Why, I have to wonder, is the slaughter of the unborn so low on the radar of so many evangelicals? Why do we get our dander up over racism or human trafficking, but not so much over abortion?
Before I seek to offer my perspective on those questions, let’s make one obvious thing perfectly clear. Human trafficking is wicked, vile, nauseating evil. So is racism. It is not my intention to weigh the relative demerits of these wrongs, but rather to explore the disparity in our outrage and involvement.
I suggest two reasons. First, abortion is near, human trafficking far. Now I’m not denying that human trafficking happens here in these United States, or that the murder of the unborn doesn’t happen overseas. The nearness of which I speak is more social than geographic. Evangelicals are far more likely to have procured an abortion (one in six abortions in the US are procured by a professing evangelical) or have a friend who has done so than they are to have been enslaved in prostitution or know someone who has. You might think that the more distant the outrage the less, rather than the more, we would be outraged. The trouble is, because we are sinners, our outrage exists more for ourselves than for the suffering. When the outrage is distant I can feel angry, morally superior, and never have to actually do anything. Distant outrage is the path of least resistance. My dander and self-esteem climb at the same pace.
Which brings us to the second reason. We have no neighbors that stand up for racism or sex trafficking. Indeed they are the ones most loudly objecting to racism and sex trafficking. We are surrounded, however, by neighbors who believe abortion is a virtual sacrament, a holy act of feminine liberation. Moloch is the God our neighbors worship, and they don’t take kindly to us when we speak ill of him. Because racism and sex trafficking truly are evils from a Christian perspective, choosing them as our causis belli doesn’t require us to betray our Lord. And it allows us to stand shoulder to shoulder with our unbelieving neighbors.
In short, with abortion we might be called to action, to do the unpleasant work of actually ministering to our neighbors by calling them to repentance, by going to spiritual war with them. We might have to get involved with the abortion vulnerable, in our neighborhoods and on our campuses. With abortion, in turn, we face the unpleasant prospect of being rejected by our neighbors, thought uncouth, backwards, fundamentalists, even mean spirited.
Fighting the scourge of abortion begins with tearing down our own high places- our worship of comfort and acceptance. Fighting abortion requires us not to look at a news report and judge but to look in the mirror and repent. Lord, give us the grace to love You and to be hated by the world. For the least of these, Your brothers.
Thanks. An excellent piece. May the Lord continue to give you strength.