The evangelical wing of the Christian Church has been entrenched in Republican politics since the early 1970′s. In many churches, confessing the name of Christ, carries with it the assumption that you will be voting for the candidate with the “R” next his name.
Historically, missionary work and humanitarian aid have topped the socio-economic priority list of the Church. It wasn’t until the 1950′s that politics established a presence in American churches, brought on by Billy Graham’s message that America’s greatest weapon to defend against the threat of Communism was the Gospel. The unity of faith and patriotism set the stage the marriage that was to follow.
Two decades later, A common enemy made the Church and the Republican party unlikely bedfellows, namely, abortion. Church leaders Francis Schaeffer, James Dobson, and others saw the political platform as a powerful way to spread the pro-life message and hopefully, overturn Roe vs. Wade, while politicians recognized an opportunity to leverage a massive demographic, conservative Christians.
Today, the Church’s political agenda and the values of the Republican Party are mirror images. Social and moral issues rooted in Christian doctrine as a high on the Republican priority list as cutting taxes and small government. Visit a politically active church and you’re more likely to be invited to an anti-abortion rally than asked to volunteer at a soup kitchen.
To be fair, it’s easy to see why the abortion issue is important to the Church. The Judeo-Christian world view, together with a conservative reading of Scripture, make it plain that man was created in God’s image, life is sacred, and murder is a sin (Genesis 1:27; Exodus 20:13, 21:22-25; Psalm 11:3; Proverbs 24:11-12; Matthew 5:21-22; James 2:5-9). The Pslams offer a few subtle hints that a fetus may be a human being. Together, a cohesive doctrine emerges: to abort a fetus is to take the life of another human being, which is a sin.
Biblically speaking, however, the crux of the issue is not the age of the person being killed, but the fact that a human life is being taken. Given this, one would expect to see the Church flex as much political muscle protect the lives of children and adults as it does the unborn. Focusing a little political energy pushing Congress to enact legislation that offers socio-economic support, but, as we’ll see later, reduce the number of abortions by providing much needed economic assistance.
Unfortunately, the Bible’s compassion and humanitarianism don’t jive well with the Republican Party’s stance on small government and trickle down economics. Politically, it’s difficult to obey Scripture’s commands feed the poor and care for the needy while simultaneously cutting welfare benefits and battling affordable healthcare legislation (Matthew 19:21, 25:35; Luke 12:33, 14:13, 20:46-47; Galatians 2:10; James 1:27, 2:2-6). The internal conflict, coupled with decades of political rhetoric, have often caused the Church to ignore pressing social issues in favor of combating abortion.
Ironically, such a strategy may have done more harm than good.
The 2005 Abortion Surveillance Report, published by the Center for Disease Control, found that number of abortions per year has been decreasing steadily. Between 1990 and 2000 the abortion rate fell 18-21%, that’s 300,000 fewer abortions. Surprisingly, 1990′s saw little change in legal restrictions on abortion.
To account for the decline, Catholics in Alliance conducted a study entitled, Reducing Abortion in America: The Socioeconomic Factors. They reported that changes in welfare policy were the primary factors contributing to the decrease in the abortion rate. Increasing economic assistance to lower income families and higher male employment was found to lower the annual number of abortions by as much as 205,000, a 20% decrease.
The study also found that poverty contributed to the abortion rate. Lower poverty rates were found to account for an increase of as much as 10%. The rate of abortion among women living below the poverty line is four times that of wealthy women. A 17% increase has been observed as female unemployment has risen.
What does all this mean? It seems that providing economic assistance to the poor is the most effective way to reduce the abortion rate in America.
What does this say about the Church’s Republican voting record to reduce welfare and social services? Some justify the position by arguing that abortion is akin to murder and simply reducing the abortion rate isn’t good enough. They argue that it must be fought directly, with a view to overturning Roe vs. Wade.
Politically speaking, the Church needs to review its strategy. Thirty years of protests, punching ballots, and political endorsements, have done little to further the cause. Evidence suggests that the real enemy in the war on abortion may not be Roe vs. Wade, but poverty. Maybe it’s time to consider a new strategy and the socio-economic plans of a different political party.
There comes a time when you have to reconsider your goal. If the goal of the Church is purely political, there is no reason to change now. It can continue spinning its wheels on the abortion issue while helping conservative candidates win elections, but if it wants to save lives, it has some serious thinking to do. If the Church continues to make perfect the enemy of good, opting for the all or nothing approach, the church will continue to yield little fruit for all their effort. On the other hand, if the goal is to save lives, it’s time to consider a new strategy, one that may not change the law of the land, but one that has demonstrated it’s ability to save the lives of children, adults, and even the unborn.
Maybe the best way to support the pro-life movement, is to vote for the pro-choice candidate.