My first memories of Alyssa Milano are from Who’s the Boss, the TV sitcom she starred in during the 1980s. Like most boys with a heartbeat in the 1980s, I had a huge crush on her. Now, though, whenever I see a notification online involving the actress, I cringe. Without my consent, I was emailed a tweet from Milano making some odd point that she believes in God and loves God and then she pitted theology against science. After ripping John 3:12 completely out of context, she decided that it was a good idea to hit the “tweet” button.
I love God. I believe in God.
But I don’t believe my personal beliefs of which we can’t confirm should override scientific facts and what we can confirm.
“If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” John 3:12
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) April 1, 2019
Best I can tell, based off the context of the surrounding tweets, Milano had abortion in mind when she composed that bit of theological malpractice. Specifically, it appears she was referencing the Georgia Heartbeat Bill (HB481). According Mediaite, “Alyssa Milano posted a letter, signed by over 100 celebrities, saying they oppose the ‘Heartbeat Bill’ and threatening to boycott the state.” Furthermore, just prior to the above tweet, she tweeted this:
The fight is just beginning.
Join me and I’ll alert you when there’s an action to take in Georgia (or anywhere in the country where our rights are threatened). #HB481IsBadForBusiness #GAPol #sorrynotsorry
🐦 DM “alyssa” to @resistbot or
📱 Text “alyssa” to 50409— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) April 1, 2019
Because of these clues, I’m going to interact with Milano and her tweet as if she’s referencing abortion. But first, let’s start with her statement, “I don’t believe my personal beliefs of which we can’t confirm should override scientific facts and what we can confirm.”
One of the greatest tricks the Devil has played on our society is the belief that empiricism is the end-all for acquiring knowledge. Add in the fact that people expect more from empiricism than it can handle and we end up with people smugly demanding, “Prove to me that God exists!” The correct response to that should be the questions, “You know that neither theology nor philosophy are synonyms for science, right? What’s more, you do realize that science doesn’t ‘prove’ anything anyway in the way you’re defining ‘prove’?”
My point is that Alyssa Milano doesn’t understand that worldview-level questions (religion) do not require proving because they can’t be proved to begin with. Instead, the correct question is, “How well does the religion/worldview and its claims match all the available data?”
For the sake of space, I won’t attempt to answer that question in this article (there are many excellent Christian apologetic resources that will help you find answers to that question). I will point out that because of that, theology and science are not at odds. For one thing, they ask different questions. Science asks “how” questions. Theology asks “why” questions. This is why ethics, including on the issue of abortion, need to be developed from theology and not science.
I’m going to assume that Alyssa Milano believes in the God of the Bible since she referenced a Bible verse in her tweet. Because of that, her ethics should come from God’s Word and not science, which shouldn’t be mucking around in the world of ethics to begin with. The Bible clearly reveals that God values life and that preserving life takes precedence over culturally defined rights.
In terms of abortion, this is obvious (should be obvious) because, among other things, allowing a mother to kill the baby that is living in her womb because the mother has the right to determine what happens to her body logically extends to parents being allowed to kill their young children who are completely dependent on their parents for survival because parents have a right to do with their bodies what they will. Pro-abortion personhood arguments are not rooted in science; personhood arguments are worldview/religious arguments at their core. This is exactly why heartbeat bills exist.
Thankfully, some in government realize that faith and science are not at odds and that religion should play a role when deciding ethical questions. In fact, as stated above, pro-abortion legislation doesn’t come from science anyway. Pro-abortion arguments are religious arguments — the religion of secularism. A completely secular society will end up being a society in which humans will soon be extinct. So, yes, as opposed to Alyssa Milano’s tweet, religious beliefs from the Bible should override secularism. Science doesn’t have anything to do with it.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member