Greg Boyd and Shane Claiborne clarify the division between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world, and how it relates to patriotism in this excerpt from a 2008 radio show. You can find the whole hour-long program here.
Let Him Die.
First Rick Perry’s awkward death penalty love-fest, and now this. Looks like the creator of Tea Party Jesus is going to have to have to quit his day job to keep up.
Single Issue Voting, Abortion, and Carrots.
For decades, Republicans have used the issue of abortion to mobilize Christian voters. To many in the flock, voting Republican is akin to a religious duty, with pro-life candidates being worthy of their support regardless of their other convictions. John Piper perfectly sums up the “one-issue voter” mentality in this oft-quoted article:
“…there are numerous single issues that disqualify a person from public office. For example, any candidate who endorsed bribery as a form of government efficiency would be disqualified, no matter what his party or platform was. Or a person who endorsed corporate fraud… would be disqualified no matter what else he endorsed… Everybody knows a single issue that for them would disqualify a candidate for office.”
Piper is well-intentioned. But he’s assuming that politicians’ rhetoric matches their actions when it comes to the sanctity of life. Will voting for a candidate who claims to be pro-life lead to a reversal of Roe V. Wade, or is it just a carrot to dangle in front of Christians every election season?
Consider this: Pro-life, Republican presidents have been in office for 20 of the 38 years since Roe V. Wade. Since 1973 they’ve managed to make abortion an important electoral issue, but they’re no closer to reversing the decision. Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush both used their opposition to abortion to win the support of Evangelicals, but neither made it a priority once they took office.
In the last decade, George W Bush had a Republican majority in congress and a supreme court with 7 Republican-appointed justices, but introduced no legislation to overturn Roe V. Wade. During his presidency, the number of abortions in America stayed at a consistent rate, hovering around the 1.3 million per year mark that our country has maintained since 1973.
In an ironic twist, recent studies have shown that economic factors are a leading reason for abortions. Republicans who use opposition to abortion as a galvanizing issue to ensure their election, may actually be contributing to the high abortion rate by slashing social programs once they take office.
Republicans have used abortion as a tool to rally well-meaning evangelicals for almost 40 years, but both both parties have governed almost identically (the exception being federal funding and partial birth abortion, a fraction of one percent of all abortions). It’s become a convenient red herring that allows the Republican party to look as though they’re on the side of evangelicals without having to face the political consequences of coming through on their promises.
Does this mean that abortion isn’t an important issue? Not at all. But Christians should prayerfully question the logic of making it a “single-issue voting” cause.
