With this election coming up, even in the midst of this pandemic and all of the uncertainty it creates, I'm seeing the same rhetoric and fervor popping up all over, and it reminds me of the 2016 election in some scary ways. Once again, I'm hearing people complain, and with reason, about the quality of the candidates, especially from some people who are disillusioned with Trump, and might be wiling to use their vote to oppose him, but are not necessarily all the way into "Blue No Matter Who" territory.
The main thing I hear from my Christian brothers and sisters is that they feel the conviction to vote pro-life, no matter what, and that voting for a candidate who supports laws that allow women to get abortions is too much for their conscience, regardless of whatever else that candidate might stand for. For a lot of Christians, the pro-life stance is the sine qua non for any candidate or any platform, and everything else falls away in importance when they step into that voting booth.
Before I get too far, let me begin by saying that I am absolutely anti-abortion and in favor of any reasonable measures that can not only reduce the number of unborn babies that are killed, but also protect them and their mothers throughout their lives.
However, as Christians, we rarely ever have conversations about what a pro-life position is, or what it means to say "I'm pro-life." Even thinking about writing this, and doing a simple search for Bible verses about life, or protecting life, or the sanctity of life, the only lists I get are ones connected to abortion and life in the womb. For a lot of outsiders, there's a lot of inconsistency in our definition of pro-life. And by outsiders, I mean not only non-believers but also believers who feel like they are pushed to the margins when their (often Biblical) beliefs in justice and peace are rejected by the majority of Christians. For many, our definition of pro-life only covers unborn life, and leaves the breathing, walking, and talking out in the cold.
But pro-life and anti-abortion are not the same thing. Here are some (hopefully) helpful illustrations of the difference.
If you vilify Democrats for supporting so-called euthanasia, but support politicians who say that senior citizens should be "willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren," or pundits who say that it's okay to open the economy without meeting basic safety criteria, because most of the people who die from it were "on their last legs" anyway, the you might be anti-abortion, but you're not pro-life.
If you can watch the death tolls from Covid-19 break right on through 80,000 without slowing down, but still insist on opening the economy and putting more people at risk, just because you want a haircut or you miss free refills on Diet Coke, you're not pro-life.
If you can hear about the state execution of a convicted criminal, whether or not you support the death penalty, and your heart is filled with the urge to rejoice and post funny memes about the electric chair instead of lamenting the fact that another life has been taken by sin and it's offspring, you're not pro-life.
If you oppose free birth control for everyone, for whatever reason, whether you think it encourages premarital sex, or because people should be responsible and buy their own, or because those are your tax dollars and you hate freeloaders, you're not pro-life. You might not even be anti-abortion.
If you can hear, with callous indifference, requests for house arrest or other accommodations from thousands of inmates in prisons across the country where the Covid-19 infection rates are above 70%, because you figure that they deserve what they get for committing simple assault or misdemeanor marijuana possession, you're not pro-life.
If you can cite our favorite Bible verses to oppose abortion, like Psalm 139:13-14, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well," but forget that it also means Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Alton Sterling, and Ahmaud Arbery are fearfully and wonderfully made in God's image, you're not pro-life.
If you can see video evidence of a man or woman, usually Black, beaten or killed by a police officer, or by a random white man who thinks he has the right to command citizens like police officers and attack them like Batman, and you need to withhold your sympathy and lament until you ...
... find out the victim's criminal history going back to elementary school, or ...
... get a drug test on the victim, or ...
... see the victim's resume and examine their work history, or ...
... know for sure what happened in the fifteen minutes before the video that shows the victim being hunted and killed, or ...
... confirm their citizenship status, or ...
... take a look at the victim's birth certificate, green card, church attendance record, photo ID, high school diploma or equivalent, work references, or any other credential other than the image of a Holy God indelibly stamped on their body and soul, or ...
... ask Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" ...
... you're not pro-life.
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