A defender of abortion falsely claims in a letter in today's Los Angeles Times (Sat. 11/10/07), "The Bible does mention abortion." The erroneous reader adds that a passage in the Bible, Numbers 5, gives a "a detailed formula designed to end a pregnancy." In fact, the cited passage makes no mention of pregnancy, abortion, or miscarriage whatsoever. The reader's assertions are simply false.

Does the dishonesty at the Los Angeles Times regarding the abortion issue know no bounds? Does anyone at the Times own a Bible? Are there fact checkers at the paper?

Indeed, Numbers 5 is an unusual passage. It deals with an Old Testament practice if a woman is suspected of adultery. The passage underscores the seriousness of the sin of adultery. It has nothing to do with abortion. Through a kind of ritual involving cereal and "bitter water," a priest calls on God for Him to reveal whether or not a woman has been unfaithful to her husband. Yet the passage says nothing about the woman being pregnant, and it does not say that the prescribed bitter water would "cause her to miscarry," as the reader falsely states. To assert otherwise is simply dishonest or ignorant. (If you need more on this, check out this article from Randy Alcorn as well as this article from ChristianAnswers.net.)

We have shown that propagating abortion falsehoods is a regular practice at the Times. We've reported on it here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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The readers' letters were in response to a book excerpt published last week in the Times from author Garry Wills. We dealt with the crooked Wills in this post a few weeks ago.

In critique of Wills, the Times posted a "Blowback" item on its web site. It's by Gregory Popcak of the Pastoral Solutions Institute. It is an excellent critique, but, lo and behold, the Times has not yet published it in its print edition. Why not?

In addition, Steve Wagner at the Stand to Reason blog has posted a great takedown of Wills' excerpt. Check it out.

Finally, as a reminder, Wills is one of these guys who calls himself "Catholic" but reveals himself to be anything but that. I addressed this in my post a few weeks ago. I won't pile on any further, but there was a comment left by reader Brendan at the Stand to Reason blog that I can concur with:

As a Catholic I must note that Gary Wills has been and continues to be an embarrassment to the Catholic faith and Christianity in general. He is a wolf in sheep's clothing, a man who claims the faith as his own while simultaneously watering it down with heresies, falsehoods, and relativistic nonsense that does nothing but injure the mission of the Church on earth and the salvation of souls. He is in need of our prayers.

Amen, brother.