single issue voting…

From an Angel’s PoV

This morning at church our senior pastor encouraged every one present to register for the upcoming elections, so that every body would vote. Voting is important!

“As to who to vote for, he said, just look at what the candidates believe, and compare that to your Bible, and you have the answer.” Taking it a step further, he then said: “There’s one candidate who believes in abortion, the other knows that abortion is wrong, which is what my Bible says. There you have it, now you know who to vote for. You cannot vote for the other man.” He then moved on to other things.

Even though I know that many Christians think & vote this way, I was shocked at the speed and boldness by which the entire congregation’s vote was being ‘arranged’ (I suppose the vast majority here at church has already decided to vote this way.)

The Bible, namely the 10 commandments forbids us to commit murder, which is what happens to unborn human beings in abortion clinics. It’s totally wrong indeed; it’s outrageously wrong, and in my view brings a curse on every one involved, which is really the whole nation, because abortion has been made legal here in the USA.

While I have very strong feelings on the subject, and count myself a passionate pro-lifer (pro choose life), I don’t think that the Bible can be treated as a political textbook. 

I apply the Bible to my own life (the 10 commandments as well as the 2 laws given us by Jesus- love your God with all… & love your neighbor as yourself), but in public life and in the choices made by government, many of the 10 commandments are broken regularly and the 2 commandments by Jesus are not even in sight. 

Politics if full of compromise, littered with bad choices, packed with contradictions, and always far, FAR from perfect. Holding up the 10 commandments to government, each successive government stand guilty. All of them have broken the law (of Moses) multiple times. 

George Bush decided to invade a country on the other side of the world, where he had no right to enter. This country posed no threat to the USA; Bush had no business there, other then for selfish reasons. In the process (of the invasion) thousands of innocent Iraqis were killed. The country was plunged into chaos. Naively Bush declared the war over, when it was really only just beginning. In the years following tens of thousands more innocent Iraqis lost their lives, and millions of people fled their home country, simply to avoid being killed. 

Talking about killing… (unborn babies, or innocent people, what’s the difference?)

Coming back to the painful subject of abortion, I would ask what George Bush has done in his 8 years as president to limit the numbers, and decrease the need. It often seems that the people who make the most noise (against abortion), do the least about it. All very well, to make proclamations (against abortion), but who is actually doing something to bring the numbers down?

So the way that the Christian Republicans (are they the same group?) absolve their conscience (from their lack of action) is to put the issue above all the other issues that are at play in elections, and simply vote for the one candidate who has declared to be against. Never mind what other very important issues are in the mix… 

Never mind the fact that so very little is actually done once the elections are over…

This way of voting seems rather irresponsible to me. Voting is serious business. Each vote is a voice that can determine the country’s direction for the next so many years.

Eight years ago, many Christians voted in this particular (single issue) manner, and put George Bush in power, who, soon after, took the country into this disastrous war (Iraq). He presided over many government scandals, and a culture of secrecy, deceit, abuse of power, and torture.

Meanwhile, what did George Bush do to bring down the number of abortions?  (Bill Clinton probably did more on that issue in his 8 years in power then did Bush.) 

The Christian Right talks about getting more of ‘their’ judges into the Supreme Court and once the pro-lifers there are in the majority Roe versus Wade will be undone. Question here is, what would take place next were this to happen? The answer is: the law making on abortion matters would go back to the 50 states. Each state will then be writing their own abortion laws.

Chances are that most states would adopt laws similar to Roe versus Wade, and a minority of states would not. Pro Lifers will probably argue that we just keep fighting until the day abortion is no longer legal in the USA, when ever that  may be. Don’t you get the feeling that THAT day will not come in a hundred years. And even if it came, would that be the end of abortion? It would go underground, wouldn’t it, and pregnant woman would get make-shift abortions in illegal ‘garage clinics’. Women would travel in large numbers to countries where abortion still IS legal.

Please don’t get me wrong here, I am deeply abhorred by the reality of abortions taking place; it is an abomination. Killing human life is wrong! But then allowing millions of people (children and adults around the world) to be dying simply of malnutrition and lack of basic medical care is an EQUAL ABOMINATION. Yet, we close our eyes to that situation with great ease. But I digress.

