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| Thursday, October 16, 2008 |
| Abortion: a political football |
Well, we had the last presidential debate last night. I was a little more discouraged about either candidates willingness to give specific answers to many of the questions. It reminds me that I agree with Jim Wallis who says that "the right gets it wrong and the left just doesn't get it".
One topic that came up that I think needs to be talked more about is the topic of abortion and life. Unfortunately we have heard the same things from both sides that we have already heard before. I am pro-life, in all facets, yet I believe that both the right and the left have used this subject as a political football to score points and attack the other side. When are we going to find common ground to sit and talk about what it means for this country to respect life in all situations? When are we going to see that pro-life also means anti-war, pro social justice, caring for the poor, equality among classes and races? When are we going to stop the debate strictly on ideological grounds and begin taking a look at what actually drives young women to have abortions? When are we going to have leadership that takes a fresh look at this issue?
I have to say that Sen. Obama showed some flashes of leaning toward a real look at this issue, but in the end he fell back to the mainstream Dem. platform; for political purposes I am sure. John McCain, a professed anti-abortionist, used language that attacked and separated rather than begin a real national conversation.
So, what do you think? Were any of you encouraged about the candidates treatment of this issue? What do you think of this issue? What should our response be as Christians? How can we the church set asied the old and tired political conversation around the idea of abortion and truly live out a pro-life stance in this world?Labels: abortion, presidential politics, pro-life |
posted by Unknown @ 11:31 AM   |
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| 2 Comments: |
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This is a tricky subject because when it comes to politics, it is nearly always a catch 22 with the person you have the choice to support. I, like yourself am pro-life in every way possible, I am against war, I believe strongly that we as the church have been directly called to be peace-makers and to care for the poor and those in need and I am strongly against abortion. I also oppose the death penalty. I have major moral issues with both Barack and John on these issues which has now pushed me to look at 3rd party candidates and candidates who aren't on the ballad, to write in. Many people look at my view as a wasted vote but I beg to differ. I think that if I don't vote my conscience, it would be a wasted vote. You are totally right though, there needs to be discourse about the topic of life to make any improvements, we need a culture that values all life. The biggest way for this to happen is through Citizen Democracy, go out and do something! We need to not only politically support a culture of life, we need to be a living example of a culture of life. We need to love out loud, reach out to a pregnant teen, love her and show her that the life growing inside of her is a miracle and if she can't take care of the child someone else will. Lets show people how to love our enemies and that we as Christians are willing to do that even though it seems crazy to the world. Lets reach out and feed the hungry, pay a mortgage of a family that just lost their income, make someone's Christmas special. There are so many ways that we can promote a culture of not only life, but abundant life.
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Good word Matt. You are right, it is only through the church living out the abundant life given through Christ that we can change the culture around us to be a culture of "life". The Jesus way is always more action filled and ground level.
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This is a tricky subject because when it comes to politics, it is nearly always a catch 22 with the person you have the choice to support. I, like yourself am pro-life in every way possible, I am against war, I believe strongly that we as the church have been directly called to be peace-makers and to care for the poor and those in need and I am strongly against abortion. I also oppose the death penalty. I have major moral issues with both Barack and John on these issues which has now pushed me to look at 3rd party candidates and candidates who aren't on the ballad, to write in. Many people look at my view as a wasted vote but I beg to differ. I think that if I don't vote my conscience, it would be a wasted vote. You are totally right though, there needs to be discourse about the topic of life to make any improvements, we need a culture that values all life. The biggest way for this to happen is through Citizen Democracy, go out and do something! We need to not only politically support a culture of life, we need to be a living example of a culture of life. We need to love out loud, reach out to a pregnant teen, love her and show her that the life growing inside of her is a miracle and if she can't take care of the child someone else will. Lets show people how to love our enemies and that we as Christians are willing to do that even though it seems crazy to the world. Lets reach out and feed the hungry, pay a mortgage of a family that just lost their income, make someone's Christmas special. There are so many ways that we can promote a culture of not only life, but abundant life.