Here is a letter from a thoughtful Obama voter who is a faithful Christian. To be fair to my writer (whom I like a great deal!), will post it unedited and without comment today. The writer agreed to my posting this letter. (I do not post private emails.) It is by far the most thoughtful Evangelical for Obama letter I have received.
Obviously I don’t agree with much of the content, but it is important to hear what people who disagree with me are actually saying!
Tomorrow, I will comment on this post in Part III of the series that began here.
Here is the letter from an Evangelical Obama Voter:
In your recent post to a friend who asked for a summary of your thoughts on the election, you said: “If you are a traditional Christian who cares about culture of life issues, then you are going to end up voting for John McCain. You don’t have to like it, but you will have to do it.”
I fear that this statement isn’t accurate or fair. I spend most of my time in our beloved Christian “subculture”, so I’m familiar with the typical arguments about whether or not a Christian can in good conscience vote for a Democratic candidate, especially in the case of the abortion problem. And I must admit, of all political issues, this is the one that keeps me up at night! The cause of life should always be at the forefront of any Christian’s political action. However, I feel that all too often, the Church has allowed political leaders to turn it into a wedge issue, its sole purpose to keep rich men in power, and in doing so, we’ve also allowed the definition of the pro-life movement to shrink beyond biblical teachings. That seems to me to be a very dangerous thing to do.
For example, your statement about Senator McCain and the Christian’s duty to culture of life issues sounds very good at first. However, as I deconstruct it a bit, I realize that it makes a value claim that is too great for its own truth. There’s a book out right now that’s very popular called Raising Kids God’s Way.
It seems a benign title at first, until you realize that it implies that any methods not presented by the author in the pages of that one small volume aren’t only in disagreement with the author’s experience, perspective, and opinion on child-rearing, but they are also opposed to the will of God. With one simple title, the book claims an inordinate level of exclusive truth for its teachings.
In much the same way, I think your statement about the Christian’s duty in this election does that. Because I know you, I know that you make that statement having thought through all the various ways in which the cause of life may be advanced and having decided that a vote for McCain is the most effective means of advancing that cause.
However, what your statement literally says is ‚ “If you don’t agree with my idea of what kind of political action (i.e. the appointment of Supreme Court justices) will work to advance the cause of life, than you’re not a traditional Christian and you’re not truly concerned with the cause of life.”
That’s unsettling to me.
And that plays right into the hands of those who would use abortion as a wedge issue but would never dream of acting on it. Because I know you, I know this isn’t your attitude or your intent‚ but you are a rare person in that regard. This attitude is killing the Church, both in terms of our own unity and in terms of our appearance to secular society.
You asked me to make a case for why you should be a Democrat for Life.
That’s a tall order! I’d much rather refer to Jim Wallis’ book God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get
It, which lays out a great argument for Christians acting though but not shackling themselves to political parties, since both at their heart are
about seeking power, which is not exactly a biblical virtue.But I will make my case, briefly. Whenever I’m asked how I can be pro-life and be a Democrat, my answer always seems to surprise people. It’s because neither party is pro-life enough for me. I hate abortion, and I hate the death penalty. I hate the situations that make people think abortion is the only option they have. I hate that poverty, which is mentioned far more in the Bible than most issues that Christian march to the polls for, is ignored in the Church. Neither party is fully committed to the cause of life, so I have to pick and choose, as we all do, come election day.
This election is particularly difficult in that sense. While Senator Obama is rabidly pro-choice, he’s already been forced to backpedal on his stance for the general election (as all candidates must and do, much to supporters chagrin). While Senator McCain is more likely to back Supreme Court nominees who might vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, there are several problems with that. First, it’s really anyone’s guess if that would actually happen. Far more than once, justices haven’t proven to be quite as predictable as a nominating president might hope. Second, it looks like, barring a major shift between now and November, Senator McCain would face an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress, which would make nominating yet another ultra-conservative, in the wake of Roberts and Alito, very difficult at best.
Third, and perhaps most important, what does this barrage of single-minded justices do to our third branch of government? The Court was designed to be a battleground for opposing political ideology. If we pack the Court for one issue that may or may not get heard, and then may or may not go our way, what have we gained?
Could we see the persistence of decisions that perpetuate an inequitable society which increases the number of abortions? Could we see less
hesitancy toward capital punishment at the federal and state levels?Aren’t these things that damage the cause of life?
I understand this is an unpopular argument to make with the conservative Christian community, and that’s fine. However, until we loosen our bonds to strict political ideology and think in a much more complex manner and act accordingly in the public sphere, we are always going to lose.
When the Church is the champion of those who most desperately need her, from the unborn to the wrongfully accused on death row, to the Afghani
bride at her bombed out wedding, to the mother who fears she cannot feed one more mouth, then the cause of life will advance. Until then, if we
keep our politics too small for the cause of life, we will be guilty of squelching it.If you are interested in widening the fight for life, a great place to start, is the Democrats for Life ([http://www.democratsforlife.org]www.democratsforlife.org).
They face persecution from Republicans and Democrats (for obvious reasons), but they march on. Take a look at the 95-10 initiative they advocate, and if you feel led, help them out a little. They’re running campaigns for pro-life Democrats in the next congressional election, which takes quite a bit of money to fight two smear campaigns, and with Senator Obama’s odd but wonderful open convention, they have great opportunity to make their voice heard in Denver in a month or so.
But regardless of what action we take, we must remember, on both political sides, it is Christ’s teaching that must guide us, not a compromised
political platform. We can argue healthily and should about whether capital punishment or poverty are life culture issues, but we cannot alienate each other because we’ve decided on political action and call it a religious issue. The Religious Right is dying. We are watching the end of the Right’s manipulation of the evangelical church, and it is the dawn of a new era for Christian involvement in politics. Let’s not fall into the same patterns as before.