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Is your belief that life begins at conception religiously founded?

The Bible prescribes an abortion (which would be murdering an innocent bystander, if the fetus was a person) as the punishment for adultery (Numbers 5).

Oddly, before 1980, there was no majority Christian consensus on when life began. When Roe v Wade dropped, the largest evangelical denomination called it, "a distinctly Catholic issue".

For the vast majority of Christian history it was generally held that life began at the quickening, the first time the mother felt the baby kick. This was considered the moment of ensoulment, literally when the soul entered the body.

Unfortunately, due to the antisemitic influence of Rome hijacking Christianity, that's a very Greek and neo-platonic view of when life began.

In Hebrew, spirit (ruach) means wind; the invisible force that brings life, the breath of God. Soul (naphesh) just means throat, it is the channel by which we breath in the life of God. So as many ancient and modern Jews believe, as would the early christians, life begins at first breath.

Of course, we're not bound to ancient views, which is why Roe v Wade determined viability outside the womb would be the standard point of protection, which is makes a lot of sense.

You are free to believe that life begins at conception. This is an issue people have discussed and debated for as long as we've been alive.

You can't believe that your view is explicitly taught by the Bible or is even the view of the majority of Christians for most of history.

The evangelical view of life beginning at conception began in the late 70's as a political wedge issue that tested incredibly well with audiences so people like Jerry Falwell began beating the drum in order to build political clout.