To those in this conversation about the issue of abortion, let me say a few things.
1. It is irrelevant, with respect to my views, how many Christians voted for
Bush in the last election. I didn't. I voted for Kerry/Lieberman, and
financially supported their campaign.*
2. I have spoken-out (publicly and here) against the dogmatic
hate-mongering practices that have come from much of the so-called
evangelical right in America.
3. In my pastoral ministry, I was viewed as anything but another
conservative evangelical. Most congregates were young liberals; I was,
on at least ten occasions, rebuked for "liberal innuendos." I received
countless emails lauding me for my stances on social justice,
open-mindedness, and my style of incorporating secular sources into my
sermons.
4. I am a man of this world, indulging as far as my faith allows in
food, wine, woman (my wife!), literature, philosophy, art and politics.
5. I live my life in sharp contrast to many positions of the evangelical right.
6. I am free thinker, drawing most of my political views from the
original writings of the great western ethical philosophers (Plato,
Aristotle, Augustine, Anselm, Abelard, Scotus, Locke, Burke, Kant), and
from the Christian scriptures. I supplement these readings with
scholarly work from only the most respected contemporary experts from
both religious and secular world-views.
In spite of these six points, many of you cannot seem to contain me: a man of faith holding to a consistent
stance on human rights (no abortion, no capital punishment, adherence
to the church's just war provision which is centered in the moral
philosophy of the great medieval Catholic philosophers).
So you associate my views with that of the evangelical right--guilt by association.
Am I defensive? Perhaps. Why? Because my influence comes not from Bush,
nor any of the evangelical right leaders. Let me make it very clear
that my association is with the likes of Mother Teresa and John Paul
II. I vote as I believe they would, with a consistency for human
rights. They are my heros for having the logical consistency and the
no bullshit courage to stand up and call a spade a spade, a murder, a
murder.
I end with another quote (neither from Bush nor Robertson):
"But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion,
because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the
innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a
mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to
kill one another? So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion" (Mother Teresa).
*The basis for this vote was the war in Iraq, and the threat of
escalation into a full-scale war in the middle east. I rejected the
policies of Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz, and the crusading "bring it
on" rhetoric. I believed that more lives could have been lost through
war than through US abortions. It was a vote based on a wager for lives.
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