For many evangelicals, abortion remains the central issue in our society. And we vote accordingly. Many of us voted for Bush mainly because of his pro-life stance. The Republican Party did a masterful job of claiming the pro-life issue, and Christians responded in kind.
What would happen if Democrats changed their tune on abortion? A group called Democrats for Life claims that if the Democratic Party altered its pro-abortion rights stance, it would help Democrats win future elections. Kristin Day, Executive Director of Democrats for Life said, "I think we really need to look at our strong pro-abortion stance and really come out and say that we want to truly make abortion rare."
But Jenny Backus, a spokeswoman at the Democratic National Committee has said Day is out of touch with the party's position: "We're proudly pro-choice. It doesn't mean you're for or against abortion. It means that you believe people should have the choice."
But the anti-abortion Democrats say that it comes down to two choices — Democrats either have to be more tolerant of anti-abortion Democrats or they have to accept more Republican victories in future elections.
I find it very interesting that the new Senate Minority Leader for the Democratic Party, Harry Reid, has voted mostly pro-life!
For more from the "donkey's mouth" on this, read this editorial by Kristen Day published in National Review:
A Pro-Choice Party No More: If every vote counts, why does the Democratic party ignore pro-life Democrats?
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Thanks Byron. Your post is very enlightening.
ReplyDeleteI realize that you had to oversimplify in your answer. And that there ARE indeed plenty of examples of the secular worldview within the Democratic ranks.
What this post is intended to show is that there are Democrats who do not possess the worldview of national Democratic party leadership. They are vying for a voice. There have been plenty of Democrats who are remarkable examples of the Christian worldview, and we do everyone a disservice by lumping all of them into the "secularist" category.
I also submit that a great amount of the Republican leadership are secular in their worldview as well. They believe in a "social darwinism" of survival of the economical fittest. And since they are on the top of society's economic food chain, they fight tooth and nail against anything that might change that.
My point is as it has always been: God is not a Republican or a Democrat. Neither party has the corner on religious piety, for both have their fallen ideas about the world (and their selfish ways of fighting for supremecy).
A Christian need to rise above party politics and FIRST define what are the moral issues (not based on the "talking points" restated again and again by the party pundits), THEN decide what we must do to cooperate with Christ to bring His Kingdom Values into that moral issue. Sometimes it will entail who we vote for, sometimes it will entail pushing a political party to redefine what they are calling the important issues and call them out when their policies are contrary to Christ's Kingdom Values.
Abortion is the number one issue among evangelical Christians, so it struck me as a real interesting twist if indeed the Democrats were to change their platform on this. I suspect many Christians would then feel the freedom to again consider a Democrat for office.