August 12 1996

ARTICLE TOOLS

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Inconsistency marks our major political options. As a consequence, Christians seeking a biblically balanced political agenda find it difficult to find a political home. President Clinton champions the "right" to abortion and then leads the campaign against smoking out of respect for the lives of the 400,000 people who die annually from cigarette-caused cancer. Sen. Jesse Helms leads the pro-life forces against abortion and then lobbies for tobacco subsidies.

Many of the members of Congress who receive a 100 percent score (and thus the Friends of the Family Award) on the Christian Coalition's Congressional Scorecard also receive large donations from the tobacco and liquor pacs. One also has to wonder why the Christian Coalition's Congressional Scorecard considers eliminating environmental and safety regulations as "pro-family" votes. Surely God cares about the family and the poor, the unborn and creation.

So often the Christian Right has rightly championed the family and the sanctity of human life but neglected to work for equal opportunities for the poor, uncritically endorsed American nationalism, ignored concern for God's creation, and neglected the struggle against racism. Equally one-sided has been a Christian Left that rightly promoted justice, peace, and the integrity of creation but largely forgot about the importance of the family and sexual integrity, and failed to defend the most vulnerable of all--the unborn and the very old.

The result is that many evangelical Christians find it increasingly difficult to feel at home within the current political landscape. Evangelicals who seek to be good stewards of the environment find some of their strongest allies to be folks who think mandatory parental notification for teenagers ...