I am a Christian. I am also what some might call a liberal, firmly committed to the Democratic Party.
In 2006, I drove a state senator across Florida. One of the many things we discussed was my unusual habit of attending church once a week. The senator told me Democrats typically knew who their supporters were based on church attendance.
I was an anomaly. I should be at home watching Fox news, composing a brainless, holier-than-thou rant for my local paper.
I explained my Christian values to the senator.
I am a strong advocate for the sanctity of marriage. There are few things more important to me than a life-long commitment to another person made before my community and God.
The sanctity comes from dedication to shared principles and lifelong perseverance, especially when the butterflies stop floating around in one's stomach. Christ talks at great length about the fundamental sanctity of such a commitment.
I do not advocate legislation on the sanctity of marriage because such a standard, to be a valid one, must first outlaw divorce and remarriage. Codifying a sanctity of marriage that simultaneously allows for its breach is nonsensical and is most certainly not Christian.
How public discussion of holy matrimony came to be about demonizing a sliver of the population is upsetting to me. It is bigotry, born out of the sinful desire to puff up oneself or ignore personal shortcomings. So often, the Christian men and women who push for legislation opposing gay marriage have divorced and remarried.
As a Christian, I am pained by abortion. In my view, all lives constitute a gift given.
I recently received a mass e-mail from a Christian friend. She detailed the horror of partial-birth abortion and asserted that we shouldn't vote for Obama because he supports such evil.
The number of partial birth abortions in America a year is somewhere in the thousands. Meanwhile, more than half of the 37 million Americans living in poverty today are women, and more than a third of those women are struggling to care for children.
Most women understand that a child is something precious. When they are not able to properly care for themselves, much less a child, some of these women take extreme measures.
Christians must keep in mind that the only alternative to legal abortion is not its elimination. Women may be driven to take matters into their own hands, often risking their lives in some back-alley procedure. This should be just as alarming to any Christian as the thought of legal abortion.
I am called by Christ to sacrifice for these women, who can't house their children, feed their children or take them to the doctor regularly.
When offered a choice between one candidate who wants to help these women and another who wants to cut the taxes and programs that assist them, as a Christian, I choose to help these women. In the end, helping impoverished women does more to stop abortion than overturning a single court ruling.
The point here is not that conservative Christians are a bunch of hypocrites; it is that political decisions for a Christian are not clear-cut. I pray that my fellow Christians remember this philosophy as we approach Election Day.
Michael Belle is a political science graduate student. His column appears on Wednesdays.
