---
title: "Tolerating child sacrifice invites national judgment — doing justice forestalls it"
description: "Scripture warns that a nation which permits the killing of children, and 'disregards' those who do it, brings God's face against itself (Lev. 20:1-5), and that nations are judged by their treatment of 'the least of these' (Matt. 25). Abolitionists identify abortion as functional child sacrifice and…"
type: "argument"
id: "arg-national-judgment"
category: "Religious"
mode: "Offensive"
source_url: "https://www.abhortion.org/arguments/arg-national-judgment.html"
---

# Tolerating child sacrifice invites national judgment — doing justice forestalls it

**Category:** Religious · **Mode:** Offensive · the positive case

## The argument

Scripture warns that a nation which permits the killing of children, and 'disregards' those who do it, brings God's face against itself (Lev. 20:1-5), and that nations are judged by their treatment of 'the least of these' (Matt. 25). Abolitionists identify abortion as functional child sacrifice and argue that establishing justice is not only obedience but the way a nation forestalls divine judgment — exactly as anti-slavery abolitionists warned Britain that trafficking in slaves would bring 'a day of retribution.'

## Supporting points

- Leviticus 20:1-5 assigns guilt both to the one who sacrifices a child and to the community that looks away.
- Matthew 25:41-45 judges nations by their care for the most vulnerable.
- The anti-slavery abolitionists framed abolition as forestalling God's wrath on the nation (Wilberforce, 1791).
- Ecclesiastes 8:11: unpunished evil multiplies — an empirical as well as moral warning.

## Discussion questions

1. Leviticus warns the nation that 'disregards' child sacrifice, not only the one who commits it. What is the modern equivalent of disregarding it?
2. If nations are judged by their care for the most vulnerable, where do the unborn fit?

## Source transcript

Drawn from Does the Pro-Life Movement Hate Justice? (T. Russell Hunter, 'Justice Alone') — 'We are a nation that practices child sacrifice... woe to you.' Parallel in V3 (Britain's judgment)..

## References

- [Wilberforce, 'A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade' (1807), a 300+ page book making the full abolition case to his constituents](https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/study/module/wilberforce) _(history/primary intro)_
  Dan Graves, ed. · Christian History Institute
  **Supports:** Wilberforce's framing of abolition in providential/judgment terms
- [Abortion Trends Before and After Dobbs — national totals rose to ~1.14M in 2024 from ~1.05M in 2023, highest in over a decade](https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/abortion-trends-before-and-after-dobbs/) _(data analysis)_
  KFF · KFF
  **Supports:** post-Dobbs national abortion totals rose — relevant to the 'unpunished evil multiplies' claim

## Related

**Related scriptures:**

- [Leviticus 20:1-5](../scripture/leviticus-20-1-5.md)
- [Matthew 25:41-45](../scripture/matthew-25-41-45.md)
- [Ecclesiastes 8:11](../scripture/ecclesiastes-8-11.md)
- [Proverbs 24:11-12](../scripture/proverbs-24-11-12.md)

**Related arguments:**

- [History's lesson: regulation entrenches an evil; abolition removes it (the Wilberforce case)](arg-wilberforce-regulation.md)
- [God commands 'justice, and only justice' — not partial or deferred justice](arg-justice-only.md)