It is evil to rob banks. It is evil to trespass upon and seize the real estate of another in the absence of necessity and without intention of restoring the property as soon as possible to the actual owner. It is evil to shoplift. That Marxists may disagree with any of those three examples is no argument against any of those three examples.
That there were humans in our country who thought it legitimate to lynch blacks or that there were governmental officials in Germany in the first half of the last century who may have thought thought it moral to gas Jews or that Kim Il Sung may think that the presumed incredible gloriousness of the People's Republic of North Korea justifies North Korea's entry into the world nuclear weapon club, does not mean that any of these subjective notions or preferences are in themselves moral or tolerable just because the perps or intended perps think so.
If I and others regard each abortion as a homicide and WE REALLY MEAN IT, is that all right with you ONLY so long as we act as though we do not mean it? We are at 45+ million surgical infant homicides and counting. How many sliced, diced and hamburgerized kids are enough?
No one tells you what church to attend or that you have to attend any church at all. In a civilized society, your personal behavior may well be governed. To protect your home ownership, the government will, if necessary, use armed force to remove a Marxist who passionately believes that property is theft. His/her irrational belief does not trump and should not trump your home ownership. Likewise, the scientifically unsupportable preference you display for the notion that the unborn are disposable like used kleenex does not mean that the community should stand idly by while you exercise that belief to the extreme prejudice of the continued life of the unborn.
We had a very costly civil war (partially) over the question of whether one human being may own another. Most states in the confederacy punished abuse, much less killing of slaves. Read some of the Revolutionary War era literature of Hector St. John de Creve Couer as to slavery in Virginia. No state allows one to kill one's born children although that would be the logical consequence of Herod Blackmun's decision in Roe vs. Wade which ultimately depended on the ancient Roman law of Pater Familia which allowed the father (not the other) to arrange the executuion of any child of his prior to the 21st birthday. If you don't agree with that analysis, read Roe vs. Wade as so few have.
You want the right to kill unborn offspring without question so long as you do it before birth. Not only that, but you want some sort of right to be regarded as not evil if you should do so. You are willing to concede that I need not kill so long as you are allowed to kill without being arrested or apparently criticized. That's mighty generous of you!
Your subjective suspicions as to the nature of the unborn ought not, for obvious reasons, to be law for you or anyone else. Ayn Rand posed as Aristotelian. Despite her passionate and unrestrained love of abortion, she admired his assertion that "A is A." Well, I have no way of knowing whether you (or I for that matter) are accurately described as Aristotelian. That unborn child has his/her own set of 24 chromosomes distinct from the 24 chromosomes of the father and from the 24 chromosomes of the mother. There is similarity to each but not identity with either. The baby is a baby. A is A.
If you believe in the intentional killing of an innocent unborn child, yes I call you and that belief evil whether you like it or not. If you happen to believe in RTKBA or property rights, in those respects, you are not evil. Don't take it so personally. There is much evil in the world in which we live and probably no people who are without any aspect of evil in their lives and actions and thoughts. Rational judgment of others is not malum in se.
I am pinging ninenot and sittnick to give more informed views than my own on the matter of Aristotelian claims of those who are not Christian in their thinking or probably Jewish or Muslim for that matter.
By the way, was Hippocrates an Aristotelian? Clearly he was not a Christian but his oath required physicians not to perform or facilitate abortions. I believe that he was an Athenian. Was he an Aristotelian?
Bump. Great post.