Editorial from Biola Student

This editorial was sent in an e-mail to me by a friend. The writer does a great job expressing some of the complexities of campaign issues for followers of Christ. I found it well done and hopeful.

By Student Author
October 28, 2008, 8:48 p.m.

I’m writing this article because I think the Christian Right needs to take
a long hard look at its policy agenda and make some changes.

Religion, morality, and politics are inherently intermingled and therefore
should not be separated. However, in order for Christians to be a witness
to the secular world, changes must occur in our political ideology and
group behaviors. It’s time for the Christian Right to end its exclusive
ties with the Republican Party. Republicans focus on personal morality
issues like gay marriage and abortion, but they often ignore the equally
important issues of social injustices and human rights.

Same-sex marriage is understandably a controversial issue. Christians are
correct in opposing same-sex marriages; however if we’re amending the
California Constitution to state “only marriage between a man and a
woman,” why not add “until death do them part” and outlaw divorce, too?
This would kill two birds with one stone. I am being facetious, but
honestly divorce is a larger problem in our society than gay marriage will
ever be. Our resources might be better spent enriching family life than
denying rights to gays, especially considering the Christian divorce rate
is virtually the same as the secular one.

The other moral issue, abortion, is an emotional issue because it
represents the negative implications of a fallen culture. Abortion is
morally wrong; however overturning Roe v. Wade would be problematic on a
logistical level. Studies show homosexuals are the leading group showing
interest in adoption, and there are currently not enough Christian
families willing to adopt the annual 1.2 million aborted babies. I’m sure
you can figure out why this is a problem.

Criminalization of abortion also creates a criminal law dilemma.
Illegalizing abortion would force district attorneys to prosecute
back-alley abortions as first-degree murder. Prosecuting scared teenage
girls with murder when their motivation was not malicious but driven by
fear, creates a messy legal predicament and hinders true justice.

Abortion-on-demand is wrong, and will be judged by God. Meanwhile,
Christians should focus their attention on de facto abortions rather than
de jure abortions, meaning we should increase sex education, promote
abstinence, and support crisis pregnancy centers and allow for the
proliferation of birth control use. These are the most effective ways of
deterring abortion.

Aside from these moral issues, the Christian right associates with the
political party which often opposes minimum wage increases, worker’s
unions, and wealth redistribution through entitlements. The Bible is clear
about how important the poor, disabled, widowed, and elderly are to God,
and how evil the love of money is. While there are Christians who do care
for the needy, there is a gap between how much non-government agents are
accomplishing and how much help is needed.

Republicans often advocate increased defense spending over entitlement
programs. This allocation pulls resources from our own single mothers,
widowers and orphans. And as for international aid, it takes away from the
resources needed to help the millions across the globe who live on under a
dollar a day. As Christians, we should advocate foreign aid being lent out
in the form of food and medical supplies, not weapons. The Republican
Party supports the war against radical Islamic fascism while ignoring
genocide, disease and human trafficking problems. The majority of our
society is unaware of the genocide in Rwanda and Darfur, or that Orange
County has an extremely large concentration of enslaved human trafficking
victims.

In summation I am calling for a reevaluation of the policymaking agenda
set by the Christian right. By reallocating our time, energy and money
into reforms that are biblical, efficient, and free of hypocrisy, the
Christian Right can better tackle societal ills and serve as a witness to
the world.