Finding faith on the campaign trail

By Nathan Tabor

The 2008 election is already emerging as a faith-filled affair — if you are to believe the rhetoric coming out of some candidate camps this campaign season.

The Democratic candidates for President in particular are attempting to be "born again" in the media spotlight. This phenomenon appears to be the direct result of the success of "values voters" at the polls. These "values voters" are sincere Americans who believe quite strongly that public policy should reflect traditional values such as love of God, love of family, and love of country.

But an interesting thing appears to be happening on the way to the candidate altar call. As the president of Prison Fellowship Ministries, Mark Earley, has pointed out, there's something amiss when candidates talk about God in one breath and killing God's children through abortion in the next.

In a recent column, Earley noted, "The problem is that all of this 'God Talk' misses the point: what Christians want — or should want — is a candidate who shares their moral and culture concerns, not just their religious vocabulary."

Earley recognizes the ideological disconnect which occurs when candidates speak solemnly about religious faith, then flock to Planned Parenthood events to announce their unbridled support for abortion on demand.

"It's difficult to imagine positions more at odds with the motivations of the very evangelical voters they're trying to court," Earley said. "Protecting the lives of unborn children has been the cornerstone of politically active Christians for the past thirty years."

The mainstream media appear ready to grant their imprimatur to liberal candidates who invoke the name of the Almighty — so long as these same candidates support Roe v. Wade, the tragic Supreme Court ruling which has resulted in more than 47 million deaths. For the press, an eleventh commandment is always in play — "Thou shalt not offend Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion operation."

For far too long, the Democratic Party in particular has been held hostage by radical pro-abortion interests. It is no coincidence that Democratic Presidential nominees adopt extreme pro-abortion positions. The voices of pro-life Democrats are routinely stifled at the national level — even though there are plenty of rank-and-file Democrats who don't believe that legal abortion is a good thing.

Recently, there's been a move for Democratic Party leaders to soften their rhetoric on abortion. Democrats calling themselves pro-life have even been elected to Congress. However, when it comes to the highest office in the land, the door continues to bear a sign reading "pro-abortion Democrats only."

Democrats can try to pull off an "Extreme Makeover-Religious Edition." But so long as party leaders remain hostile to pro-life interests...so long as the party standard-bearer in the Presidential election is pro-abortion...evangelical Christian leaders have reason to be skeptical. No matter how much party bigwigs want to forget the fact, the Christian religion is based on a pro-life view of the world. And endorsements of abortion have no place in a religion that preaches loving your neighbor as yourself. "Thou Shalt Not Kill" is not a slogan that can be tossed out like an old campaign bumper sticker.

© Nathan Tabor