{"id":3529,"date":"2012-05-24T14:26:49","date_gmt":"2012-05-24T14:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/owenstrachan.com\/?p=3529"},"modified":"2012-05-24T14:26:49","modified_gmt":"2012-05-24T14:26:49","slug":"what-it-means-that-only-41-of-americans-are-pro-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/05\/what-it-means-that-only-41-of-americans-are-pro-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"What it Means That Only 41% of Americans Are “Pro-choice”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>This from Politico:<\/p>\n

The percentage of Americans who identify themselves as \u201cpro-choice\u201d is at the lowest point ever measured by\u00a0Gallup<\/a>, according to a new survey released Wednesday.<\/p>\n

A record-low 41 percent now identify themselves as \u201cpro-choice,\u201d down from 47 percent last July and 1 percentage point down from the previous record low of 42 percent, set in May 2009. As recently as 2006, 51 percent of Americans described themselves as \u201cpro-choice.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, 50 percent of Americans now consider themselves \u201cpro-life,<\/a>\u201d one point below Gallup\u2019s record high on the measure.<\/p>\n

Read the whole piece.<\/a><\/p>\n

This is just a poll. \u00a0Public opinion could and will shift in different directions in coming days. \u00a0Polls, furthermore, are inexact. \u00a0I don\u2019t ask polls to do a lot of heavy lifting in my intellectual life. \u00a0With that said, this is a surprising development, a significant one.<\/p>\n

This means that the \u201cculture war\u201d has not been for naught. \u00a0Granted, some have fought for the cause of life in less than ideal ways. \u00a0Championing a pro-life position from a God-and-country stance\u2013linking the kingdom of Christ with the nation of America\u2013is a mistake. \u00a0Some who have fought for the pro-life cause and other conservative (biblical!) social positions have made personal compromises and used the church as a platform. \u00a0With all these qualifications stated, though, the \u201cculture war\u201d is a worthy one to fight.<\/p>\n

The media, of course, loves this language of a war. \u00a0Conservatives are read as a crusading, domineering force; to contend for the rights of the unborn is to become some sort of vigilante, to shirk thoughtful, respectful dialogue and become a spittle-flecked warrior. \u00a0Again, some may deserve this reputation, but many do not. \u00a0Many Christians have fought for the unborn on staunchly biblical and intellectual grounds. \u00a0These people take a great deal of heat from the secular press. \u00a0But in reality they deserve a great deal of praise. \u00a0Their efforts have not been in vain.<\/p>\n

All the campus pro-life groups and silent protests and counseling at abortion clinics and legislative action and making of films like\u00a0Bella<\/em> and careful appointment of pro-life justices and, most importantly,\u00a0prayer<\/em>, has all been worth it. \u00a0This is not to say that abortion is now illegal. \u00a0It is not. \u00a0But it seems that gains are being made.<\/a><\/p>\n

This is a pretty strong counter to the rhetoric making its way around evangelicalism that politics don\u2019t really matter, that evangelicals should be neither blue nor red when it comes to social policy, that earthly causes aren\u2019t really worth fighting, that the pro-life cause is really about power and domination and winning the \u201cwar.\u201d \u00a0For most Christians, fighting abortion is not about power. \u00a0It is not about personally inaugurating Christ\u2019s kingdom. \u00a0It is about speaking up for the least of these in a profoundly Christocentric way. \u00a0Psalm 139 matters; the fight for righteousness mapped out in the Beatitudes matters (Matthew 5).<\/p>\n

I am glad to contend for the pro-life cause in a reasoned, rational way. \u00a0But I am not willing to lay down this fight because someone brands me a \u201cwarrior\u201d because of it. \u00a0God\u2019s glory is in this fight. \u00a0We may never win it, or we may. \u00a0But it is worth our time and effort. \u00a0If we abandoned abortion as a first-order issue to focus on other issues of less import, we would not be seeing the gains we are currently witnessing.<\/p>\n

So, young evangelicals: do not believe the \u201cfetus fatigue\u201d language. \u00a0Do not pass on an issue because it\u2019s controversial and people won\u2019t like you because of it. \u00a0Do not cease to contend for the unborn, whether through calm conversation in the lunchroom or advocacy in the nation\u2019s capitol. \u00a0Never make the mistake of thinking that this cause\u00a0is\u00a0the kingdom, or that the state is the church. \u00a0Don\u2019t make the further mistake of writing everyone off who came before you simply because the media branded them with the \u201cculture warrior\u201d tag.<\/p>\n

