I’ve been a Christian for a good portion of my life and a local church pastor for most of the past thirty years here in the American South.
I’m also a decidedly single-issue, values-based voter—though not the one many professed followers of Jesus claim as their lone deal breaker lately.
My lifetime of study, prayer, activism, and reflection have left me convinced that the true litmus test for a professed Christian (and for any person of faith, morality, and conscience, for that matter) isn’t one particular policy or isolated stated position or any slogan you affix to a podium—it is the answer to a single, elemental question:
Do you care about other people?
That’s the actual pro-life measurement.
We see this in the life of Jesus.
In the ninth chapter of Matthew’s gospel, the writer tells us that as Jesus traveled through the towns teaching, preaching, and healing—he saw the crowds of people gathered, and he “had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (9:35-38)
Jesus’ profound concern for the well-being of the disparate human beings in his path, daily propelled him into the world and fueled the beautifully restorative acts his life was marked by. His compassion drove him to feed hillside multitudes and to flip over the temple tables and to stand in solidarity with the poor and the hurting. It compelled him to be a peaceful, healing, calming presence for people whose daily bread was chaos and lack. When Jesus entered a room, dignity and justice were escorted on his arms.
I see that same enduring, expansive empathy in everything Vice President Biden does and in who he is—and it is an empathy that his opponent, frankly, has shown no capacity for and in fact sees as a character flaw to be ridiculed. For him and for his followers, compassion is synonymous with weakness; gentleness, as “soy boy, beta male” insult-fodder.
That is simply counter to the way of Jesus, no matter how you try and spin it.
In that way, ultimately, I suppose as a person of faith, this election is actually a pro-life issue, after all.
I support Vice President Biden because he is pro-life in the truest sense of the word, in that he is for humanity.
He is for the humanity of brutalized people of color demanding elusive justice,
He is for the humanity of the hundreds of thousands lost to this mismanaged virus,
He is for the humanity of young parents who need to choose between healthcare bills and paying the mortgage,
He is for the humanity of the courageous, sacrificial members of our Military, who are not losers and suckers,
He is for the humanity of Americans left homeless by climate fires and rising tides,
He is for the humanity of women who desire autonomy over their own bodies and healthcare decisions,
He is for the humanity of the grieving families of gun homicide victims,
He is for the humanity of LGBTQ people who deserve to be respected as they are,
He is for the humanity of terrified migrant children living separated from their families,
He is for the humanity of day laborers and single parents and low-income Americans.
Over and over, Donald Trump has shown a clear contempt for all of this disparate, imperiled life.
He has been predatory toward it.
He has been bereft of compassion for so much of the living.
The only life is he is pro—is his own.
Jesus was clear that true spirituality is not something you put on once a year like an ill-fitting suit for a few minutes of well-lit rally histrionics; not something held up awkwardly for a pepper-sprayed church porch photo op; not a sweet-sounding phrase you toss into a steady stream of otherwise hateful and incendiary social media posts.
True spirituality is shown in the tangible “fruit” of your life: the sum total of every one of your words and deeds and decisions and tweets.
When you compare the “fruit” of these two candidates, it’s really not a question of who the pro-life candidate is or who the person of faith is.
A Joe Biden presidency will protect and nurture and defend disparate, sentient human beings of every pigmentation, gender, orientation, variety, and distinction.
That expansive humanity, should be the single-issue for Christian voters now.
