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This page was last modified on 30 April 2002.

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Comments:
Excellent site. I'm not an atheist or agnostic (I'm a deist) but it's great to find that there are other freethinkers who oppose abortion. I was starting to wonder if I was the only one- Good to see I'm not alone. Keep up the wonderful work.

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Good to see some more nontraditionals (geez, don't you hate that word? Like everything should be measured relative to Christian conservatives :) out there. I'm not an athiest, but my beliefs are nontraditional (yup, there's that word again) enough that most of the time, it's just easier to say I am. Anyway, I don't agree with everything you believe in (I've checked your personal site) but I can certainly relate to 'getting it from both sides' - nearly everyone who doesn't have a problem with my prolife side, has a problem with my nontraditional side, and vice versa. Oh well. I look forward to seeing this place grow, and I'll be back for more.

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Thank you for the great stuff on your site....I am Catholic but looking for non-religious articles on the pro-life movement......

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[Juvenile, gratuitously offensive, antireligious graphical links removed by webmaster]

Webmaster's Response:
Hmm, Christianity as the Borg from Star Trek? Uh, "Jesus Can Kiss My Hairy Ass" award? Such asinine nonsense does not serve the purpose of this web site. AAPL does not exist to debate, and certainly not to demean, anyone's religious or political views. AAPL's sole purpose is to provide a forum for open, committed atheists, agnostics, and other nontheists to affirm life by taking a principled stand against abortion.
--Matt Wallace, Founder/Webmaster

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I am thrilled to see others with such respect for life. I differ with you on your athiest beliefs, but strongly join you in hating abortion. You seem very intelligent, so tell me, what do you think of Darwin?

Webmaster's Response:
For a more detailed explanation of my view of "absolutes" and "evil," please refer to my response to Steve Clark below. As for Charles Robert Darwin, his discovery of Natural Selection as the primary driving force of biological evolution is one of the great moments in the history of science, but then, I've been an evolutionist probably since I was eight when I read Herbert S. Zim's Sixty Million Years of Horses. Though it may seem perverse to both evolutionists and antievolutionists, my evolutionism in part animates my pro-life/anti-abortion position. From an evolutionary perspective, all life exists solely to reproduce itself, that is, to pass on a portion of its genetic material to future generations. Abortion completely defeats this purpose and utterly negates whatever meaning life has evolutionarily speaking. Given the nature and uniqueness of life, anything that denies life is evil, so abortion used as "birth control" is a most horrific evil.
--Matt Wallace, Founder/Webmaster

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This page is excellent. It's nice to know I'm not alone in my beliefs and opinions.

Webmaster's Response:
That's one of the reasons we're here.
--Matt Wallace, Founder/Webmaster

Comments:
Hello, I run a group called Vegans for Life, we are a pro-life/animal liberation organization. Please check out our website. Personally I am not an atheist (though I don't subscribe myself to any particular religious culture), however I am opposed to the dominant western religious paradigm (manifested in much modern Christian belief and elsewhere). Anyway I just thought you might be interested, being a fellow "non-traditional" pro-lifer. Good luck. Dan Beben Vegans For Life

Webmaster's Response:
Though I'm committed to the human dietary tradition of omnivorism, I have no problem with vegetarianism as a lifestyle choice, but I personally have little patience for the dogmatism of too many "vegans." Meat isn't murder; meat is food. Of course, we're not here to discuss eating habits. As we're here to oppose abortion, welcome to the fight!
--Matt Wallace, Founder/Webmaster

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Very nice to see pro-life agnostics. I'm in that catagory and sick of the Christian domanance of the movement--it hurts more than helps.

Webmaster's Response:
While we would certainly agree that solely religious arguments are completely unconvincing to nonreligious and irreligious people, I can't accept such a categorical dismissal of the Christians, and specifically the Catholics, within the pro-life/anti-abortion movement. Sadly, there would be little movement, and perhaps even none at all, without them. Hopefully AAPL can ameliorate the situation by helping to fill the void.
--Matt Wallace, Founder/Webmaster

Comments:
I do not think you are evil. After all, any unfortunate loss of *potential* life is nothing compared to the slaughter of billions that Jesus promised he'd do (Matt 13:40-43). So, no, it's not you who are evil.

Webmaster's Response:
The only thing "potential" about the lives of aborted children is what they could have become if they had not been killed with abortion and had been allowed to continue to develop. Since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, over 35 million preborn children have had both their very real lives and their human potential utterly destroyed. Furthermore, there is no comparison between this "unfortunate loss" of truly innocent human life and the Christian wish fulfillment of the ultimate defeat of sin and evil. Your misuse of the contents of a book that you obviously do not believe in to support the genocide of abortion is disingenuous and perhaps even evil.
--Matt Wallace, Founder/Webmaster

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I am a born-again, Bible believing Christian. And I believe that abortion is one of the greatest evils (according to Biblical standards) in recent history. Frankly, I am amazed that an athiest would hold to a anti-abortion standard.

