With this post, I attempt to find a deeper understanding for the “Pro Life” movement. As someone who has been steeped in Christian ministry, I feel it necessary to speak on what appears to be the future of law on abortion. As someone who is largely frustrated with the leadership and political leaning of the majority within the Church, please know how much I still cherish this institution. At her best, the Church is compassionate, empathetic, and wildly creative with how it solves the suffering of those on this side of eternity. But through the last 100 years, we have seen the American Church distorted into something else entirely, at least on the most loudest of pulpits. Yet, it is my belief that true Christ-followers make up the majority. These are the ones who shine in silent meekness, seeking not political might, but Christ-like character within our own flawed humanity.
I consider myself largely pro-life. Yet, with this declaration, I must unpack what I mean for I feel a need to immediately apologize for what that term has become within many circles. My stance is not a bumper sticker or an agenda. It looks not to harm a faction of people, or use another group of people as a step towards political power. What I mean by pro-life, I mean as Christ would have defined it during His ministry. However, I must immediately point out the incredible gap that exists between my character and His, in which I can only hope grace will bridge. One cannot simply choose a limited belief on what constitutes as worthy of “life”. In my understanding, matters of war, capital punishment, and racism are equally issues of life as abortion is. Through megaphones and Godless militant demonstration, the “Pro Life” has come to mean something else entirely.
The “Pro Life” movement in this country has done little to help protect the sanctity of life. Of course, I use parenthesis because the idea of a group being “pro life” is troublesome and often it is these people who neglect other “life” issues. Unfortunately, with such a polarizing and vitriolic topic as abortion, those who need compassion get lost. Mothers and would-be mothers’ needs are ignored. While desperate for Christian compassion, they instead become pawns for hollow political arguments, statistics to prove some dubious claim, and blatant Christian hypocrisy.
It is not through legislation where abortion will be stopped but through education, compassion, and compromise. When facing a decision, many Christians see the world in black and white, when any look at reality presents a more nuanced existence. Believers should know this firsthand as a result of our sin inheritance. This doctrinal sin clouds any privilege of clarity in such matters (of course there are exceptions, life rarely bends to generalizations).
If these groups were honestly for life, they might attack the gaping inequities laid upon many struggling parents.
Would it not benefit society, and therefore the standard of life, to fix the adoption and foster care system?
Would it not help all if we had a better education system set up for new or expecting parents?
Would it not help us to make contraceptives more accessible?
Would it also help to provide resources like mental health services and affordable daycare for working parents?
Unfortunately, the argument of too many on this side of the matter simply devolves into “don’t get pregnant”.
As many with a background in fundamental Christianity can attest to, simply telling someone not to do something rarely provides the result desired. Even within the more seeker friendly and “modern” Church, fear and legalism are still baked into the scaffolding. Perhaps without realizing it, we become harbingers of fear as a walking antithesis to Christ-like compassion. Maybe this is why there has been little progress within the movement. It is rigid and shortsighted at its best, and dangerous at its worst.
Matt simon blog 