Bryce and Emily’s contribution to this blog has certainly been a lot more frequent than my own over the past few months. And the sad thing is I don’t have nearly the amount of excuses that they have. They have a pretty full plate for sure. So while we bid goodbye to the Hambletons, I’d certainly like to commit to posting more regularly.
Now, I know that the election is over, but I simply cannot close this can of worms yet. The principle is just to serious. And it’s quite sad how it does not seem to carry the weightiness that it ought with many Christians nowadays. This post is not just going to be another rant, however (it is going to be that, but not that only). I’m calling for some serious introspection from those who voted for Obama and from those who have serious problems with single-issue voting, especially when it comes to abortion. Will you try to honestly ask yourself this question?
Here’s the question(s): If Obama had been an outspoken racist, if his agenda was the exact same as it is in reality, except that he did not think that white people deserved the status and rights of personhood, and one of his goals was to fight to strip them of that status in order to justify racist legislations…would you have voted for him?
You see, we all become single issue voters once a certain line is crossed, and all of our lines are different. Those whose lines are not crossed find it easy to look down upon those whose lines are crossed as “one issue voters,” as people who don’t see the big picture.
I would hope that all of you would answer a resounding “no” to that question, and thankfully, Obama is probably the farthest thing from a racist (at least when it comes to skin color) there is.
Here’s another question that I would appreciate just as much honesty in answering: Why is the racism line drawn so much farther away from the abortion line? In other words, whats the difference? Both principles involve the de-personalizing of a people group that interferes with our tightly held ideologies. They both stem from the same root. It’s sad to say, but we’ve gotten used to abortion, the principle of it. Slavery has been illegal for a long time, segregation is a thing of the past, and so it’s easy to be so horrified at something so obviously horrifying. But where’s the horror when it comes to abortion? Shouldn’t these lines be drawn in the same place?
Dorian
Dorian,
I had never thought of the notion of the “single issue voter” in quite those terms. You bring up a very good point that everybody is a single issue voter when certain lines are crossed. The next question Christians need to ask is if a candidates stance on abortion is a crossing of the line.
I have a couple questions.
Is there a situation when abortion is ok?
If one candidate’s goals are a good idea but they believe abortion should be legal while the other candidate’s goals are not a good idea but they believe abortion should be illigal, which is the better choice? Is there a better choice?
I am curious of your answers.
Bryce: Yeah, that’s the question. More specifically, whats the difference between racism and abortion that causes the lines to be drawn in different places? Especially from a christian point of view?
Anony:
I’m not sure how your first question is related to this post. But, yes, of course there are situations when abortions are “ok.” If the mother’s life is in certain danger, such as in a fallopian (sp?) pregnancy, of course the necessary thing to do is to sacrifice one life instead of two. Although I would hardly call that “ok.”
2nd question: As I suggested in my post, it all depends on where you draw the line. How do you view abortion? What is it to you? Is it murder or a policy issue? In your mind, how does stripping a people group of their status and rights as persons in order to make way for your ideologies and justify killing them en masse affect ones eligibility for public office?
i have a question for dorian. what would you do if Democrats were pro-life and the Republicans were pro-choice? But, the democrats were still more “socalist” leaning policies, meaning they supported universal health care, big government and social programs. What if the republicans were pro-choice/pro-abortion but believed in smaller government and privatized social policies.
Would you still support republicans or would you vote democrat?
First off, I find it amusing, if not telling, that no one has bothered to actually interact with the material and the questions I put forth in this post. Didn’t I ask first? Are people just dodging my questions by bringing their own? Oh well.
Second off, I’m not a republican.
Third off, the real question Anony II is posing is this: How many “what if’s” could I pose before you would vote for a pro-abortion party or candidate? It’s a pretty loaded question. And a pretty fair one, I have to add, since my original post was dealing with the same subject, namely, where do we draw the line. Which brings us back to square 1.
Anony II: I’m not going to answer your question straight forward. Basically anybody’s answer, including mine and yours, depends on this: what is abortion? Suppose we lived in Germany during the time of the Holocaust. How much would we let the fact that a political party was bent on destroying a people group because they had given themselves the power to give or take away “person-hood” influence our support or opposition of that party? Is abortion not as bad as the Holocaust, or slavery? Statistically speaking, its worse, far worse, than both the Holocaust and slavery combined. Principally, they are the same. How long will it be until people stop looking at abortion in terms of partisan politics, and start being horrified, and weeping on behalf of the slaughtered unborn children?
I suppose, to be fair, I would have to say I would vote democrat. Because stopping the slaughter, saving the lives of the most vulnerable, and most oppressed people group in our community means more to me than any of those policies.
thank you for responding dorian. I was hoping you weren’t a political partisan Christian who cared more about partisanship than morality and i am glad you aren’t one of those Christians. A partisan Christian would probably respond “well, that would never happen because a true Republican would never support abortion rights.” You are a man of your word and for that I am thankful. Peace be with you.
i like what Glenn Beck says about such issues (and I’m paraphrasing) “It’s not an issue of it being right or left, it’s an issue of what is morally right!”
I really enjoyed reading your article, keep on making such interesting posts.