My mother was a woman of deep faith. Growing up and even into adulthood we had many conversations about God, faith, and prayer. More importantly, I saw her walk in her faith. I saw her pray, read the Bible, and give her money and time to those who were in need. Although we went to church regularly and she enrolled us in Vacation Bible School every year as children (I still sing the words “Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory” when I’m happy in the morning), it was seeing her actions that had the greatest impact on my faith. Some actions that I didn’t even know about until she died. At my mother’s funeral, there was a colleague of my mother approached my sister and told the story of my mother taking her to work every day for two years when she had no vehicle. We had no idea my mother was doing that – she never mentioned it in the two years. From my mother, I learned that people may be able to quote scripture, but it was something else to live scripture.
As you read this blog, the election has (hopefully) ended and we know who will lead our country for the next four years. Prior to the elections, Former Vice President Biden and Vice President Pence, on behalf of President Trump, wrote Op-eds in The Christian Post. Biden shared how the greatest commandment guided his politics and Pence made the case as to why President Trump was the best choice for Americans of faith. As a person of faith, I wanted to read both in the hope that it would help guide me to better understand both sides of the political aisle and have meaningful conversations with friends who align with either side. Once again, I need to preface my views as being my opinion alone. My goal with this blog is to not change your mind or get you to agree with my thoughts or opinions; it is to get us all to process our own thoughts and beliefs and as Brandon Sanderson says, “give you questions to think upon”.
In his Op-ed, Former Vice President Biden speaks to the scripture found in the Gospel of Matthew when Jesus is asked, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” Biden then details how the values of “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” has guided him throughout his life and how his faith “implores him to embrace a preferential option for the poor”. With statistics of how more than one million of our veterans are on food stamps and millions of children are dependent on school lunches to avoid hunger, Biden’s emphasis on recognizing poverty and injustice reminded me of my mother’s words that we must live the scripture. If our neighbors are impoverished and hungry, are we really loving them as ourselves? And what role does our government have in addressing economic injustices?
In Vice President Pence’s Op-ed, he shared what President Trump had accomplished in the last four years for Americans of faith, including defending religious freedom, moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem, and standing for the sanctity of human life and being the most pro-life President in American history. Pence details the work their administration has done in allowing states to defund Planned Parenthood and calling on Congress to end late-term abortions. I’m not one to debate abortion with others and I won’t start now. However, I will share two issues I have with the pro-life movement that I believe isn’t discussed often enough, if at all. First, as Vice President Pence alluded to in his Op-ed, much focus is placed on late-term abortions. I have the belief that there are very few pregnant women who decide to carry a child for months, then casually decide she no longer wants the child and has an abortion. In fact, more than 91% of abortions occur before 13 weeks (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Another 8% happen at or before 20 weeks. Instead, abortions that occur late-term are often the result of tragic diagnoses and/or to save the life of the mother. Women who have shared their stories relay the heartbreaking decisions about how their desperately wanted baby would not survive full term – or would suffer if they did. Many had to make the difficult decision of terminating the pregnancy or possibly dying themselves. When discussing late-term abortions, pro-life advocates seem to forget about those women who have carried a child for many months, who have felt them move in their belly, who have named them, who have prepared their homes for this new member of the family, and who must now face a horrific reality. This is the truth of late-term abortions.
My other issue with pro-life rhetoric is the complete and total focus on abortion. When I think of pro-life, I think back to the scripture and the holistic view of pro-life which includes not only protecting the child in womb but also includes life after birth. Isn’t ensuring children have healthcare and enough food pro-life? Isn’t ensuring that mother and baby have a chance to thrive in life pro-life? Isn’t addressing systemic racial injustices pro-life? Is separating children from their parents pro-life? In my opinion, there is a tendency to focus on the abortion aspect of pro-life, but what about the life after it’s born? Pro-life is more than abortion, it’s about digging deeper into the scripture and recognizing that we are called to care about life in all stages, at all ages.
I recently saw an interview with Elizabeth Neumann, a former Department of Homeland Security official who worked in the Trump administration and describes herself as a conservative Christian who voted for Trump in 2016. In the interview, she recounted her thought process of why she quit her job after working in the Trump administration. She discussed how she had accepted the position based on fear and not what scripture was commanding. She decided to go back to the scripture and found that focusing on biblical character is what it calls us to do. She found that faith isn’t about supporting policy – it’s about the character of the person. She believed many had lost their moral compass and thrown their trust and integrity to a man with none. But her faith and the scripture called her back. I am no pastor and I definitely haven’t attended seminary. I do not purport to be an expert in scripture. But what I do know about scripture is that it provides a roadmap as to how we are to live our lives, how we are to treat each other, and how we are to love each other. Scripture tells us that character matters – “bad company corrupts good character”. Think carefully about what is right (I Corinthians 15:33-34). Our country is seriously divided, and many don’t see it changing. I believe that in times of struggle, character is revealed. Our country is going through a time of deep crisis as we deal with a country divided, racial injustices, a global pandemic, and economic decline. What this election has shown me is that our country’s character is fundamentally flawed. Systems of injustice are all around us, and revealed through this election is the deep-rooted racism that was once kept quiet for many years, but has now exposed our country’s adherence to saying it out loud. What the next administration does to address these issues is yet to be seen. But as individuals, we can remember what the scripture tells us. We care for our neighbor, we help those less fortunate than ourselves, we feed those who are hungry, we seek justice for all, and we welcome the stranger. We live the scripture.