By L.A. Williams
Christian Action League
October 16, 2020
Can pro-life evangelicals justify casting a ballot for presidential candidate Joe Biden, who not only wants to enshrine Roe V. Wade into federal law, but also wants to end the Hyde Amendment, which limits the use of taxpayer funds for abortions? Can Christians proclaim that they believe that life is sacred and then vote for Planned Parenthood hero Kamala Harris?
Apparently some believe they can if they make their definition of “pro-life” so broad that the lives of 60 million infants slain since abortion was legalized in 1973 become little more than a footnote in the argument. That seems to be the tactic of a group of prominent religious leaders who have published their statement of support for the Democratic ticket.
The group claims it disagrees with Biden on abortion, but argues that “Many things that good political decisions could change destroy persons created in the image of God and violate the sanctity of human life.”
“Poverty, lack of accessible health care services, smoking, racism and climate change are all pro-life issues,” the group contends, positing that Biden’s policies are “more consistent with the biblically shaped ethic of life than those of Donald Trump.”
The Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, said while he can appreciate the call for government leaders to apply Biblical ethics to all issues, not just abortion, it’s unthinkable to turn a blind eye to the murder of babies and then proclaim health issues as “pro-life.”
“The Bible is clear on how we are to treat the poor and how we are to love everyone, which is the cure for racism,” Creech said. “But we can’t minister to the poor, persuade the neighbors we love not to smoke or rescue them from any societal ill if they have already been murdered in the womb.”
“We can’t claim we are pro-life no matter how much we support life-giving policies if we vote for abortion,” he added.
The Christian Post, which published a guest editorial from Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden, released an op-ed Tuesday. In it, CP editors described the Biden group’s flawed four-point argument as “one problematic half-truth” and “three talking points that were more bombast than critical political thought.”
Having criticized a proposed $800 million cut to the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief as evidence that Trump is not pro-life enough, the pro-Biden group failed to note that more than half of the funds were to be shifted to domestic AIDS programs, including more money for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Also overlooked was the fact that the U.S. pullback on PEPFAR prompted other first-world nations to step up their funding and the fact that the program is thriving, having grown from serving 4 to 5 million people to now treating some 15.7 million.
In their assertion that health-care is a pro-life issue, the pro-Biden group implied that only those who support the Affordable Care Act as the single answer to health-care coverage support life.
Their third argument, that the Trump administration is more racist than a Biden administration would be, is also lacking.
“They ignore significant Trump efforts to improve the lives of black Americans, including record low unemployment, criminal justice reform …, and stable funding for historically black universities,” the Christian Post countered. “Moreover, a new Federal Reserve report … reveals that the Trump economy helped improve median wealth for black families by 33 percent and by 65 percent for Hispanic families, compared to only a 3 percent increase for white families, over the same 2016-2019 period.”
Also pointed out in the CP op-ed was the fact that the Biden supporters refused to address the racism implicit in abortion. Five of every eight aborted babies in the U.S. over the last 47 years were people of color.
Finally, the pro-Biden evangelicals’ attempts to paint global warming as a pro-life issue also fell short with vague claims that climate change “kills untold thousands” and that Trump’s decisions “make things much worse.”
The Rev. Creech commended the Christian Post for challenging the group’s ideology and pointed out that no political party or affiliation should take the place of voters’ efforts to make their own Bible-based decisions on whom to vote for.
“It’s one thing for Christian Democrats to support their party’s ideas about how best to govern while calling for Biden and other party heads to turn toward life and away from abortion. They are trying to effect change, calling on leaders to do the right thing. But it’s quite another for religious leaders to try to justify their support for Biden and his pro-abortion agenda by trying to redefine what it means to be ‘pro-life,’” Creech said.