A new piece over at the CNN BeliefBlog tells a story of disconnect.
What they’re saying is this: most religious groups are against abortion, but don’t necessarily want to overturn Roe v. Wade:
Here are some stats. See what you think:
53% of while evangelicals favor completely overturning Roe v. Wade.
That’s evangelicals. But now look at these:
76% of white protestants
65% of black Protestants
64% of white Catholics say the ruling should NOT be overturned.
But when asked if abortion is morally wrong:
73% of white evangelicals said yes
58% of black Protestants said yes
58% of Catholics said yes
36% of white Protestants
The synopsis: ”What is interesting about this aspect of abortion attitudes is that while many people find abortion to be problematic, they may either personally feel it is wrong or favor greater restrictions. Overturning Roe v. Wade is not nearly as supported an idea,” said Michael Dimock, director at the Pew Research Center. “The vast majority of evangelicals say they see abortion as morally wrong, but barely a majority say that they want to see Roe v. Wade overturned.”
What do YOU think?
Is this a disconnect?
Do you think Roe v. Wade will EVER be overturned? Should it?
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I would be one of those who fall into those statistics and don’t see it as a disconnect. I desire people to choose what is right. That’s the basis of Christianity.
This is a basic exposition of our favored idolatry in the West. Choice is more important to us than life. And to say choice is the basis of Christianity is indefensible. From Genesis 1 onward, life is what God calls good and what is valued. Jesus did not die to give us choices. Besides, choice is irrelevant if you’re not alive to make it.
Life is valuable and its legal destruction is either just or unjust. If its unjust, the above contradiction – as Todd reports – should disappear. If life is not valuable (or if a fetus is not a life), than Roe v. Wade is just and abortion is merely a preference we make decisions on and any talk of it being wrong is inconsistent.
Jesus never tried to change the earthly laws of His time. I believe what is important is that we continue to demonstrate that we value life and genuinely love people. I also feel we would be more successful if we spent less time/money/energy fighting abortion and more time/money/energy on counseling, adoption, and sex education. Personally, I believe abortion is a symptom of a bigger problem, but we can’t expect non-believers to share the our same moral values on things like sex, and ignoring the issue certainly won’t lead to lower rates of teenage pregnancy. Yes, we are called to speak the truth in love, but judgement and condemnation is not our job – that belongs to God alone. Our purpose is to be servants, and we should seek to serve these women in need, regardless of where they are in life or the decisions they have already made.