A little while ago, a friend of mine confronted me with a question: “How can people claim their Christianity: loving their neighbor, being of service to others, and at the same time support Donald Trump?” I was somewhat apprehensive to answer. Our friendship was not accustomed to political discussion, and I did not want to damage our relationship. What struck me about his question was his use of the biblical command to love one’s neighbor to imply that it is unchristian to vote for Trump. Not recognizing that it is quite feasible to ask the same question about the policies of Kamala Harris.
In the realm of politics, the Christian admonition to love one’s neighbor is played out most succinctly in the realm of policy, not a tit-for-tat scorecard compiled to see who is the more “righteous” candidate. That isn’t to say that character doesn’t matter, but it is to say that policies reflect character in action that impact our sociological understanding of what it means to love one’s neighbor.
Kamala Harris has promoted, and continues to support, policies that advocate for abortion on demand all the way up to the moment of birth. Such policies have and do cross the line into the realm of infanticide. But here is the thing, this political debate is really not about whether an abortion should take place up to 6-weeks, 8-weeks, up to birth, or even infanticide; it is about what it means to love one’s neighbor. The closest most vulnerable neighbor there is in our society is the relationship between a mother and her child in the womb; literally, two human beings are physically connected by an umbilical cord. There is no neighbor more vulnerable than this. If we can validate abortion as a reproductive “right” for a mother to abort her closest neighbor for the sake of convenience, then the weak, the powerless, the poor, the sick, the handicapped, the elderly, and anyone who is deemed deplorable or an inconvenience to society are all at risk.
Such advocacy for children is nothing new for Christians; historically, this has been the position from its earliest days. As Larry Hurtado writes in Destroyer of the gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World, it was common practice in the Graeco-Roman world to practice the discarding of babies, particularly if it was an unwanted pregnancy due to poverty or prostitution, or even for the sake of wanting a boy rather than a girl. For Christians, children are not seen as something unwanted, but as a gift; each child has intrinsic value, because they have been created in the image of God. The Didache, an early Christian piece that was most likely written somewhere between 49–64 AD, mentions that a person is not to murder a child by procuring an abortion, nor to commit infanticide, and not to slay a child when it is born.
We can go back even further in history to God’s disdain that the Israelites had been seduced by the culture around them by sacrificing their children to the pagan gods, like Moloch. From the psalmist describing humans as being wonderfully made in the womb, to God’s contempt for leaders like Pharaoh and Herod who slaughtered children for the sake of retaining power, it is clear that Christians are to be advocates for life. As a Christian, I cannot consciously vote for policies that are the opposite of what it means to love our closest neighbor.
My friend pointed out to me, however, that Trump will end up tolerating limited abortions up to certain weeks. Have people already forgotten that Trump appointed two SCOTUS justices that turned the tide of Roe v. Wade from abortion as a federal mandate, to that of a state’s rights issue? Yet, even if this is the case, that Trump is okay with allowing abortion up to certain weeks for the sake of a societal compromise, his policies are far better than the policies that Kamala endorses in which a baby can be left on a table to die from a failed abortion attempt. Such policies are barbaric in nature.
I cannot condone the innocent murder of a child who is not culpable of any wrongdoing, other than being conceived, any more than I could condone the slavery of an African-American whose only “crime” was the color of his or her skin. John Wesley, recorded in his Thoughts Upon Slavery, once petitioned the slaveholder: “Are you a [human being]? Then you should have a human heart… What is your heart made of? Is there no such principle as compassion there?” I petition you with the same plea; is there no compassion for the child in the womb?
Life is the foundational policy that reflects what it means to love one’s neighbor in all other policies that are enacted into law. Without life, all political discussions related to freedom, rights and the pursuit of happiness are nothing more than a political façade. As a pro-life advocate, I am in this for the long-haul, similar to the abolitionists of old. Trump may not be perfect, but he delivered upon his promise to appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court that gave pro-life advocates their biggest victory of the last fifty years! I will take the victories where we can get them. I can guarantee that if Harris is elected, she will do everything in her power to restore Roe and prosecute pro-life advocates, as she has done in the past. This is not a difficult decision. Vote for the candidate whose policies take us nearer to loving our closest neighbor.
Is voting for Donald Trump un-Christian? Of course not. At this juncture in American history, it is likely the most Christian loving thing you can do, to speak up for your neighbor who cannot speak up for themselves, by casting a vote for the child in the womb.
Rev. H. Gordon Smith III is a lead pastor. He is a published writer, public speaker, has served as a professor of theology and loves being a husband and father.
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