All the talk now is about Donald Trump’s sleaziness and bad character. Those things matter, but let’s remember that voting Democratic is not primarily about voting for the nicer person, it’s about voting for what direction this country needs to take. If Trump were suddenly transformed into a genuinely decent and honest guy, but without changing his core political and economic beliefs, then I still would vote Democratic.
As I explained in my inaugural diary, I am going to vote Democratic this year, for the first time ever, because of what my Christian faith tells me about the rich and the poor. I still believe that the Republican emphasis on freedom and individual responsibility is a good thing. But Republicans—and my fellow Evangelical Christians who support them—either fail to realize, or knowingly take advantage of, the truth that the very rich do in fact have a hugely unfair advantage over the middle and lower classes. If they were allowed to, today’s Republicans would cut even more taxes on the rich, and then do away with Social Security, Medicare, unemployment compensation, and all other forms of government “charity” in order to balance the federal budget. Most of that they could never do, of course, but notice how every Republican candidate swore that he or she would do away with Obamacare? I think that was what finally tipped the balance for me. I did not want Obamacare to be repealed. And neither do a lot of other Evangelical Christians. I’ll let you in on a secret: there are more than a few Bible-believing Christians who are strong advocates of social justice. You might want to check out the web site of Sojourners, just by way of introduction. There are even students at fundamentalist Liberty University (where Bernie Sanders delivered that speech) who vote Democratic. They seriously follow the principle of “love your neighbor as yourself” that Jesus taught as being second only to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and might.”
But there was one nagging little detail that I struggled with before changing my vote. Well, there were many, actually, but they all seemed to fit under the general heading of “social values.” My personal values align with Christian morality; I do not think that morals are an outdated holdover from a primitive age. So how could I possibly support a “godless” Democratic party that not only wants to “impose immorality” on all Americans, but, worst of all, wants to murder babies?? (That was the Big One.)
All snark aside, how could I come down in favor of Roe v. Wade when for so many Christians abortion is the one single issue which is absolutely non-negotiable? (If you have a conservative Christian friend, you know what I mean.)
Well, here’s how it worked out. (I will deal with “everything else” first, and abortion last.)
I am a strong believer in freedom of conscience, because it is Christian in its roots. No, I don’t mean that only Christians ever thought of it, but in Western history it was Christian groups—particularly unpopular Christian groups, like the Anabaptists—who started to push society away from state-established churches and paved the way for everybody to worship according to the dictates of their own conscience. It didn’t happen overnight, and a lot of history happened between the beginnings of the fight for the right to worship God according to your own conscience, and the right not to worship God at all if your conscience did not impel you to. But if I believe that following Christ is a free choice that I make because I choose to, then I must allow others the same freedom that I enjoy. Christianity is for those individuals who believe in their heart that Jesus is the way, not for those who just happen to have been born in a “Christian” country. Therefore, regardless of my convictions regarding my own personal conduct, I cannot in good conscience impose those convictions on others who are not personally convinced. I also must play fair: if I believe that Christian students should have the right to carry their Bible to school (I do) and form voluntary clubs with other Christians at school (I do), then I have to allow even Satanists to have their own clubs at school if they want to. I don’t have to like it (I don’t), but I do have to allow it.
Bottom line: freedom of choice is a profoundly important Christian idea. I don’t have to agree with another person’s moral choices. But I have no right to disrespect a person who makes different choices than I do.
But does freedom of choice include the freedom to murder another human being? Of course not! I am free to make my own choices only so long as I do no harm to another person. So the question is, is abortion murder? Is a fetus a person?
Answer: I don’t know. And the reason I don’t know is that Christian thinkers (and ordinary Christians, too) throughout history have been all over the landscape on that question. There are good arguments on both sides. Certainly there seems to be a compelling “rightness” to the idea that a living body with a beating heart is a person. To dismiss it as “just a mass of tissue” feels coldhearted and wrong. But then it occurred to me that a brain-dead accident victim is fully alive. . .except that the spirit has departed the body. A body without a spirit is not a living person. Disconnecting life support is not murder. That leads immediately to the question of when does the spirit enter the body of the fetus? Some say at the moment of conception, but others say not until birth. It may not be perfect theology, but it is a popular idea that at the moment a baby is born, an angel comes down from heaven and enters into the new person. That’s bad theology because angels and humans are two different things; angels don’t turn into babies when they are born, and people don’t turn into angels when they die. But the idea that a baby becomes fully human at the moment of birth is an idea with a long Christian history.
But is it correct? Again, I don’t know. Maybe if I didn’t spend so much time thinking I would be more certain one way or the other, but I can’t help myself. I like to think, even when the results are uncomfortable. And I can’t very well demand that others agree with me if I can’t make up my own mind. So I will let others make their choice and then let God sort it out. That’s why I can be both a Christian and pro-choice.
And vote Democratic.