Friday, March 18, 2011

Why Does the Left Project Its Obsession with Promiscuity, Unnatural Sex and Abortion onto Conservatives Who Want Nothing to Do with Such Things?

One of the least serious and most amusing charges made against conservative Evangelicals like me is that we are "obsessed with gay marriage and abortion." What a ridiculous accusation! We have absolutely no interest in either subject unless somebody tries to make murdering babies legal or tries to change the definition of natural marriage. It is clearly the Left which is obsessed with these things and it is the Left which is the clear aggressor in the culture wars that have been raging since the 60s. I believe the pop psychology phrase that describes this phenomenon is "projection."

So it is nice to see this high school debating tactic demolished every once and a while. The latest to shoot these barrel-dwelling fish is David French, who writes:
I chuckle when I hear the common critique of the religious and secular left: "Evangelicals are obsessed with gays and abortion." The criticism is so common that it's often internalized and adopted by the church itself. Similar to our reaction to another leftist refrain ("Christians care about children until they're born"), we act as if the critique is legitimate-as if it's the result of some kind of empirical, good-faith analysis of Christian action in America. But it's not. It is, pure and simple, a talking point.

And it's false. Demonstrably false.

What if I told you that American Christians, in fact, are "obsessed" with helping the poorest and weakest members of our society? Would that improve our image? What if I told you that this "obsession" was so obvious as to be demonstrable even to the most hardened skeptic? Would that make you doubt the good faith of the "obsessed with gays and abortion" critique? . . .

We can find part of the answer by looking at the budgets of the largest and most influential Christian organizations. A website called Guidestar publishes the tax filings of most charitable organizations, so register (it's free) and take a tour of Form 990s.

First, you'll notice that Christians do give lots of money to what I'd call "pure" culture war organizations, but not as much as the Left. The largest (by budget) include my employer, the Alliance Defense Fund, and the Family Research Council. Of the pro-life organizations, two of the largest are National Right to Life and Americans United for Life. These organizations raise quite a bit of money-almost $60 million combined. But it's not as much as the leading legal organization on the Left. The ACLU Foundation (which does not include the various state ACLUs) took in $98 million with the national ACLU itself raking in an additional $33 million.

But what about organizations like Focus on the Family? Focus is big, no doubt, with gross receipts exceeding $135 million. But anyone with even a passing familiarity with that organization knows that the vast majority of its efforts are thoroughly divorced from the "gays and abortion" side of the culture wars. Its website and radio show are primarily dedicated to such topics as enriching your marriage, dealing with unruly teens, and reviewing TV shows and movies for their family-friendliness.

How do those numbers stack up with leading Christian anti-poverty charities? Let's look at just three: World Vision, Compassion International, and Samaritan's Purse. Their total annual gross receipts (again, according to most recently available Form 990s) exceed $2.1 billion. The smallest of the three organizations (Samaritan's Purse) has larger gross receipts than every major "pro-family" culture war organization in the United States combined. World Vision, the largest, not only takes in more than $1 billion per year, it also has more than 1,400 employees and 43,000 volunteers.
If you care about poor people in need, you had better hope that the Evangelical Left fails to entice many conservative Evangelicals down the path of liberal Protestantism. You had better hope that the number of conservative Evangelicals grows quickly - if you actually want to see the poor get help, that is.

1 comment:

Lee Pasternak said...

There is a difference between interest and obsession when it comes to discussing topics such as abortion. You point out that the left is the ones who are obsessed with abortion. The right-wingers are the ones who have absolutely no interest on the subject unless someone tries to legalize “murdering babies.” Yet, according to your blog, this is your 134th post regarding the topic, over 30 more posts than the next closest topic (Barack Obama). I think just by analyzing that sheer statistic, you are in fact interested or perhaps even obsessed with the topic.

Although an extreme statement, one could make a case with Christians only caring about babies until they are born by pointing out the child molesting scandal that plagues the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church may think it’s being philanthropic by funding pro-life organizations, however with the appointment of Marc Ouellette in the Vatican, I would disagree.

Marc Ouellette is staunchly opposed to abortion even in the most extreme cases such as rape victims. This is demonstrably wrong.

One particular complication to pregnancy is when the fetus grows in the fallopian tube. This is known as an ectopic pregnancy. As the fetus grows, the fallopian tube will rupture and cause internal bleeding to the mother if left untreated. Approximately one half of all ectopic pregnancies that are left untreated lead to the death of the mother. 1% of all pregnancies are ectopic. In this case, an abortion is justifiable.

In the event where a woman gets pregnant due to sexual abuse, dating violence, or rape, it is reasonable for the woman to opt for an abortion.

Over one half of all teen pregnancies between the ages of 15-19 in Canada are aborted. This is likely the answer to a question: are teenagers ready to take on parenthood? No, as teens likely do not have the financial stability nor the idea of how much time it takes to care for a child. Teenagers are better off being concerned with their education, their future careers, and their social life. In the last 30 years, Canada has seen a significant decrease in teen pregnancies, which subsequently means fewer abortions.

Nothing is more tragic than seeing an unwanted child who is abandoned, brutalized, and unloved. Abortions protect children from family abuse.

In a democratic society, we have separation of church and state. The Supreme Court has also realized that moral decisions made by an individual are paramount to that of the state. Therefore, to take away abortions will violate freedom to choose one’s lifestyle. It will also discriminate to women with lower income. Only wealthier women will have the funds to travel where abortions are safe and legal.

The position the church has taken regarding abortion is demonstrably wrong. Abortions save women’s lives, they protect the interests of our future generations, they stop children from being abandoned or loved, and they allow women to choose which life they want to lead.