And this is what happens when Religion interferes too much with politics.
One person’s candidate may absolutely represent everything that person believes in except the life vs. choice issue. The pro-life candidate, except for the life vs choice issue, doesn’t have anything else in common with that one person. However, the person is obligated by the Church to vote for the pro-life candidate. Anybody else see a problem here?
First, I want to stay that I am fully anti-abortion. In fact, when I say pro-life, I MEAN pro-life. No abortion, no death penalty, only DEFENSIVE war on one’s own land after ALL POSSIBLE diplomatic efforts have failed. Foreign military aid only offered IF ASKED, and then only long enough to secure a cease fire so that diplomacy can work, No embryonic stem cells, No in-vitro fertilization. I mean I finally get it. I’m there. Man must not be allowed to kill man. God has said so directly to man in at least 2 of his three persons. I didn’t always feel this way, but I do now. All the tumblers kicked in during my conversion, and I am ON BOARD. Now…
There are only two major parties in the USA. We’ll call them party A and party B.
Party A are known as hard nosed, no nonsense people. They are tough on crime, they favor war over diplomacy, they favor the death penalty. If you look at the Beattitudes of Jesus Christ, they just went right down the line and espouse the opposite of our saviours’ teachings. There ideas are SO reprehensible from a truly Christian standpoint, that they co-opted the abortion and pre-birth issues as a stroke of genius in order to ensure that even if the rest of their chicanery is exposed to loyal party members, they are STILL obliged to vote for party A because of the 2 “Pro-life” issues they adopted. Brilliant strategy. They don’t have anything else to sell, that anyone could stomach otherwise. So what’s the one thing that will guilt people into staying with us, no matter what else we do??? You guessed it.
Party B philosophies mirror those of Jesus right down the list in the beattitudes, but unfortunately, they allowed their policies of tolerance and inclusion, (which are noble ideals), to reach a tipping point that many can’t deal with. They seem to have manipulated Christ’s ideas of ‘tolerance’ in some moral issues, (which would be accompanied by cautionary advice), to the extremes of immoral freedom, (unbridled 'endorsement and encouragement). They also have a pet problem of “pro-choice”, due to the backlash of guilt brought about through the feminist movement of the 70’s and early 80’s. As with everything else, they let things get too far out of hand the other way. The right to work for equal pay, (quite right), somehow tranformed itself to the right to “choose” murder (not so right). This B party now fights for this right strongly. On issues of social justice, housing, education, medical care for all, helping the poor, party B holds all the cards, and are VERY Christian, though they would never acknowledge that, and we must all be JudeoChristianMuslimBuddhistHIndus in the ‘new age’.
So both Pary A and Party B have got it wrong.
Party C will never happen in this country unless we had publically financed campaigns.
When we are told that abortion is the only issue, it leads us squarely to Party A, which is the Party FARTHEST from the teachings of Christ in every other conceivable way!!!
I can not support Party A as a Christian under any front EXCEPT abortion. I can not accept Party B, because they wish to preserve abortion.
I also can’t in good conscience vote for one over the other to be voting against the other one, since that is the same thing.
I wan’t to vote for Party B, for every reason except one.
Since I am in danger of my soul apparently for voting with the party that is most Christ like I’m in a real quandry. What is that telling me?
So…unless a member of Party B, is willing to take back the abortion issue from Party A, then I have no candidate. A vote for either party is unethical in my way of interpreting the scriptures and traditions of my faith.
I will abstain until the day there are viable Party B candidates who are against abortion, or, there is a REAL Party C. I wouldn’t vote for Party A, even if they were the only party, and I was forced to vote for them under threat of death.