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My name is Aaron Taylor and I’m a pro-life Christian. What I mean bycalling myself pro-life is to say that I believe life begins at conceptionand no human being has the right to take another life. Period. If you askme whether I believe abortion is a sin I’ll give you an unequivocal yes,and then I’ll be sure to point you to the cross of Jesus Christ if I senseyou’re struggling with guilt over a dark past. On the other hand, if youask me whether I think Christians should try to outlaw abortion, I’m notgoing to give you a straight answer. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’mpro-abortion, and neither does it mean I’m pro-choice. It simply meansthat I can’t give you a straight answer, and the funny thing is, it’sprecisely because of my Christian faith that I can’t come right out andsay that Christians are obligated to pass laws to declare abortions illegal.As a Christian and as a citizen I would love to see the abortion rate in theUnited States of America reduced to zero. But the question is how do wemake that happen? Is it simply a matter of passing a law declaringabortion illegal? My conservative Christian background would answer withan immediate yes to this question, but these days my heart is telling methat passing a law outlawing abortion doesn’t quite solve the problem.For starters, we know that before Roe Vs Wade there were countlessbackyard abortions taking place. And given that little has changed in thepast 30 years to address the root causes of systemic poverty in ournation, there’s little reason to believe this would change if abortionwould be outlawed tomorrow.Then there’s the question of rape and abuse. I think female rape victimsthat choose to keep their babies are saints, but as a man I have towonder if I really understand the pain female rape victims that choose todeliver their babies full term goes through—even if they give them up foradoption later. And what about women—or young girls—in abusivesituations? There’s been a lot of media attention lately about VicePresidential nominee Sarah Palin’s 17 year-old daughter’s unplannedpregnancy and, make no mistake about it, I’m thrilled that Todd andSarah Palin have chosen to love and support their daughter to guide herin the right direction to keep her baby. But let’s get real for a moment.Does anybody seriously think that every teenage girl has loving parents to
 
come home to that can guide them through an unplanned pregnancy?What about the girl who’s father molested her when she was young andfears bringing the child up under the same roof? Or what about the girlwhose parents would kill them—literally—if they found out she had sexoutside of marriage? Or how about the financially struggling woman thatfears the father of her baby will abuse both her and the child if shedecides to keep her baby? Even in these extreme cases, my Christianethic on the sanctity of human life still demands that I could nevercounsel a woman to have an abortion, but the question is: Do I have anobligation as a Christian to take the further step and impose my view of morality on others by forcing them to do so?The question isn’t just a moral one. It’s also a Biblical one. If the Biblecommands Christians to implement God’s law over society throughsystems of laws and penalties, then by all means, Christians are obligatedto declare anything that contradicts God’s law illegal. While we’re at it,if we’re going to be consistent, we might want to consider the deathpenalty for the 16- year old girl that takes the morning after pill. Afterall, life begins at conception and murder is murder. If, on the other hand,it can be sufficiently proven that Christians are not obligated to pursuepolitical power to control other people’s behavior, then the questionbecomes how should followers of Jesus be salt and light in a world that’sgone mad?I’m going to simplify this by answering my own question with a question.What would the Church look like if there were a universal consensus thatour only moral agenda is to imitate Jesus? Throughout the three years of Christ’s ministry on earth, Jesus displayed the sum total of zero interestin pursuing political power to control other people’s behavior. Jesus wasoffered political power three times—once by Satan—and He turned itdown each and every time. In the Roman culture of Jesus’ day, they hadsomething worse than abortion. People could legally kill their children upuntil age two, but strangely we never see Jesus leading a campaign tooutlaw this barbaric practice. Perhaps more surprising is the fact that theApostle Paul could care less about how people outside the church
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LMDella

Oops! It appears I got truncated. .. that the moral role of "the church" should not extend past its walls. Thank you.

reply11 / 07 / 2009
LMDella

Mr. Taylor: I would prefer to send you a private comment but you apparently have to subscribe to me before I can do so, so .... I feel compelled to take the time to compliment you on your calm, careful and cogent remarks on this subject. It is so rare, especially among "conservative Christians." My personal views do not parallel yours but we seem to agree that the moral role of "the church

reply11 / 07 / 2009
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