(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . A Somewhat More Effective Approach To Help Deflate Evangelical Support For Trump [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-10-20 There are several reasons that evangelicals have come to support such a very obviously non-Christian, immoral candidate as Trump (which was at one time unthinkable) . One of the biggest, if not the most prominent reason, however, centers on the issue of abortion. I can remember a time as a believer before abortion was such a front-end issue for fundamentalists (of which I was one). While abortion was never condoned by any means (and always had political ramifications), as I recall it wasn't such a featured flagship issue among the Christians I knew, and I don't recall sermon after sermon railing on and on about baby killers and how it is the worst evil possible, as seems to be the case now. Somehow it has equaled (I would even say overtaken) homosexuality as the worst, the most Satanic, the most hideous evil which God cannot bear and which must be eliminated at all costs bar none. Obviously this situation didn’t just happen but has been orchestrated by a political apparatus that at some point realized the true brainwashing potential of religion to create a powerful issue they can use to get a whole swath of the country to vote for them. And what a powerful issue they have managed to create. I can't count how many interviews, comments or statements I've read from preachers, evangelicals or mainstream Christians, to the effect that yes, Trump may not be the most moral or "Christian" person (unaware of the understatement), maybe even a pretty bad person and unfit for office -- and yet, the prospect (and history) of Trump appointing judges that will ultimately make abortion illegal, is such a tantalizing and galvanizing goal for them that they will vote for him all the same. This is because abortion has become a make-or-break issue for so many of these believers (thanks to being smothered with weekly sermons on how much God hates it). For many it is even THE root issue, sine qua non. While unprovable, I would wager that even if Trump were to come out in favor of gay rights, and yet still promised to appoint anti-abortion judges, they'd shiver in disgust but still vote for him. It’s that important to them. If there were some approach to help lessen the importance of abortion to evangelicals it would go a very long way toward reducing their support for Republican candidates. Yet, as most of us know, facts will not sway these people in the face of what they (have been brainwashed to) view as such a horrible sin. Any talk about the non-humanness of embryos, life begins/doesn’t begin at fertilization, or about women's body rights, or Old Testament passages that condoned or gave instructions for abortion, or that Jesus never said a word about it, are like speaking into the desert wind. The fact remains, for these warriors, babies made in God's image are dying, a fact that God abhors, and something must be done about it. Fundamentally their opposition to abortion is a religious reason - not a logical one. They must eliminate abortion because God hates abortion as it kills his potential children while still "in the womb". They are against abortion, not as a personal opinion, but rather because God is against abortion. Any other arguments made against them that don’t bring God (their idea of him) and his abhorrence of abortion into the picture are ultimately irrelevant as far as they are concerned, and basically a waste of time. That's where I propose that the argument be focused instead on something that can be more plainly demonstrated, and in language they understand: GOD DEFINITELY DOES NOT CARE ABOUT ABORTION. Forget trying to parse out the Old or New Testament. Look at the world. For God, abortion is very obviously and demonstrably not the all-important issue that you or your pastor think it is. As you desperately try to get judges appointed to restrict and ultimately outlaw abortion, God, looking down on your tiny acts of activism, can stop it all at any time right now, but chooses not to. Whatever the reasons, He’s ok with letting His potential children continue to die in the womb, because we see it happening. Even if you feel as you do, that you are working as God's instrument, you can never be as effective as the Almighty. Not even close. If He is working through you, then God has chosen a very, very poorly efficient and ineffective means to bring a halt to a practice which you say He himself detests so much. Practically speaking, any efforts you could ever make will be paltry at best. Let's say your wildest dreams come true and you manage to make abortion illegal, by voting Trump back in and eventually getting a solid full-conservative Supreme Court and Congress. Totally eliminate abortions in all states of the Union. 100%. So, how many abortions have you actually stopped, a little over half a million maybe? (US figures hover just above ~600,000 abortions per year). Well, not to demoralize you (or God) too much, but: China alone performs ~9 million abortions each year. And in the world, you're looking at 73 million fetuses being "murdered in the womb", as you put it, every single year. Clearly, even if God does have an unbearable distaste for abortion, any local success you have in the U.S. is very unlikely to make Him feel all that much better, against numbers like these. Considering the statistics, then, aren’t your most gallant efforts, as God's instrument, quite pitifully ineffective compared to what God could do if it bothered Him enough to put His mind to it? No, instead, God is letting tens of millions of babies be killed in the womb, year by year. This isn’t an argument, but just an objective observation of reality, an undeniable fact we see around us. God simply isn't preoccupied enough with ending abortion, as to bother to lift a hand and make it not happen. Certainly not as preoccupied as you and your pastor are. Alright, maybe He doesn't in fact like having abortions take place in such overwhelming numbers, as you say, but it's clearly a situation He's willing to accept, at least enough to let it go on and on each year, for untold years on end so far. Therefore, wouldn't it be good to reconsider why you are so preoccupied with it, since God very obviously isn't? I would conclude by saying, please take a deep breath and perhaps back off the abortion issue, based on the realization that God just doesn't care about it - at the very least not as much as you do. And it's clearly misguided to vote for a candidate solely because you think getting rid of abortions in the U.S. will somehow make God happy. He still won't be happy, because the number of human abortions in the world will remain largely unchanged (~99%). It's much more likely that He's fine with the way things are now, otherwise He'd do something about it Himself instead of depending on you, a comparatively ineffective and imperfect tool. Unless, I don’t know, you think your efforts are more effective than God Himself would be...? 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