The Washington Post magazine profiled yesterday a man they dubbed the “Jerry Falwell of the religious left,” Jim Wallis of Sojourners magazine. Of as much interest as the biographical material on Wallis is the analysis of the political left’s attempt to navigate around the key moral issue of the age, abortion, without alienating Christian voters.
The Post observes:
For Democrats to continue bringing in more religious Christians, experts agree, a key component will be to find a way to “neutralize the abortion issue” by “advocating for the drastic reduction of abortion,” as Wallis puts it. To lessen the weight of the abortion issue, one option currently discussed in Democratic circles is the “90-10” push to reduce the abortion rate 90 percent in 10 years. “We went too far on the abortion issue,” [former President Jimmy] Carter says of Democrats. “We became branded with abortion.”
“It’s more than just saying, ‘Okay, we are going to reduce it,'” [Massachusetts Senator John] Kerry says. “I think some of our rhetoric — I plead guilty for the Democratic Party — I think some of our rhetoric — mine included — has been insensitive at times to that moral dilemma.”
Did Wallis really mean to speak to the Washington Post about abortion as an “issue” to be “neutralized”? If so, will talk about “reducing” abortions “neutralize” the issue for the benefit of pro-abortion-rights politicians?
Probably about as much as Plessy v. Ferguson “neutralized” the civil rights issue for white supremacist politicians of another era.
The so-called “peace and justice” evangelicals really shouldn’t have this much difficulty understanding what convictional pro-life Christians seek for the unborn. It is, well, peace and justice.
