I think one would need to see more detail to react meaningfully. I.e. the Devil is in the Details.

For those who want the details, according to their own website: http://www.thirdway.org/clurt
http://www.comeletusreasontogether.org redirects to the above link.

The claim of a progressive-evangelical coalition is bogus. No progressive religious leaders or organizations are represented in this “coalition.” No progressive religious leaders spoke during the announcement of this agenda. No one spoke up for the equality of gay, lesbian and transgender people. Read Rev. Debra Haffner’s blog for the progressive religious response to the Third Way distortion.

“Evangelicals” such as Richard Mouw are either suckers or are the new liberals. We can forbid torture and punish those who engage in it, right? But we can’t do that with abortion. It has to remain a cherished right. If MLK had followed this path in the 60s, there would have been no civil rights legislation. We’d still be trying to gently persuade whites to stop oppressing blacks. “Evangelicals” who jump on this bandwagon need to wake up.

YN: ” We can forbid torture and punish those who engage in it, right? But we can’t do that with abortion. It has to remain a cherished right. If MLK had followed this path in the 60s, there would have been no civil rights legislation. We’d still be trying to gently persuade whites to stop oppressing blacks. ”
It’s widely agreed torture is bad. And any of us can imagine being tortured at some point in our lives so it behooves us to make it illegal.
The majority of people agree abortion, in at least some situations, should be legal. And not one of us reading this or capable of reading this or in fact ever born needs to worry about being aborted. No person can ever be aborted. Any of you worrying about being aborted can stop worrying; it’s impossible.
So it’s kind of silly to compare abortion with torture. I could give additional good reasons why that’s true.
As to comparing abortion and civil rights, real people, thinking people, people with families who loved them and people who depended on them were denied their civil rights, sometimes in terrifying, painful, humiliating and long-lasting ways. Fetuses can’t be terrified or humiliated and any pain of an abortion is very short lived. So again that’s an invalid comparison.

“Fetuses can’t be terrified or humiliated and any pain of an abortion is very short lived.”
There’s a documentary called ‘The Silent Scream’ which features a former abortionist showing an ultrasound of an abortion where the child in the fetal stage of development squirms and wiggles trying to avoid being cut up by the scalpel. He eventually loses his life as there’s no where to go for the child. Look it up on youtube.
“And not one of us reading this or capable of reading this or in fact ever born needs to worry about being aborted. No person can ever be aborted.”
Helen Keller wouldn’t have been capable of reading this, nor would any people at a school for the blind. If someone with a chainsaw started disecting blind people, then don’t you think we really should do something about it, even though they’re not capable of reading this? Should we not fight for the rights of those who can’t fight for themselves, including the disabled? If people were only compassionate about causes that directly affected them then charity towards neighbor would be an awfully scarce commodity in our society, even more so than it already is.
“No person can ever be aborted.”
Funny. I’ve never heard of cats being aborted, dogs being aborted, arangatangs being aborted, spotted owls being aborted, polar bears being aborted, white tigers being aborted. Just people.

“The claim of a progressive-evangelical coalition is bogus. No progressive religious leaders or organizations are represented in this ‘coalition.’ No progressive religious leaders spoke during the announcement of this agenda. No one spoke up for the equality of gay, lesbian and transgender people.”
I really wish I could say this comes as a surprise, but I can’t. And as far as protecting LGBT people from employment discrimination, I’m pretty sure that’s just so we have one less thing to “whine” about. “You’re treated the exact same as us in the work place. Isn’t that enough for you people?”

Tom: “There’s a documentary ,,, the child.”
Makes you wonder about he motivation and veracity of thee film. Butt even if the film was accurate it was soon over.
Regarding your nonsense about handicapped people I’ve repeatedly said anyone born should have full rights. Either you just can’t read or you are lying about what I said. Either way I’m disappointed in you.
“Funny. I’ve never heard of cats being aborted, dogs being aborted, arangatangs being aborted, spotted owls being aborted, polar bears being aborted, white tigers being aborted. Just people.”
People are those who have already been born. Abortion can’t happen to someone born. Therefore no person can ever be aborted.

Unfortunately you possess a unique definition of ‘person’. This definition isn’t satisfactory in any dictionary that I’ve ever read, so why should the rest of us accept it? Everyone here knows they will not be aborted. We may be able to save some of those who WILL be aborted and come to appreciate the gift of life bestowed upon them. Were I inside my mother’s womb and knew that I was in danger of being aborted I would want everyone to do everything possible to save me from such a brutal, untimely death.
“And not one of us reading this or capable of reading this or in fact ever born needs to worry about being aborted.”
This is what I read in your earlier post. I’m merely pointing out the logical inconsistencies of your argument. You seem to be saying (and correct me if I’m wrong) that because none of us are in danger of abortion, then none of us should lift a finger to stop it, assuming that we need to be in eminate danger or directly affected by an issue to be involved in the cause of changing it. You listed reading this or possessing the ability to read this before you added the part about being born, using ‘or’ and not ‘and’. Blind people wouldn’t be able to read this the same as pre-born humans no matter what stage of development they happened to be in. The analogy holds true for the circumstance you presented in this particular instance.
The problem I have is that you’ve yet to demonstrate a satisfactory reason for not labeling pre-born humans people or granting them rights. You’ve listed reasons like ‘social networking’ and being born a ‘bright line’, yet under scrutiny this line of reasoning fails to pass the acid test. Why does the born infant magically and instantaneously possess rights the unborn fetus didn’t possess? And what about partial-birth abortion? Does a fetus have to be fully born to possess the rights of a person? Does it not possess 90% of the rights of a person, seeing as how 90% of its body is extracted from the womb from induced labor before the forceps are jabbed into the base of its skull? I suppose if it came head-first it could be cut off at the legs so long as the legs remained inside the womb.

