How did outlawing abortions become a rallying cry, and almost a central issue to the identity of white evangelical Christians? Many young people in our churches think it has always been this way. But it hasn’t. No, it only came into the forefront when legal or taxpayer supported segregation of the races no longer could publicly be trumpeted as a call to action for white Protestant Christians.
There are some in today’s evangelical church who have been so inculcated by Republican political messaging that they think one cannot be a Democrat and still be a true Christian. But sadly, they are deficient in both their understanding of history and theology. I believe that their marriage of convenience to President Trump and the Republican Party has done serious damage to their Christian witness as well as to the global reputation of Christ.
Let’s take a closer look. During the 1970’s, both before and after Roe v Wade, the largest body of evangelical churches in the country (the Southern Baptist Convention) adopted several resolutions on abortion. Now, these were not blanket disapprovals of abortion, but rather outlining circumstances when abortion would be permissible. At that time, abortion was mainly a concern of Roman Catholics (along with birth control). There were broader concerns about government intrusions into family autonomy.
So how did opposition to all abortions become such a basic litmus test for mainstream, mostly white, evangelical Protestant Christians? It literally took the place of segregation of the races as a rallying cry that political operatives within the church believed would galvanize its masses into embracing a politically active, Republican agenda. Did you ever wonder how a Southern Baptist Sunday School Teacher from Georgia, who truly lived out his faith and manifested all of the fruits of the spirit, was denied a second term as our President by a groundswell of his fellow white evangelicals who preferred a nominal Christian, divorced movie actor? It happened in my lifetime. I remember it well.
Leaders like Jerry Falwell, who could no longer openly espouse segregationist views or operate segregated private schools as tax exempt organizations, combined with strategist Paul Weyrich to grasp anti-abortion as the perfect way to draw the faithful into their so called “Moral Majority.“ This blended nicely with their emphasis upon keeping women from exercising freedoms, staying firmly under the control of their male protectors and maintaining traditional family models and values. And the rest is history. The election of a black President shook these dear Christians to the core. And a woman? God help us!
So support of Trump was a deja vu experience for white evangelicals. It was Reagan 2.0. Both Carter and Obama lived scandal free lives, exhibited strong personal character, and set examples any true Christian father would want for his children. But you see, this is not about character. It is about power politics, pure and simple.
I hate abortion. I support ministries that reach out to pregnant women and seek to educate them as to the precious lives within them, and hopefully show them that they should have their babies and avoid the life altering stigma of abortion. As a lawyer, I would have preferred that science and the Congress would have defined and delimited this issue rather than nine unelected judges. But overruling Roe v Wade is simply not on my priority list. I have no desire to force others to adopt the tenets of my personal faith. And so I will not try to use political influence to secure laws that accomplish this same result. That is not what the Bible teaches. It is not real love.
Republicans love to talk about abortions outside the scope of the limited right recognized in Roe. You hear verbal pictures of babies in the hospital after birth being executed. Listen, there are situations when abortion is the most loving action to take, such as in the case of brutal rapes, incest, deformities precluding life as we know it for the baby, or saving the life of the mother (who, after all, can have more children in many cases).
Doesn’t it strike you as unusual that Republicans, who seek to limit the role of government...especially when it tries to intrude into the orbits of its sister institutions of church and family, would try to turn back the clock and leave women in crisis with the only abortion option of a dark room and a coat hanger? Why don’t we also criminalize homosexuality and any other deviation from traditional Christian gender roles?
The truth is that the married male Senator, whether he be a Republican or Democrat, who has a sexual tryst with a female staffer who turns up pregnant always presses the woman to have an abortion, and pays for all expenses and travel costs. Hypocrisy is the rule.
We are almost at Election Day, or in this pandemic, near the end of election month. How will evangelicals react when they see a blue tidal wave that is largely a repudiation of their champion? Is it possible they will take to the streets? Whatever else they do, they need to wake up and realize that their Christian witness is virtually dead, that they were played like a Stradivarius by two generations of politically aspirant national “church“ leaders intent on “saving” the American culture, and that they need to repent.
And if Republican suppression of minority voters, destruction of mail in ballots and the antiquated Electoral College combine to place Donald Trump in the White House for four more years, you will discover he only used you to gain absolute power, and your children and grandchildren will live under an authoritarian system that cares little about religion or religious freedom. I pray that is not our fate. I have lived a full life, but for my children and grandchildren I genuinely fear for their future. Lord, please protect us from ourselves. Amen.