Pro-Life and Pro-Democrat?
September 28th, 2006Princeton’s Robert George on why he cannot support a Democrat for office:
So, however much one might dislike Republican policies in other areas, it’s clear that the death toll under the Democrats would be so large as to make it unreasonable for Catholic citizens, or citizens of any faith who oppose the taking of innocent human life, to use their votes and influence to help bring the Democratic party into power.
I find no cause for joy in this. I wish that it were possible for pro-life citizens legitimately to support Democratic candidates. I wish that the party of my parents and grandparents had not placed itself on the wrong side of the most profound human rights issue of our contemporary domestic politics. I wish that the killing of embryonic and fetal human beings by abortion and in biomedical research were resolutely opposed by both parties so that we could cast our votes based on our assessments of the candidates’ and parties’ competing positions on taxation, immigration, education, welfare, health-care reform, national security, and foreign policy. It is hardly satisfactory that pro-life citizens—representing a variety of views on the range of issues in economic, social, and foreign policy—find themselves bound to the Republicans because the only viable alternative is a party that has abandoned its commitment to the weakest and most vulnerable members of the human family by embracing abortion and embryo-destructive research.
Well said.
Hat tip: Justin Taylor
I’m no democrat by any stretch of the imagination but I see no indication that the rebulican party is pro-life in anything but name only. How long have they had control of the congress? Yet the killing continues.
I preach politics from the pulpit. Christians MUST be involved in the process. I don’t endorse candidates or political parties. I endorse kingdom issues (prayer in school, traditional family values, the traditional definition of family, etc…).
Pastors should NOT shy away from these things. If me taking a moral stand in my pulpit means compromising our church’s tax exempt status, then the ACLU can have our tax exempt status. I must obey God rather than man.
Someone pointed out that we have had the equivalent to a 9/11 tragedy every day in this country since 9/11/01 with the number of babies aborted daily being roughly equal to the number killed in the towers. Yet we spend billions of dollars to bring the murderers of 9/11 to justice and say nothing about the unceasing murder of the unborn.
Both “major” parties are morally bankrupt, IMHO.
If someone were to closely study the way the US Congress operates today, we would be shocked to find how far they have strayed from the bedrock of our country, the Constitution, which by the way, I do not recall guaranteeing citizens the “right” to have abortions. (The SCOTUS judges were WRONG!)
I no longer listen when a Democrat or a Republican cries, “unconstitutional” in reference to the opposite party. They are both at fault. We are being governed by the whim of those in power; they do not follow the precepts of the Constitution. That is a problem, my friends. A BIIIIGGGG problem.
GOP does not mean “God’s Own Party.”
I’m a very independent-minded voter, and I have some serious “issues” with both parties.
Roe Vs Wade became law in 1973, and we have had 7 Presidents since that awful ruling. Five of those Presidents have been “Republicans”…and we still have ROE VS WADE…
So what does that tell us:
That “political parties” cannot change (nor cleanse) the hearts of men and women.
Only Christ can do that.
“who oppose the taking of innocent human life”
Well then I guess they won’t be voting Republican either. (see war, Iraq; torture)
someone left a comment on my blog a month a go and in this comment the guy said, “leave the politics to Satan”
I thought wow, never thought about it like that, but is that really how we ought to think?
When Paul instructs the church in Philippians chapter 2 to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” he is not speaking of working for your salvation. Rather, he is speaking of working into your life the implication of what it means to live a saved life. To me, this means that the Gospel will have political ramifications. It means that a person’s walk with God must be “worked out” into a person’s everyday life. A Christian will bring a certain political viewpoint to the table of public discourse. To say that Christians just should not be involved in politics is to say that salvation should not be worked out into everyday life.
If we leave the politics to Satan, who do you think will be running this country?
Some would say he already is, Gordon.
There is certainly the error on one side of sticking your head in the sand and withdrawing from the culture and world completely, politics included.
But far too many evangelicals fall into the other extreme, which is the view that the moral fiber of a people and a nation can be changed by having the right politicians and judges in office. So we hold Justice Sundays and get lathered up about a depiction of the 10 commandments on the court house lawn. In so doing we focus on external issues and neglect the real need: the need of sinners for the Gospel.
I used to be really into politics, but I’ve become disillusioned, knowing that both parties have serious errors and are probably pretty corrupt, being more interested in power than in responsiblity that it brings. The Lord is still the King of Kings and the world is still steeped in sin. The answer is not political change. The disciples thought it was, but Jesus refused to go down that road.
But abortion is a travesty, for sure. Would that we could be rid of it!
right on alex, someone (can’t remember who) said:
“My kingdom is not of this world”