A new paradigm for the pro-life movement

There can be no doubt that the last 50 years we have seen an enormous cultural shift from the Judeo-Christian world-view to a post-modern, post-Western cultural consciousness that completely denies absolute or objective truth. In his article, Transforming Culture: Christian Truth Confronts Post-Christian America, Dr. Albert Mohler Jr., President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, declares “moral relativism has so shaped the culture that the vast majority of Americans now see themselves as their own moral arbiter. Truth has been internalized, privatized, and subjectivised.”

In other words, we now live in a society where moral questions have been relegated to personal preferences, like choosing your favorite colors, rather than objective realities (think gravity) that are true for everyone. Add to this subjectivism a new definition of tolerance that basically finds intolerable any one who disagrees with another’s ideas, no matter how ridiculous or heinous they may be, and the result is rational chaos. Given this state of cultural confusion, is it any wonder then that so many are unable to think clearly about the abortion issue? This climate of relativism and so-called tolerance produces at best, a modified pro-choice position by those who claim their personal opposition to abortion while insisting it should remain an option for others.

Twenty years ago, most pro-life activists might have been able to approach the abortion topic using God centered, Biblical arguments that perhaps persuaded the opinions of some, but this is no longer the case. Arguing the pro-life position from scripture presupposes the listener a) believes in God, and b) believes in the credibility and reliability of scripture. These days that just simply is not the case. A Christian perspective on the issue of abortion seems irrelevant to 21st Century listeners and makes no sense to them without this frame of reference.

A casual observation reveals that the majority of people claiming to be pro-life are also Christians and Catholics: followers of Christ who believe it is their duty to “do justice.” While I am not denigrating or devaluing the many individual and collective pro-life efforts made by these well-meaning and good hearted people over the past 35 + years, as a Christian myself I do think it’s time to step back and reevaluate our methods and strategy and to perhaps be wiser in our approach.

I am concerned that Christian pro-lifers have inadvertently marginalized the pro-life message and under-cut their own efforts. How, you might be asking? By confusing the pro-life cause with the over arching mandate of evangelism, and by wrapping the pro-life message so tightly with the Bible and Christian vernacular, that the two (being a Christian and being pro-life) are inseparable in public perception.

While Christians believe that fundamentally the idea of morality must be traced back to a Moral Lawgiver, they must also understand that if the goal of the pro-life movement is persuasion, neither God nor salvation can be the focal point of this debate. Why raise objections in the mind and hearts of your audience that divert the conversation to arguments about the existence of God, when the objective is to effectively change hearts and minds about abortion? Doesn’t it defeat the purpose if by making the pro-life movement synonymous with being a Christian, you lose the majority of your audience?

I’m not suggesting a denial of beliefs and worldviews while working as pro-life activists, but I am calling for an end to the duplicity that some seem to engage in. Bringing such a spiritual emphasis to the forefront of the abortion debate, or turning pro-life organizations into para-churches creates a barrier, not only for many who might otherwise be activists for life but also to reaching the wider, watching post-Christian community.