Billy Graham’s recent message to Christian citizens has drawn fire (because it has political implications, does it not?). It is newsworthy, given his past role and general reticence (and infamous Nixon ‘endorsement’) in political matters. He has been America’s minister to presidents in general, having met them all beginning with Truman. Timothy George comments on the Graham statement at the Colson Center. I agree on the main three points of concerns to American Christians: life, marriage and religious freedom. They are truly at issue in this election, even though most of the talk has been about the economy. (Moral bankruptcy is worse than fiscal bankruptcy, is it not?)
As a Christian, my three major issues are: reducing abortion rates, universal healthcare, and addressing climate change. Neither party has exactly shone in any of these areas, but the Dems are doing more in each one.
I don’t see why universal government (as opposed to charitable or privately financed) healthcare and climate change are particularly Christian issues. They can be argued either way from a secular or Christian perspective.
Then there is the Democratic platform favoring no limits on abortion for any reason. This is far from shining from a pro-life perspective. Democrats for Life could not find a single Democratic office-holder to visit their group during the Charlotte convention. Pro-life Democratic officeholders are an endangered species, but have been a convenient fig leaf for the party at election time.
Important issues for Christians should include the preservation of the traditional Christian understanding of marriage and the rejection of a narrowly circumscribed vision religious freedom and conscience rights. The Obama administration’s view was so narrow that the Supreme Court unanimously rejected it in the Hosanna Tabor case.
George.
Climate change? You mean we should try to control the weather?
Life, marriage and religious freedom are of course currently important to American Christians. Another issue that is noteworthy and gravely concerning to some Christians is NATO “operations”, necessarily termed thus because of continuing disregard of the War Powers Act.
To give an example, if the western imposed sanction related deaths in Iraq are in the neighborhood of one million, conservatively, and a greater percentage of the one million are children, is it a pro-life issue? Is this love for brother and sister? One could easily assert that today’s serious Christians are engulfed daily in much more than 3 issues that conflict with their desire to follow the directions given to them by Jesus.
Another stark example of respect for life is Operation Unified Protector over Libya, labeled “successful” by the United States because of the remarkable death toll statistics which was zero in the case of US servicemen. Somehow in the eyes of current US leadership, the over one hundred thousand Libyans killed are not lives worthy of counting. We are created equal and therefore we know those brothers and sisters an ocean away are not to be exempt from the concern of American Christians.
Perhaps so many Americans lacking political awareness have a good enough defense given a controlled mass media and the western life of comfort. But for those who take the initiative to educate themselves about the now numerous NATO wars of aggression, which are in many cases for purposes other than the stated pretext, there is a moral dilemma. Once one recognizes this evil, and does not peacefully resist, are they really going to be prepared? What if they are asked the question: “You knew, but what did you do?”
The climate constantly changes and has been long before mankind was mechanized.
How do you think Yosemite was formed? The glaciers melted. Gonna blame that on SUV’s?
The biggest scam ever perpetrated upon mankind is this untrue notion that we can control the weather.
And it will cost us Trillions of dollars and wreck economies to play along with that bogus scam. Thanks, Al Gore. For nothing.
Check this out:
http://www.climatedepot.com/a/9035/SPECIAL-REPORT-More-Than-1000-International-Scientists-Dissent-Over-ManMade-Global-Warming-Claims–Challenge-UN-IPCC–Gore
Steve Martin: Weather changes; climate SHOULD be relatively stable.
Climate change may well become our biggest pro-life issue. We all want to keep the human race alive. It’s already a major social and economic issue. These fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods are very, very expensive and are causing death and dislocation.