If we take a little longer (then pastor took this morning) to study our options (of how to best eliminate abortions), we would have to think of more affective ways of combatting this ongoing tragedy (killing unborn human beings). 

1. 

For starters we want to engage in an on-going study of the present culture, to understand people’s thinking better; to get a better understanding of why people are able to brush the killing of human life aside as something that’s OK. How come they don’t see that IT IS NOT!!! 

This subject needs constant attention, and the deep emotional & spiritual damage that an abortion causes in & to the mother (to be) must be documented and brought to the public’s attention!  

What is the church doing about that? Not much, it seems…

2.

We also need to develop ongoing action to diminish the ‘need’ (of abortions). This is a huge issue, mostly to do with bringing down the number of teenage pregnancies. Just telling teenagers that she shouldn’t have ‘intimate relations’ doesn’t seem to produce much result. Statistics show that only a multi sided approach (including making contraceptives available to young people) is affective. It seems that especially the church (at large) has been unwilling to participate in this multi sided approach. Yet, if we are serious about confronting this issue and bringing the level of abortion down, we  (the church at large) must be willing to work together with secular agencies, and get practical!!!!

It is so much easier to just keep on shouting about this issue, and taking a hard-line approach, which alienates every one else from ‘us’, and ‘us’ from ‘them’. As a last resort ‘we’ then declare that one day soon there will  be enough of ‘our’ judges (in the Supreme Court) to abolish the law as it stand today.

In my view this is a cop-out and a delusion. The abortion law has been in place for so long now, that the only  way ‘out’ is the way ‘forward’, not ‘back’. How do we move forward on this issue? By going to work on it, and not by making it the single issue way to vote. Single issue voting for me, is part of the cop-out. Do you really think that ‘politics’ will make this (abortion) issue an problem of the past? Of course not! Politics can only follow the culture; it’s up to us to change the culture. Once that is done politics will fall in line with appropriate laws & measures. 

3.

So, thirdly, we want to influence the culture and encourage mothers-to-be to go for the ful term, and to give their (unwanted) babies up for adoption. This issue deserves much attention & publicity. We want to find life stories of people who have done this, and bring those stories to the public’s attention. Not just once or twice, but continuously. I see a quality Hollywood block buster on this subject!

The question arises again: what is the church doing about this???? 

When I think of voting, many issues are in the balance of my thinking. All about what I believe the country needs the most, what to expect of candidates (what they will actually do once in power). We all understand that politics never guarantees anything (other then the usual struggles & scandals), and that by casting your vote, you participate in this ongoing power struggle hoping to influence the process in a certain direction. 

If, by voting for a anti abortion candidate we give the green light to policies that (in time) produce mass killings and mass displacement of people, policies that have the rich grow even richer while to poor get poorer still, while at the same time no realistic change takes place to the abortion situation, then our vote was morally a dubious vote (to say the least)!

Massive action needs to be taken on the abortion issue, at grass-root level, by every church that counts itself a Kingdom church. Meanwhile, all pro-life people, like every body else, should study the full array of issues that are in the mix at an election. Single issue voting is dangerous business. And to make the rather simple assumption that the anti-abortion candidate will take effective action to resolve the abortion issue is like putting your head in the sand.  

It is up to all of us to do something about the protection of unborn children. It’s such a big & important issue; it needs attention on an ongoing basis!  If we’re serious! So, how about a ‘Act Psalm 139′ department in every church?! This Scripture is SO totally BEAUTIFUL & POWERFUL:

Psalm 139: 7-16 (TNIV)

 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? 
       Where can I flee from your presence?

    8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; 
       if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

    9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, 
       if I settle on the far side of the sea,

    10 even there your hand will guide me, 
       your right hand will hold me fast.

    11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me 
       and the light become night around me,”

    12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; 
       the night will shine like the day, 
       for darkness is as light to you.

    13 For you created my inmost being; 
       you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

    14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 
       your works are wonderful, 
       I know that full well.

    15 My frame was not hidden from you 
       when I was made in the secret place. 
       When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

    16 your eyes saw my unformed body. 
       All the days ordained for me 
       were written in your book before one of them came to be.

On a personal note, I want to include this very serious issue in my work as a communicator (story-teller/ film maker), and also financially support work that’s already being done on these lines. Your comments please!

Tags: abortion, elections, voting