No room for celebration

As my wife and I drove to the hospital to give birth to our son, I was struck with a peculiar thought. It was late at night the day after the election, and as we drove down 100 South I saw a mangy dog that I assume was a stray. I had seen it several times before. Rural areas just outside of suburbs seem to be common places for strays to end up. As the image of the dog spun around in my mind with the image of my wife in labor and other random thoughts and images from recent days, a disturbing realization entered my mind. The new President-elect believes that the stray dog in my rear view mirror deserves more protection than the child in my wife's womb. Don't get me wrong- I think stray dogs deserve some protection; however, I am convinced that children at any stage of life- beginning at conception- deserve more. Under current animal cruelty laws, I would face jail time if I killed that stray dog. Conversely, if Obama's FOCA legislation was law, my wife and I could kill my unborn son with no repercussions (at least in this life). I could even have my neighbors foot the bill.

Obama's inauguration was attended by an estimated 2 million enthusiastic supporters. As I saw clips on the news, I wondered how many of those in attendance consider themselves Christians. I would like to talk to each one of them if I could. Those who want to find a way to fit Christianity somehow into their politics will find ways to do so. After all, there were Christians personally opposed to slavery who thought it should not be changed through the law. They thought instead it should be changed slowly through economic means. There were certainly Christians who found ways to justify voting for Obama, but that is not my issue for the moment. I just want to know how anyone can justify celebrating a man with such a reprehensible view of human life. If he gets his way, the only protection for unborn children will be their mother choosing to love them. Children who are not loved by their mothers will have no hope for protection. Not only will no one help protect these children, the government will be enlisted to fund and support their execution.

Through deluded reasoning, terribly misguided priorities, poor moral casuistry, or some combination of the three, I can conceive of how Christians may have voted for Obama. What there is absolutely no room for is celebration. Christians, whether they voted for Obama or not, should mourn his election on some level. We must, as Paul exhorts us, not mourn as those with no hope, but we must also not celebrate as those with no compassion.