James Talarico

And I think...

If we're looking at the last 40, 50 years, the religious right has made a concerted effort to make homosexuality and abortion the two biggest issues for Christians.

And, you know, the Southern Baptist Convention was pro-choice until the late 1970s.

So this idea that to be a Christian means you have to be anti-gay and anti-abortion, there really is no historical, theological, biblical basis for that opinion.

Well, there were certainly abortions in the ancient world.

And again, I haven't stated this enough to say this definitively, but there are interpretations of certain passages from the Torah where some folks will even say that there is some subtle instructions for how to perform an abortion in the ancient world, certain things to drink, things like that.

The point is that this idea that there is a set Christian orthodoxy on the issue of abortion is just not rooted in Scripture.

We can have an honest debate about it.

If Pope Francis were to come back and sit at this table and tell me, you know, James, I'm pro-life and anti-abortion.

Here's my theological argument.

I'm here to listen and respect that opinion.

I have dear friends who are anti-abortion.

All I'm asking is that for Christians who are pro-choice and who respect the bodily autonomy of women, that we be given the space to make our theological argument, because I think there is a lot of biblical evidence to support that opinion.

So, one, you know, in Genesis, God creates life by breathing life into the first human being, which we later call Adam, that life starts when you take your first breath.

And that is actually the mainline position in Judaism, is that that's when life starts.

Then if you think about it from a Christian perspective, what something interesting that Jesus does throughout his ministry is he is breaking first century norms about women, talking with women, learning from women, having women lieutenants in his movement.

And this was something that was kind of unheard of in the first century.

The longest conversation Jesus has with anybody in the whole Bible is with the Samaritan woman at the well.

And so this affirmation of women as full and equal people is a huge part of the Jesus movement, especially the early church.

And then the last, I think, story I would go to is the story of Mary.