It’s easy to adopt such cold opinions about life and fetus when one also believes in evolution after all everything came from nothing right?

Tom: “Were I inside my mother’s womb and knew that I was in danger of being aborted I would want everyone to do everything possible to save me from such a brutal, untimely death.”
Do you seriously think fetuses float around thinking about being aborted and using words like “brutal” and “untimely”? Too bad they don’t retain all that vocabulary when they’re born! You’ve read too much anti-abortion children’s propaganda. And how can you pretend to know what a fetus would think about abortion if it could think about abortion? It might have a whole different perspective. You claim to represent fetuses based only on what you think they should think.
“Blind people wouldn’t be able to read this the same as pre-born humans no matter what stage of development they happened to be in.”
No, most blind people would be perfectly able to understand it, bzefs would not. But anyway as far as my proposition and in fact the law in the US is concerned the important part is that blind people have been born.
“Unfortunately you possess a unique definition of ‘person’.”
You wish. Read the Wikipedia article on “person”. In it you will find: “Human beings – Once human beings are born, personhood is considered automatic.” It goes on to talk about exceptions that some people would use to grant personhood to fetuses but others, and I, would not.
“You seem to be saying (and correct me if I’m wrong) that because none of us are in danger of abortion, then none of us should lift a finger to stop it, assuming that we need to be in eminate danger or directly affected by an issue to be involved in the cause of changing it.”
Actually I put that in there because sometime back on here I ran into a person who claimed he was afraid of being aborted. No, we should try to protect those who need it. But bzefs have protection, I’d say appropriate protection. Roe v. Wade ramps up the level of protection states may grant fetuses as they develop and become closer to birth. It really makes no sense to worry about the rights of a blastocyst of maybe a hundred cells (except perhaps rights to a healthy environment, in view of the effects of a bad environment on the person it may become). It does make sense, to me at least, to give some significant rights to a fetus of seven months because it has much of a nervous system and can feel pain and we can reasonably assume it can think to some extent.
Now when you talk about protecting people give a little thought to the real people who need protection: people who work in mines or factories whose safety goes mostly unchecked; people who live near factories or mines or dumps where the air or water is dangerous; people who need health care but can’t buy both medicine and food for their family; people who’d like to send their kids to college but tuitions have been raised to lower taxes for the wealthy. These people and lots more of us have far less protection than we did eight years ago because the Republicans could take it away while convincing people like you their concern for bzefs made them “moral”.

cknuck: “It’s easy to adopt such cold opinions about life and fetus when one also believes in evolution after all everything came from nothing right?”
“cold”? Who took away the social safety net? Who tried to tie Social Security to the stock market? Who cut the budgets of EPA and OSHA so workers and indeed all of us live more dangerous, unhealthier lives? You have a pretty myopic view of “cold” cknuck.

In week 8 of pregnancy (long before 7 months), forty muscle sets begin to work in conjunction with the central nervous system. 50% of abortions take place between week 8 and week 9, when brain waves are present and the fetal body responds to touch. If fetuses are granted so much ‘ramped up’ protection by Roe v. Wade, then how come so many of them are being aborted when all the organ systems and different bodily functions are present? If you and so many other pro-choicers actually took the time to study fetal development and the brutal nature of the abortion procedure then you might come to understand why so many of us are fed up with the barbarism that is being legally tolerated all in the name of ‘reproductive rights’.
“Now when you talk about protecting people give a little thought to the real people who need protection: people who work in mines or factories whose safety goes mostly unchecked; people who live near factories or mines or dumps where the air or water is dangerous; people who need health care but can’t buy both medicine and food for their family; people who’d like to send their kids to college but tuitions have been raised to lower taxes for the wealthy. These people and lots more of us have far less protection than we did eight years ago because the Republicans could take it away while convincing people like you their concern for bzefs made them “moral”.”
What in the name of common sense does raising tuitions have to do with lowering taxes for the wealthy or anyone else for that matter? And for the record, Republicans have done pitifully with the health care system and air pollution. The same could be said for the Democrats and allowing labor unions to run rampant with perks and lowsy production from the workforce as a whole, as evidenced by car manufacturers and the airline industries in particular. I am a registered Republican though I have no party loyalties per se. Were the Democratic Party more in sink with fundamental issues such as the right to life and traditional family values then I’d definitely vote Democrat.

“Do you seriously think fetuses float around thinking about being aborted and using words like “brutal” and “untimely”? Too bad they don’t retain all that vocabulary when they’re born! You’ve read too much anti-abortion children’s propaganda.”
Do you even vaguely understand the concept of ‘hypothetical’? I myself am grateful that I wasn’t aborted so I could live the life that has been given me. You and so many other ‘pro-choicers’ may wish you were aborted and I’m awfully sorry you feel that way.

Pro abortionists talk about fetus as if it possibly could turn out to be something other than human.

You know Tom I don’t remember ever wishing I’d been aborted. I can think of a very few people I might wish had; I expect we’d agree on a few of them.

That’s a slipery slope I’d rather not go down; yet it did bring a smile to my face. A pity when gifted intelligent people get caught up in laying snares over philosophical differences. Sounds to me like someone needs to dust off some of their old Pat Boone records:-)

Worse things have happened.