“They’re Not Really People”: The Lie That Fuels Every Injustice
Every generation must confront its defining moral test. For the 19th century, it was slavery. For the 20th, it was genocide and racial segregation. And for our generation, it is abortion.
Behind each of these evils echoes the same chilling refrain:
“They’re not really people.”
This one phrase small, sinister, and devastating has been the common thread through humanity’s darkest chapters.
Slavery: Denying Humanity for Profit
The transatlantic slave trade and centuries of bondage in America rested on a lie. Entire systems were built upon the claim that African men and women were less than human property, not people.
Economies flourished on stolen labor, and consciences were numbed by redefining personhood. But God raised up voices who refused to stay silent. The abolitionists, often ridiculed and persecuted, stood on the truth of Scripture:
“He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.” — Acts 17:26
They saw what the world would not that every person bears the image of God.
The Holocaust: Dehumanizing in the Name of Purity
A century later, Europe watched as the Nazi regime applied the same logic with industrial precision. Jews, the disabled, and others were labeled “life unworthy of life.”
Once humanity is denied, compassion dies. Six million Jews perished in the Holocaust because a nation believed a lie that some lives simply didn’t count.
The world vowed, “Never again.” Yet today, the same reasoning resurfaces cloaked in the language of autonomy and progress.
Abortion: The Silent Atrocity
Modern culture uses new words, but the logic is ancient. The unborn are called “clumps of cells” or “potential life.” Yet every heartbeat, every strand of DNA, every tiny fingerprint tells the truth: a distinct, living human being exists.
More than 60 million have been killed in the United States since Roe v. Wade. Each life, unseen and voiceless, dismissed with the same cruel reasoning once used to justify slavery and genocide:
“They’re not really people.”
The parallels are undeniable. Slaveholders called it “property.” Nazis called it “purification.” Modern society calls it “choice.” But in every case, the result is the same — innocent blood shed in the name of convenience or control.
The Abolitionist Spirit Lives On
The abolitionists of the 1800s were not content with compromise. They did not seek to regulate slavery; they sought to end it. They called it what it was — sin and they appealed to the highest moral authority, God Himself.
Today’s abolitionists apply that same conviction to the unborn. They reject the notion that abortion can be reformed or managed. It must be abolished not through hatred or violence, but through truth, repentance, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.” — Proverbs 24:11
This is not a political movement at its core; it is a spiritual one. The true battle is for the recognition of God’s image in every human life — born and unborn.
History will one day look back on abortion as it now looks on slavery and the Holocaust. And when that day comes, the question will be asked: Where was the Church?
Silence in the face of evil is not neutrality; it is consent. The body of Christ must once again rise with moral clarity and courage, proclaiming that every human life — from conception to natural death — is sacred, valuable, and created for purpose.
To be an abolitionist in this generation is to love our neighbor, defend the innocent, and stand where truth demands we stand — even when it costs us.
Conclusion: The Gospel and Human Worth
At the heart of abolition is not politics, but the gospel. Jesus Christ came to redeem broken humanity and restore the image of God in us. Every person is a soul for whom He died.
When society forgets this truth, injustice follows. When the Church remembers it, revival begins.
As William Wilberforce once said, “You may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say that you did not know.”
