-God rules.

To Nancy, this “conscience thing” is meaningless and a nuisance. To her, her own ideas are the ultimate authority source for life. To Christians, this does not represent reality. God does exist and has created us as persons who can know and follow him. We are charged with the responsibility to act based on this reality and strengthen our consciences to be fully in tune with him.