Deal Breaker Issue

Last week, our local metropolitan paper’s online site featured a “Letter to the Editor” which was titled “If you voted for Obama, you can’t call yourself Catholic.” I’m sure you know the general reaction from the readership as they commented for 16 pages worth of bickering. Half were deeply incensed and felt the need to retaliate against the letter writer because she was “judgmental and righteous.” The other half were deeply agreeable and chose to take up her cause and defend her stance, even if she was a bit high minded “sounding” and appeared to be passing her own judgment upon her fellow man.

After this “debate,” where did the discussion leave us? It left us in the same place we were in before and maybe a step behind in the overall sense of Christianity. Our world and society has many differing points of view and her letter focused upon Obama’s unwavering support of the Pro-Choice movement. He has stated that one of his first actions as President will be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). Obama was also the co-sponsor of the Senate’s version of the bill in 2007 and he stated, “The first thing I’d do, as president, is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That’s the first thing that I’d do.” I’m not going to regurgitate what the FOCA entails, but it basically removes all restraints from abortion until fetal viability. What is fetal viability? It essentially means before 24 weeks pregnant. You can find out any and all information you would like by simply searching online.

The lady who wrote this letter believes that based upon her faith, she cannot and should not vote for someone who supports abortion. Christianity by default is anti-abortion and is in fact quite the opposite. Christian leaders inform their congregations about the issues they vote about, not who to vote for (illegal by non-profit organization rules and regulations). However, based upon the issues and your Christian faith, someone should not come to the conclusion that voting for a pro-choice candidate is ok. I said “should not.” As we saw, over 65 million Americans voted for Obama in our Presidential election. Utilizing some recent data, nearly 80% of America considers themselves Christian. So, there must be a large portion of Christians who decided to vote for Obama no matter what his stance is on abortion is.

Sure, there are many other factors when choosing a President and we all know that a single position “should not” affect your overall choice, but for me, this is not a single issue versus many other comparable issues. Abortion to me is a deal breaker issue. For others, it is not and that is their right. For other Christians, it is not, and that is their right. I’m not trying to pass judgment upon anyone, but for me, if I had voted Obama, I would have effectively traded dollars for life. It supposedly means more money in my pocket due to his impending “tax cuts” and “better” economic policies in trade for his support of Roe v. Wade and the signing of the FOCA bill.

Yes, I know there are other issues at play including the two wars we are engaged in along with healthcare and educational issues, not to even mention immigration problems, but could I devalue my Christian faith for the blessings of government and dollars in my pocket? I could not. McCain was not my first choice and he was a “lesser of two evils” approach for me, but at the very minimum, he supported the protection of unborn children. Would I support someone who was Pro-Life but on every other issue I disagreed with? Of course not.

As for Obama and my vote, I disagreed not only with his Pro-Choice stance, but almost 100% on every other policy he supports. What if I had supported 100% of his other policies, would I have voted for him? Never. My Christian faith requires me to abide by my moral and ethical values. While being human, I do make mistakes, but this would have been a willful mistake. I would have chosen to rationalize that his Pro-Choice stance was a sacrifice we should make for the betterment of our country. Since when should we view trading unborn children’s lives as a necessary trade for a stronger economy?

You may believe that I am passing judgment, I am not. Each person, if truly being a Christian, KNOWS what the right decision is and they will either feel good about it, or feel remorse about their actions later if they chose not to follow. I voted my conscience in the sense of my faith and my policy choices by voting for McCain. Yes, I know our country needs change, but change for simply the sake of change is not what we need.