The popular Irish rock band U2 tweeted their support for legalizing abortion in Ireland on Tuesday and received a tidal wave of reactions from pro-life fans dismayed with the group’s support of killing the unborn.
After U2 tweeted a photo endorsing the “Repeal the 8th” campaign for the upcoming May 25 abortion referendum, fans erupted with a barrage of more than 800 overwhelmingly negative replies, with many voicing their decision to stop supporting the band or attending its concerts.
The Eighth Amendment to the constitution, enacted by the Irish people in 1983, declares: “The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.”
Christians seemed particularly upset with the band’s decision to promote the repeal campaign, since Bono himself professes to be Christian and has often thrown his popularity behind social issues in defense of the weakest and most vulnerable.
In expressing his displeasure with U2, one man said his disappointment stemmed from the fact that the band promotes “Christian values” and yet has done the opposite on the abortion issue.
“Man, I’m so disappointed with Bono. I’ll still listen to his music but I’m just sad that, having poured out his voice for the vulnerable, he is turning his back on those precious souls who have no voice,” Pastor Daniel Darling, vice president for Communications at the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, tweeted Thursday.
“Let’s consider what is happening in Ireland: an entire country is voting on the right to willingly send more of their most vulnerable to an early grave,” he added.
Some used the band’s own lyrics to reprove them, such as “two hearts beat as one.”
“Why do you want to stop the unborn baby’s heart from beating?” one man tweeted.
One commenter has assumed an entire Twitter identity over the band’s support for abortion, calling him- or herself “abortU2.”
Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome
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