Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Just for the sake of discussion

Over the years as election time rolls around, a lot of folks, primarily conservative evangelicals, begin to talk about each candidate's or party's position on abortion. All of the issues and questions are distilled into that one position. As long as a candidate holds a position that is in favor of repealing Roe v. Wade, she/he gets my vote. It would really be interesting to have all of the candidates on the same side of that issue so that we could actually consider other planks in their platform. But, alas, that's not the case in 2012. The lines have been etched in stone and for any self-respecting evangelical the question is already answered. As one pastor said a few years ago, "I can't tell you how to vote, but if you ask me after the service I can help you decide."
Well, here's a new wrinkle. What if our concept of being 'Pro life' is too narrow? What if this, like any other ethical question, has ramifications far beyond the simple 'yes' or 'no'; 'black' or 'white' that so many of our evangelical leaders would have us believe? I found an interesting article from the New York Times oped that addresses questions that should be asked by people who truly want to be 'Pro Life.'
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/opinion/sunday/friedman-why-i-am-pro-life.html