The question from yesterday’s post came: “When does life begin?” It’s evident that the Catholic Church settled on “at the moment of conception.” If you remember, that stance came about because they believe in Purgatory. The most common belief is/was when the baby takes its first breath, the soul enters. If you know my history, you know I lost my first wife and our child at birth. There was the potential for life before that, but it never occurred.
The word soul comes from Christian belief. There are other words for it in other languages, and they translate as “animating spirit.” The beginning of life is addressed in the belief system of every culture. The vast majority believe in the “when the baby takes its first breath.” There is at least one culture that said life does not begin until the child is a year old. My assumption is that came about because of the high death rate of infants in the past.
What I was saying yesterday is the belief system of one group of people should not be forced on all people. That is what happened with the ruling.