Webmaster's Response:
I don't see anything wrong with believing per se, and I certainly believe (and disbelieve!) in many things. The problem is that simply believing in something doesn't make it neccesarily true. The validity of a belief is directly related to the strength and quality of the evidence which supports it.

I disbelieve theism because its claims are unproven and unprovable by the very nature of its assertions. I contend that it is impossible for material beings (humans) existing in a natural world (the Universe or Cosmos) to speak intelligibly of things which, by definition, exist outside their experience, comprehension, and understanding. Accordingly, I do not believe in "God" and other theistic claims (This is the basic form of atheism, or "weak atheism."), and even further, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, I believe that "God" and other theistic claims are false (This is "strong atheism."). My atheism is only an expression of my view of theism and has no direct relation to any of my other beliefs. Atheism is simply a lack of belief in theism and neither suggests nor precludes any other beliefs.

Furthermore, my freethinking in no way "dismisses evil"; it simply denies a supernatural cause of evil such as Satan or demons. Evil is an all too human phenomenon. My most fundamental standard of evil is the denial of life. Life is all there is and all that matters, and anything that denies life is evil. By this standard, abortion as "birth control" is extremely evil as it is a most egregious denial of life both literally and symbolically.

Additionally, my freethinking in no way disallows the existence of absolutes. For example, I consider both matter and life to be absolutes. As a hard materialist, I believe that matter is all that exists and that everything is made of matter or is a manifestation of matter; to speak of something existing immaterially, such as a deity or a soul, is meaningless and nonsensical. Life has value in and of itself and is supremely important because existence is vastly superior and preferable to it's alternative, nonexistence. As an atheist, I simply deny that absolutes have a theistic or supernatural origin.

Finally, the "standard" I develop from my freethinking has a similar origin to your "Godly" standard; both are the product of the human need to comprehend the world. Your standard didn't come from your "God"; it is a very human product attributed to "God" to give it a patina of authority. Of course, this false attribution doesn't preclude the truthfulness or applicability of the standard itself. For example, "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13 NIV) is both true and applicable whether it was written by a Hebrew scribe or "was the writing of God" (Exodus 32:16 NIV). All human cultures prohibit the unlawful killing of other human beings because it is impossible to maintain a society otherwise, not because "God said so."
--Matt Wallace, Founder/Webmaster

Comments:
Thanks for keeping the candle of rationalism burning! We can't let it gutter out & be engulfed by the dark.

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Just kidding about the to the core part, though its a attitude I often recieve...

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I am very grateful to see a site such as yours. All too often people think (or pretend to think) that all opposition to abortion is religious. http://home.att.net/~tharpa/

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I agree that atheism can be reconciled with a pro-life stance... I guess you just think life is intrinsically "good." However, as a nihilistic misanthrope, I reject that idea. There is no proof for anything. Abortion doesn't matter. In fact, it would save you/me an awful lot of trouble if you/I were/was aborted. End procreation!

Webmaster's Response:
Hmm, I suppose there's something to be said for facetiousness, but I am uncharacteristically at a loss for the proper words.
--Matt Wallace, Founder/Webmaster

Comments:
Hey, have you seen the article at the above url (http://www.prolife.org/ultimate/upl34.html)? I think it's perfect for this site. :)

Webmaster's Response:
I first encountered this article about two years ago. While it is well-written, I am uncomfortable that the author is "Anonymous"; it seems "too perfect" if you know what I mean. Anyway, anonymity defeats the purpose of this web site. AAPL is about open, committed atheists, agnostics, and other nontheists affirming life by taking a principled stand against abortion.
--Matt Wallace, Founder/Webmaster

Comments:
So nice to see a site that doesn't follow a party line. There are a beginning to be more of us that don't quite fit elsewhere.

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It's usually religious right nuts who oppose abortion. They also tend to be conservative Republican. Apparently you are free of the former, but seem to suffer the latter. :-) I am a strong atheist, and shortly after I realized I was an atheist, I realized that I still agreed with the position of the religious folk that abortion was evil. Much of that was due to the fact that most pro-choice folks do a very poor job of rationally explaining the position, and of presenting all the relevant biological/medical facts. I just got here and plan to examine the site thoroughly. I look forward to determining your rationale for the opposition to legal abortion since you claim it is not religious. I shall be in contact. Atheist Preacher

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Your position makes sense. It is precisely those people who do not believe in an afterlife who should most cherish our life on Earth.

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Just dropping in. Best wishes with the new site!

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Fabulous.

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It's great to see this page up and running!

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Way to go! I like the idea of this site and I'll definitely be back to see what you add to this. People can't hear enough about the non-religious pro-life rationale.

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This is the obligatory webmaster test of the guestbook. Gee, this was fun. I suppose that it'll be even more fun when others sign it.

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