From Molech to Medi-Cal

There's nothing new under the sun. In this evergreen audio essay, host John Gerardi traces a startling line from the child sacrifice of the ancient world to the abortion debate in modern California. Reading through Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, John unpacks why the Israelites were tempted to worship pagan gods like Baal, Asherah, and Molech, and how those religions divorced worship from morality (think Julius Caesar as both high priest and war criminal) in ways that made discarding inconvenient children disturbingly ordinary, from Roman infant exposure to Spartan eugenics. Then John turns to the revolution: how Judaism and Christianity reshaped Western civilization by insisting that women, slaves, the poor, and the unborn all bear the image of God, and how the earliest Christians stood apart precisely because they refused to abandon their children. Finally, he tackles the question every pro-lifer wrestles with: if the science is settled, why is abortion more popular than ever? His answer is a challenge to rethink compassion itself, from moral imagination and the difference between empathy and sympathy, to the cold economics of Medi-Cal that pay for abortion while maternity wards like Madera Community Hospital shut their doors. Right to Life Radio is a production of Right to Life of Central California, heard on KMJ. Support our summer matching drive (every gift doubled through August) at rtlcc.org. Want John to speak at your church, school, or youth group? Call 559-229-2229 or email [email protected].