How Would Jesus Vote??

OK, I just wanted to catch your attention with the title. I have received so many letters and notes and forwards about this upcoming election that I am looking forward to Wednesday when it is all over. But like you, I have been thinking about the election for over a year and a half now and I am curious as to what is going it happen. Will we have our first African American President? Will we have our first female Vice President? It is very interesting and has made for high drama.

All that being said, I am pretty disappointed so far in the response from the church so I thought I would jump in on a couple of things. I am not endorsing any candidate; I just want to talk about some positions that I have heard that I think are distractions for making a good decision. For example, let’s talk about abortion, one of the most divisive issues in our times.

I ask the question which seems for many to be a foundational one. What does it mean to be pro-life? Specifically, what does it mean to be against abortion? I think that most of you would say, especially after seeing the Jardine triplets do so well after only 26 weeks in the womb, that life begins before birth, that it is before 40 weeks of gestation. With that knowledge, I think that most reasonable people Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and non religious people would say that it would be better to not have abortions than it is to have them. Most, if not all, people would say that reducing or even stopping all abortions would be a good thing for society.

It has been the position of many of my Christian brothers and sisters to accomplish this through pushing for the illegalization of abortions. There is a referendum in South Dakota that if passed will make abortion illegal except in the case of rape, incest or if the mother’s life is in jeopardy. This strategy has been the focus of the Catholic Church, the Religious Right and many others. Their position is that if you make abortion illegal you will stop abortions from happening.

My question is this. What is more important? Making abortion illegal or stopping abortions? If you had to choose what would you choose: reduce abortions by 50% over the next four years or make abortion illegal in this country and not reduce abortions at all? Or more realistically, what if you had the choice between making abortion illegal and reducing it by 5 % or not affecting the legal status of abortion and reducing abortions by 50%. For me that is the question that I ask myself. What policies are likely to reduce abortions?

Here are some interesting facts. Four out of ten pregnancies are unplanned; two out of ten pregnancies result in abortion. What is interesting is that the legality or illegality of abortion does not effect the abortion rates. In places like Central America, where there are strict restrictions regarding abortions abortion rates are higher than in countries where it is legal. What is a factor in abortion rates are access to healthcare, birth control and education. The countries with the highest abortion rates are the poorest and ones with the lowest have the highest per capita income. See Study

In a different study women in the US cited why they were having an abortion and cited economics as being a factor in their decision making. “There were a number of responses women gave to the question as to what was "the most important reason" they had their abortions: they were "not ready for a(nother) child/timing is wrong," cited by 25%; they "can't afford a baby now," cited by 23%; feelings that they had "completed my childbearing/have other people depending on me/children are grown," cited by 19%; and "having relationship problems/don't want to be a single mother" was cited by 8%.” see study

I say all this because I am interested in knowing if we are serious about stopping abortion instead of making it illegal. Why are we so stuck on making it legal or illegal and not focused on unwanted pregnancies? When we push to make it legal and illegal, when we fund and lobby and try to influence the government to stop moral issues, we hand over our responsibility to the government. What if, instead of focusing on the legality or illegality, we focused on seeing what we could do to lower abortion rates in the world over the next four years? What if those in the church who are passionate about this issue decided they would no longer spend a dime or any of their time and energy on making abortion illegal and spent all of their time on lowering abortion rates?

It seems to me that we have heard from the religious right that the only issues that we should care about are making abortion illegal, stopping gay and lesbians from marrying each other and getting the ten commandments posted on the wall’s of courthouses? Then I ask the question: when and where did Jesus say that any of these issues mattered to Him? Cite me the passage where Jesus teaches about homosexual marriage? Cite me the passage where Jesus says anything about abortion. When we vote Tuesday, and I want all of us to vote, then I think we should vote based on our religious and moral beliefs. I just do not want anyone, including me, to limit your thinking. I do not want you to think that this is the Christian candidate because someone says that they are or because someone told you that is the main issue that Christians should care about. I don’t want anyone to accuse you of being pro abortion because you do not think making abortion illegal will accomplish much. I do not want you to think that you are watered down follower of Jesus because you do not feel it is your right to force your religious belief on people with the might of the United States Government as your enforcer.

Take out the Gospel of Luke this week and when an issue is mentioned, write it down. Write down the people that Jesus loved and cared about, write down the things that he did and spent his time doing. Then at the end of the Gospel, think which candidate best represents the values that Jesus held and taught.

Then Vote!!!

Pray for peace
Edwin