DEMOCRATS AND THEIR PECULIAR INSTITUTION

Voting as Christians (Leon J. Podles, April 2003, Touchstone)

If a person is married, believes in God, goes to church, reads the Bible, and prays, chances are he will vote Republican--and he is a core member of the dreaded Religious Right. If a person is unmarried, never goes to church, never reads the Bible, and never prays, he will likely vote Democratic--and he belongs to the not-so-dreaded Secular Left. Certainly there are religious Democrats and irreligious Republicans, but according to the research of social scientists Louis Bolce and Gerald De Maio ("Our Secularist Democratic Party," Public Interest, Fall 2002), the Democratic Party has become the political home of unbelievers. (See Rod Dreher’s article in this issue.)

Moreover, anti-Christian policies are far more entrenched in the Democratic Party than Christian policies are in the Republican. Republicans sometimes want to ignore abortion; Democrats want to promote it, and make it a litmus test. Despite their deep differences on other issues, all of the current Democratic presidential hopefuls made a pilgrimage to NARAL Pro-Choice America’s "celebration" of the thirtieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade to testify to their commitment to abortion. The Democrats have reinstituted the constitutionally banned religious test for federal positions. If a judge is a faithful Catholic or Evangelical, the Democrats will likely try to block his appointment as a federal judge, for fear that it would reduce the accessibility of abortion.

Pro-abortion forces have a strong, probably unshakeable grip on the Democratic Party; pro-life forces have a weaker grip on the Republican Party. Voting Republican might or might not advance the protection of the unborn; voting Democratic will inevitably lead to the further entrenchment of abortion in American society, even if the Democrat is a pro-lifer who survived the abortionists’ inquisitions. [...]

A vote for a Democrat today is almost always a vote for abortion and a vote to violate the consciences of those of us who oppose abortion. The effect of various fiscal polices on the poor are uncertain; the effect of abortion on human life is certain. Whatever can be said for or against Democratic economic policies from a Christian point of view, nothing can be said in favor of their abortion policy. They have favored abortion at every stage and at every opportunity; they see no problem with forcing Christians to pay for abortion through taxes and compulsory insurance coverage; they will force Christian institutions to accept abortion; they will silence those who protest abortion. When Democrats do not do these things, it is only because they are weak. When they are strong, what will restrain them?

There's been some debate over the last few years over whether the nature of political partisanship has become more bitter and divisive in America in recent years. It is often noted that the politics of even the Founding generation was incredibly rancorous and personal, the most famous instance ending with Aaron Burr shooting Alexander Hamilton. But it does seem fair to ask whether the two partyies do not now have such divergent views of humankind and Creation that they are inevitably losing the capacity to treat each other as presumably honorable. After all, the last time our political parties divided over the core question of who is a human being it did end in Civil War. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 3, 2003 9:38 AM