\nWhat can break the deadlock between choice vs. life?\n<\/p>\n
\n\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nReflective Christians can offer something better.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nWhat is an authentic Democratic Christian message on
\nabortion?\n<\/p>\n
\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nThe \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nBut \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nLet \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nSimply \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nThat\u2019s the soundbite.\u00a0 \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nThe \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nThis \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nDiscussions \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nThe \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nTo follow \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nViolence \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nKilling \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nWar \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nSuicide \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nThe death \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nAnd, \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nBut \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nOur \n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n The 90\u2019s saw a marked What can break the deadlock between choice vs. life? \u00a0 Reflective Christians can offer something better.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c18-reader-blogs"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nlanguage of choice vs. life, as we know from experience, is a losing
\nproposition for those of us who understand the need to protect the freedoms of
\nRoe vs. Wade.\u00a0 <\/span>It is a losing proposition
\nbecause it pits the seemingly self-absorbed concern with freedom of choice
\nagainst the moral weight of the protection of life.\u00a0 <\/span>It makes defenders of legal abortion appear morally frivolous.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nfor those candidates who wish to speak the language of faith, like the sincere
\nif unreflective Catholicism of John Kerry, there must be a clear, easily
\ndigestible message to offer the country about the issue which, unfortunately,
\nmoves most people of simple faith in their political decisions.\u00a0 <\/span>Kerry choked when asked about abortion in
\nthe debates.\u00a0 <\/span>This must not happen
\nagain.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nme cut to the chase- here is language that I think may be helpful in validating
\npeople\u2019s gut feeling that abortion is the taking of a life, while holding up
\nthe grave responsibility to make good laws which do not make the situation
\nworse.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nput, \u201cI believe that abortion is a sin, but that a sin is different from a
\ncrime.\u201d<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/span>The supporting ideas are that the law of God and the law of society are
\ntwo different things, and that both are important, but they cannot do each
\nother\u2019s job.\n<\/p>\n
\nwrongness of abortion is an issue that needs to be addressed with good
\npreaching, not with government.\u00a0 <\/span>We know
\nfrom experience that it does the country no good if we attempt to control it
\nthrough legal prohibition.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nsimple theological insight supports the main policy emphasis of most Democratic
\nleaders today- that the best way for government to address the tragedy of
\nabortion is to work to create a society in which the desperate realities that
\ntempt people to choose abortion are reduced in severity.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nabout whether a fetus constitutes a life lead us into the wrong territory.\u00a0 <\/span>While I like to say that I won\u2019t call
\nsomething a human life until I can baptize him or her, I do think that to deny
\nthat a fetus is still a potential life rings with a not e of dishonesty among
\nmost people.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nbible is silent on the practice of abortion.\u00a0
\n<\/span>I found my own pro-choice position moderated, however, when I learned
\nthat one of the distinctive points of the early church\u2019s radical value of
\nnonviolence was that Christians did not practice abortion, as was common in the
\nGreco-Roman world.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nthe non-violence of Jesus, I think we need to be clear in our confession:<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nis always a sin.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nis always a sin.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nis always a sin.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nis always a sin.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\npenalty is always a sin<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nAbortion is always a sin.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nJesus died for sinners, and the purpose of our civil law is not to get us right
\nwith God.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\ncivil law permits choices between greater and lesser evils, and respects our
\nright to privacy in our moral decision-making.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Killing in self-defense is seen as justified.\u00a0 <\/span>We have fought at least one just war.\u00a0 <\/span>We are experimenting with getting the state out of people\u2019s
\ndecision to die with dignity.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\ndrop in the frequency of people resorting to abortion.\u00a0 <\/span>I think that it might be fair to say that
\ntwo cultural factors were responsible for this.\u00a0 <\/span>One is that a lot of Christians were getting the message out that
\nthis was wrong.\u00a0 <\/span>I believe they were
\ndoing this in the wrong way, but it did have it\u2019s effect.\u00a0 <\/span>The other factor in reducing abortion,
\nhowever, was the Clinton presidency, with economic policies that were kinder to
\nthe poor.\u00a0 <\/span>Clinton fostered a culture
\nthat cared for life beyond delivery, a culture to which I hope we will soon
\nreturn and surpass.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"