A recent post of mine on the CU Discussion board

I posted this in reply to people saying that they could never vote for someone who is pro-choice. It was a very heated discussion, and I had to reply.

There is much talk here about the issue of abortion. The verse provided shows that yes, God values life from the very beginning. However, his love for life does not stop there. Don't we serve a God who values ALL life? Not just the lives of unborn children? Don't we preach that God loves all humans? I consider myself to be pro-life, which includes me being anti-death penalty, anti-war, anti-abortion, and against other things in which people are killed.

If one says that he/she is pro-life, then he/she needs to consider issues other than abortion. For us to say that John McCain is the pro-life candidate is not accurate. He is committed to the Iraq war, in which many innocent Iraqis have died, not to mention the thousands of U.S. soldiers who have been killed and injured. He may be against abortion, but he is certainly not taking a pro-life stance. Neither is Obama a pro-life candidate, since he is pro-choice. However, he has spoken out against the killing of other people since the beginning of the Iraq war and he is not for the death penalty.

The issue of abortion is not really determined by the president anyway. Roe v. Wade was a Supreme Court decision, meaning that in order for Roe v. Wade to be overturned, the Supreme Court would need to handle that. In addition, if Roe v. Wade was overturned, the vote would go to the states, and my guess is that most states, if not all, would vote for abortion to be legal. For those reasons, I do not vote solely on the issue of abortion.

Being a Christian who votes means so much more than simply voting for the candidate which says he/she believes in God, who says he/she is anti-abortion, or who takes a stand against gay marriage. Perhaps God has called us to live in a radical way in which we stick up for the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed, and life as a whole. If you take that idea to heart, your life may be turned upside down.