Abortion, Health Care, & the Christian Right (posted by DT)

Here's something that's been bugging me for a while: the positions of those who identify with the Christian Right.

Now I'm not a Christian, and I don't know much about Christian theology or religious practice. It seems to me, though, that Jesus was a pretty righteous religious figure whose teachings of peace, brotherhood, caring for the downtrodden ("The meek shall inherit the Earth"), etc are in concert with the way I see the world and what is moral behavior.

So there seems to be no question that the Christian position would be that medical care should be accessible to the poor and near-poor. But there's been a hangup in passing this legislation; some pro-life Democrats inserted the "Stupak Amendment" into the House legislation that is very restrictive of abortion, and which would essentially make it impossible for any health plan to cover abortions, even if the government is not subsidizing it. This is clearly an attempt to make abortions more difficult to obtain for middle class women. Stupak and his colleagues are making a stand to get their language put back in the bill somehow. Liberals contend that the Senate language is also plenty restrictive on abortion, and if anything makes abortion more restricted, though not as much as in the House bill. But Stupak & friends are threatening to blow up the whole thing if they don't get what they want.

Now maybe they're bluffing- it actually seems possible that these so-called moderates are just driving a hard bargain but won't let the whole bill go down. But if they're not bluffing, then what does that say about their Christian values? In order to slow abortions they're willing to blithely let living people continue to die without health insurance? The Catholic church too seems to share these priorities- I can understand the maximalist position on abortion, but it would be nice to hear some sort of moral argument from such a powerful institution in favor of legislation that would undoubtedly aid the poor.

Which brings me to what really bugs me about the positions I hear from Christians: what about the torture debate? Is there anything more antithetical to Christian values than the use of torture on our enemies? Why is there no outcry from the churches about waterboarding or about the fact that more than 100 people have been killed in US custody in the War on Terror?

It's not that I think it's wrong for churches to fight with all their power against abortion- it's an important theological issue for them, and they have every right to whip up support for their position- it's just that we hear nothing but crickets chirping from the churches on a similarly huge moral issue. Why don't they care? Wasn't Jesus himself a victim of torture?