In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of abortion, have you noticed the increasing heat aimed at Christianity and Christian? Has this ruling made it easier or more difficult for Christians to express their political views?
Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #35 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.
In the aftermath of the recent Supreme Court of the United States’ 6-3 decision in Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case that reversed the 1973 Roe v Wade abortion decision, those who oppose the decision have had a field day naming all the culprits responsible for what they consider a horrible step back in women’s rights. Among the principals considered a source of this move toward the “wrong side of history” are, of course, Prolife groups, Republicans, and Conservatives.
Still, I’ve noticed a marked increase in the vitriol and vehemence aimed at Christians. Some writers claim an anti-abortion perspective is simply religious fanaticism, that the Court itself is now on some kind of conspiratorial path toward turning America into a theocracy.
Others cite the Christian Nationalism movement, suggesting this push to declare Christianity America’s religion, eliminate separation of church and state, and wrap the Bible in the flag is the real source of America’s backward trends.
One writer said, “The wave of forced-birth zealotry at the Supreme Court and in state legislatures exemplifies the Christian nationalist view that the government should impose religious values (e.g., personhood begins at conception) on others, regardless of decades of precedent and of modern America’s moral, social and political values…The country will head further down the road of Christian nationalism unless the American people reject this theocratic crusade.”
According to those who fear the worst, the Dobbs ruling will embolden Christian groups to pursue their moral viewpoints, all of which are apparently inimical to a free, pluralistic society.
Still others somehow equate the Dobbs decision as a win for White supremacy, which recent race theorists have said are rooted in U.S. Christianity.
And there is a growing resistance to what have been called traditional or family values and morality. These values are not looked upon anymore as a strengthening source of moral social order but as restrictions, denials of freedom, even ipso facto anti-civil rights.
This view that access to abortion is now a civil right, synonymous with women’s or human rights is not unique to the United States. For example, shortly after the Dobbs decision, the European Union Parliament “overwhelmingly condemned the end of constitutional protections for abortion in the United States and called for such safeguards to be enshrined in the EU’s fundamental rights charter.”
Abortion advocates want to make abortion integral to constitutional law in several countries so that it does “not fall victim to momentary changes in politics.”
Journalists on the Left argue there exists a “'dark money' global empire of the U.S. Christian right, which is exporting its legal strategy, army of lawyers, and resources overseas to forestall and reverse international progress on abortion access.” All of the supporting organizations they mention, e.g., Alliance Defending Freedom, Family Research Council, the Federalist Society, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and Focus on the Family are labeled Far Right or extremist organizations.
Rhetoric and political pushbacks are intensifying. The Dobbs case overruling Roe is something most abortion advocates never thought possible. They are frightened, shocked, and according to their views, righteously angry. So, their response is tapping every available tactic: exaggeration, deception, cancel culture, calls for protest and borderline calls for violent or at least aggressive acts against not only the Supreme Court as an institution but against individual Justices themselves, like recent stalking outside justices’ homes and harassment at dinner.
Lest I be guilty of a less than honest observation, though, I should add that prolife proponents have also, at times, been guilty of similar political excesses.
Several thoughts come to mind:
- Not all Christians who oppose abortion are involved with or otherwise support Christian nationalism or various forms of so-called Christian extremism. Indeed, many reject these movements as unwise, unbiblical, and unconstitutional. So, abortion advocates smearing everyone who opposes abortion with this affiliation are being disingenuous.
- It would be helpful if the public learned not to confuse Christians with Christianity. In other words, don’t make the mistake of thinking because Christians think or do something, including me, that this is representative of biblical Christianity. Lots of Christians, or those who nominally identify as such, hold a host of views and behave in ways that are not consistent with a biblically Christian worldview. So, the fact that some Christians have treated prochoice advocates in an egregious manner is sad and perhaps itself sinful. So, while Yes, it grieves me that Catholics President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi advocate abortion rights, still, Christians, including me, need to apply the words of Scripture: “first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matt. 7:5).
- Americans are increasingly and broadly supportive of abortion access. Multiple polls demonstrate this, and the support comes in all demographics, While discouraging this is not entirely unexpected because the American people are evidencing less understanding of biblical teaching and history, less interest in a Christian worldview, and less commitment to Judeo-Christian values each year.
- The abortion battle is part of a larger worldview civil war that I have mentioned before in this space. Our country is split between those who believe in God and the Judeo-Christian values upon which the country was founded and from which it flourished v. those who either believe in a distant, uninvolved God or no God at all, either way yielding a moral relativism with no right and wrong, no truth, just temporal do what makes you happy.
I wish I could say that it’s all going to get better soon, that a new day will dawn when Americans one and all celebrate and protect life from the womb to the tomb. But I don’t think this will happen.
I wish I could say that acrimony and animosity will give way to amity. But I don’t think this will happen.
I can say that Christians have lived in and stood firm in difficult times before. I can say that Christ is coming, but not yet. And I can say that in the now, it is our time to let our light shine in darkness.
Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com.
And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.
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