A friend of mine recently wrote me and asked me what I would say to Christians who declared that they couldn't vote for Barack Obama because they simply "can't get past the abortion issue." He told me that he tried to point them to the larger picture, but unfortunately they seem unmoved regarding the killing of innocent life.
I got to thinking on this point, and decided that I am pro-life. that's why I am voting for Barack Obama.
To the people who have difficulty seeing past abortion, I would ask you, is Barack Obama is "pro-abortion"? Let me answer the question for you: he isn't.
Obama is pro-choice, which he should be as a political figure in this country. For those who saw the sit down conversation he had with the pastor of the Saddleback Mega-church, Rick Warren, we are believers in Jesus but within a democratic society. Within a democratic society, one belief cannot, should not be held above another. We all too often make the mistake of assuming that the "world" mentioned in the Bible refers to all those who function outside of the "Christian Bubble," and is dark and evil, and their secularism somehow makes them pro-Satan.
But, as the saying goes, the worst kind of evil is evil disguised as virtue, and as John 3:16 goes, "For God so loved the world..."
In a country that is home to people of all races, ethnic traditions, languages and belief systems, In a country where there are people who truly don't believe that, scientifically, a baby's life begins at conception, we cannot impose on them a moral belief that stems directly from God's word, even though it is a truth we hold dear to us.
The reality is that our country has to be free for everyone, and within that free society, we as believers, as the champions of Jesus' message are then responsible for loving the world and preaching the Gospel through our actions. By living the life the Jesus did, with the sacrifice and humility he exemplified, those who are not believers can come to know him, and then come to redefine life for themselves within this knowledge of Jesus. And if we really did our jobs, they would.
I, as a Christian, am anti-abortion, and if faced with the decision of whether to abort a pregnancy, would choose not to, because I am killing a child. But, I remain pro-choice, because America is about choice, just as believing in Jesus is a choice.
So, I ask the people who are concerned with the abortion issue: What does it means to actually be pro-life? Are you pro-life only in the womb of a woman, or are you also pro-life when the black or brown child comes into the world without options and opportunity? Are you pro-life enough to pour funding into the fight against poverty, the way Jesus was "pro-life" for the poor? Do you believe in being "pro-life" enough to come out against the injustice of the death penalty and its abusive applications? Are you "pro-life" enough to raise taxes on yourselves to help inner city kids get better educations so they can lead better lives? Are you "pro-life" enough to give money to Darfur, and Ethiopia, and India so that people can have food and water? More simply, how about to Katrina victims? Are you "pro-life" enough to teach sex education in schools so that people who don't know (and who are not going to stop having sex, in the "world" and "in the world of religion" as we plainly see) can be smarter, and decrease the chances of HIV and unwanted pregnancies? Are you "pro-life" enough to increase the minimum wage so that people can consider keeping a child that they could actually care for financially? Are you "pro-life" enough to provide universal health care so that the infant mortality rate among urban African-Americans decreases and so that parents can actually offer their children a healthy entry into the world?
I ask you all of these things because the Bible talks a great deal about faith with works, and like Jesus, we are to be advocates of the orphans, the widows, and the oppressed. So, I tell people that if they want to talk about being pro-life with me, then we are going to talk about being pro-life across the board, for everyone. All people. And right now, the "dark world" we are so quick to label demonstrates greater compassion and empathy than those of us who claim to bring a message of true healing and reconciliation.
So wait...they are more like Jesus that those who are called by his name and declare themselves to be his followers?
Shame on us.
1 comment:
Hey Sara, this is Janice. I loved everything you had to say. I have been feeling disloyal somehow for being a Christian who could not be for the Palin crowd. Hearing you articulate your thoughts has really helped me be at peace with that. I think some of it is the hypocrisy of 'Pro-life' used as a political tool that really gets to me. People are not too pro-life to advocate bombing every country we dont agree with (forget the human casualities that involve). They never want to talk about the case of helping the millions of kids that are already here because their mothers made the 'right' choice. Instead welfare is demonised like crazy.
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