With a proper perspective of this issue, keep fighting and praying for the day when\u00a0Roe v. Wade<\/em> is struck from the books.<\/p>\n

(Image: AP)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This from Politico: The percentage of Americans who identify themselves as \u201cpro-choice\u201d is at the lowest point ever measured by\u00a0Gallup, according to a new survey released Wednesday. A record-low 41 percent now identify themselves as \u201cpro-choice,\u201d down from 47 percent last July and 1 percentage point down from the previous record low of 42 percent, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[13038,1340,13176,2386,13240,2978],"class_list":["post-3529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abortion","tag-abortion","tag-gallup-poll","tag-jesus-christ","tag-pro-choice","tag-pro-life","tag-unborn"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat it Means That Only 41% of Americans Are "Pro-choice"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This from Politico: The percentage of Americans who identify themselves as \u201cpro-choice\u201d is at the lowest point ever measured by\u00a0Gallup, according to a new\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/05\/what-it-means-that-only-41-of-americans-are-pro-choice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What it Means That Only 41% of Americans Are "Pro-choice"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This from Politico: The percentage of Americans who identify themselves as \u201cpro-choice\u201d is at the lowest point ever measured by\u00a0Gallup, according to a new\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/05\/what-it-means-that-only-41-of-americans-are-pro-choice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Thought Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-24T14:26:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/files\/2012\/05\/prolife.jpg?w=300\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Owen Strachan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Owen Strachan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/05\/what-it-means-that-only-41-of-americans-are-pro-choice\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/05\/what-it-means-that-only-41-of-americans-are-pro-choice\/\",\"name\":\"What it Means That Only 41% of Americans Are \\\"Pro-choice\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-05-24T14:26:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-05-24T14:26:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/75c661f536302cda0daa8b7615fd8e53\"},\"description\":\"This from Politico: The percentage of Americans who identify themselves as \u201cpro-choice\u201d is at the lowest point ever measured by\u00a0Gallup, according to a new\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/05\/what-it-means-that-only-41-of-americans-are-pro-choice\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/05\/what-it-means-that-only-41-of-americans-are-pro-choice\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/05\/what-it-means-that-only-41-of-americans-are-pro-choice\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What it Means That Only 41% of Americans Are “Pro-choice”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/\",\"name\":\"Thought Life\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/75c661f536302cda0daa8b7615fd8e53\",\"name\":\"Owen Strachan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2dbab262f37be4cfe0660ee979173e8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2dbab262f37be4cfe0660ee979173e8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Owen Strachan\"},\"sameAs\":[\"brandygrenier\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/author\/ostrachan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What it Means That Only 41% of Americans Are \"Pro-choice\"","description":"This from Politico: The percentage of Americans who identify themselves as \u201cpro-choice\u201d is at the lowest point ever measured by\u00a0Gallup, according to a new","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/05\/what-it-means-that-only-41-of-americans-are-pro-choice\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What it Means That Only 41% of Americans Are \"Pro-choice\"","og_description":"This from Politico: The percentage of Americans who identify themselves as \u201cpro-choice\u201d is at the lowest point ever measured by\u00a0Gallup, according to a new","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/05\/what-it-means-that-only-41-of-americans-are-pro-choice\/","og_site_name":"Thought Life","article_published_time":"2012-05-24T14:26:49+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/files\/2012\/05\/prolife.jpg?w=300"}],"author":"Owen Strachan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Owen Strachan","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/05\/what-it-means-that-only-41-of-americans-are-pro-choice\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/05\/what-it-means-that-only-41-of-americans-are-pro-choice\/","name":"What it Means That Only 41% of Americans Are \"Pro-choice\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-05-24T14:26:49+00:00","dateModified":"2012-05-24T14:26:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/75c661f536302cda0daa8b7615fd8e53"},"description":"This from Politico: The percentage of Americans who identify themselves as \u201cpro-choice\u201d is at the lowest point ever measured by\u00a0Gallup, according to a new","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/05\/what-it-means-that-only-41-of-americans-are-pro-choice\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/05\/what-it-means-that-only-41-of-americans-are-pro-choice\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/05\/what-it-means-that-only-41-of-americans-are-pro-choice\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What it Means That Only 41% of Americans Are “Pro-choice”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/","name":"Thought Life","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/75c661f536302cda0daa8b7615fd8e53","name":"Owen Strachan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2dbab262f37be4cfe0660ee979173e8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2dbab262f37be4cfe0660ee979173e8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Owen Strachan"},"sameAs":["brandygrenier"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/author\/ostrachan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3529\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}