What We All Have In Common

Charlie Kirk was shot and killed yesterday. His wife, Erika, lost her husband yesterday. His two children, both under the age of five, lost their daddy yesterday. Lord, have mercy.

I was on Twitter yesterday between when he was shot and when he was pronounced dead, looking at how people were responding, and I saw exactly what I expected. There were a few left-leaning people saying really ugly things—celebrating that he got shot, or saying that he deserved it. There were some right-leaning people saying ugly things about left-leaning people as a whole—that they’re all celebrating this, that shooting people for their ideas is what the left does. But the vast majority was left-leaning and right-leaning people both saying that nobody deserves to be a victim of political violence, naming Charlie’s and his family’s humanity, and hoping he would survive.

We have real, weighty disagreements with one another in this country—on abortion, and on any number of other extremely important things. It’s important not to minimize or ignore that. But it’s also vitally important to see what we do have in common. If you lean right politically, hear a fellow conservative say: Left-leaning people abhor shooting people for their political beliefs just like we do. That’s not a left thing or a right thing, that’s a human thing.

There are a few crazy people on the left who like political violence, and a few more who say things that sound like they like it because they want to be edgy and get views. There are also a few crazy people on the right who like political violence, and a few more who say things that sound like they like it because they want to be edgy and get views. Don’t let the crazy people pit the rest of us against one another. We have enough things to be divided over without adding this one vital thing that we’re actually on the same side on.

Survey Review: How Pro-Life & Pro-Choice People Define Abortion

MP3 Download | 59:13

We recorded another episode with Secular Pro-Life’s Monica Snyder, our favorite practically co-host, to discuss Secular Pro-Life’s recent survey on the differences between how both sides of the issue define abortion.

A critical part of clear communication is making sure you and your dialogue partner are using the key words in the same way. Pro-life and pro-choice people often mean VERY different things when they use the word “abortion,” but they don’t know that, and miscommunication ensues.

This episode will help you avoid that miscommunication. The ERI team offers several practical dialogue tips stemming from what we can learn from this survey.

No, Abortion Pills Aren’t Harming the Environment

MP3 Download | 1:13:13

Yes, abortion pills are harmful to women and unborn children. We’re pro-life. But when you take an honest look at the evidence, there is no evidence that abortion pills are poisoning our wastewater.

Content warning: If you have experienced pregnancy loss, this may not be the episode for you. There’s an inherent graphic nature to the kinds of claims we’re offering factual and philosophical arguments against. While we kept the conversation as tame as possible, we know this is a very difficult subject for people who have lost one or more children, so please take care and pay attention to your body if you choose to listen to this episode.

Secular Pro-Life’s Monica Snyder joins Josh, Emily, and Rebecca to discuss the relatively recent argument from certain pro-life organizations that abortion pills and/or embryonic remains are poisoning our wastewater. We consider and respond to the strongest arguments for this claim and address the real harm this can have on people who have experienced miscarriage.

Is This Pro-Choice Thought Experiment Cheating?

Imagine you wake up one day and find yourself in a hospital bed. You have no idea how you got there, and there are cords running out of your body and into the body of a person who’s lying back to back with you on the bed. You understandably start to freak out a little. A doctor rushes in and explains: “It’s okay, you’re safe. Here’s what happened. That man on the hospital bed with you is a world-famous violinist who has a rare, typically deadly disease. He needs to be hooked up to someone’s kidneys so they can filter his blood, and it turns out you’re the only match in the world. So the Society of Music Lovers, which is obsessed with this guy and really doesn’t want him to die, kidnapped you, brought you here, and hooked you up.”

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes