Of course this question is never asked by African American Christians, and I think Eric Redmond in this piece does a good job in explaining to white evangelicals how easily Black Christians can support Obama's candidacy, recognizing that white believers tend to see Christian political concerns centered mainly on the issues of abortion, homosexual marriage, and a nationalistic foreign policy dressed in the cloak of patriotism.There certainly needs to be a far-reaching and honest discussion among Christians of all cultures as to what constitutes a biblically motivated policy agenda, and personally I think we can simply review the ethical, economic, moral, and judicial charges brought against ancient Israel by the Lord to understand what are his expectations of government leadership.
It's not too far of a stretch to say that the sum of Christian policy concerns should not stop at homosexual marriage and abortion. Indeed, even on these issues, there needs to be a strategic discussion of policy that goes beyond simply declaring these items as wrong or arguing for the proposed negative residual psychological effects of these actions. For example, if we want to see abortion become an antiquated relic of American history, will overturing Roe v. Wade deliver the societal transformation that the Christian community desires? Perhaps, if the church were able to connect anti-abortion concerns to a larger child-advocacy agenda, the social and cultural pressure can be applied against abortion that would lack the inflammatory tones that it has today, and actually make it a thing of the past.
With that said, let me underscore that I believe abortion is a grievous blight on our society, and conservatives and liberals of all ilks should agree that abortion, especially given the number of abortions performed annually in this country, is an indictment against our society.
Anyhow, check out Redmond's piece which does a good job of speaking to the underlying cultural and identity themes that really drive Black American's hope and expectations for Obama's candidacy.
3 comments:
I AM A HISPANIC CHRISTIAN WHO READ YOUR COMMENT AND I WANT TO TELL YOU THAT I TOTALY DISAGREE. RACE,CREED,GENDER OR ANY OTHER EXCUSE!!! DOES NOT JUSTIFY ABORTIONS. GODS WORD IS SUPERIOR TO OUR OPINIONS OR REASONS WE USE TO JUSTIFY IT. IT MAKES ME SICK THAT ANY TRUE CHRISTIAN, BLACK, WHITE, YELLOW OR GREEN CAN SUPPORT THE KILLINGS OF " THE LEAST OF THESE" OUR INFANTS. OBAMA STATED THAT THAT HE IS FOR THE LEAST OF THESE BUT HIS RECORD AND WHAT I HAVE HEARD COME OUT OF HIS MOUTH IS TOTALLY 100% FOR ABORTION ON DEMAND. HE SHOULD HAVE DONE SOME RESEARCH ON THE ORIGINS OF PLANNED PARENTHOOD AS YOU SHOULD. THE BLACK AMERICANS OUR MOSTLY VOTING BECAUSE OF RACE NOT QUALIFICATIONS OR CHRISTIAN MORAL ABSOLUTES. PLEASE STOP THE RACE NONSENCE AND VOTE FOR WHAT IS RIGHT. YOU MUST KNOW THAT TWO SUPREME COURT JUDGES ARE GOING TO STEP DOWN. THIS IS A CHANCE FOR GODS PEOPLE TO WAKE UP AND MAKE SURE 2 CONSERVATIVE JUDGES CAN BE NOMINATED AND QUITE POSIBLY OVER TURN ROE VS WADE. THIS IS WHAT THE LORD WOULD ASK OF US WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT HIM. WE SAY WE WANT " LIFE LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS" BUT FORGET THAT BEFORE LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS THERE MUST BE LIFE!! ANY COMMENTS MY WEB IS HUMBERTOGIL777@YAHOO.COM
I totally disagree with Humberto's comment that "the black Americans are mostly voting because of race not qualifications and Christian moral values." As a person of African ancestry and a Christian, I endorse Obama because I see God's favor and endorsement upon his life. I intially struggled with seeing Obama as God's choose, because of his beliefs. However,I was reminded that just as God used Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus and Arthaxeres, who were surely not righteous, christian kings, He can use Barack Hussein Obama to fullfill His purpose.
Furthermore, many of us christians have been limited in our focus in regards to the issue of abortion and gay rights. Yes,these are crucial issues but what about:
(1)the failure of our schools to properly educate millions of children every year
(2)The growing sex trade involving chidren
(3)generational poverty in our rural and inner city communities compounded by public policies that nurture dependence
(4) the ongoing fruit of centuries of racism as evidenced by the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina; genocide in Darfur and elsewhere; and the growing global AIDS pandemic.
These are just some of the issues that too many evangelicals fail to address.
Humberto,
As an African American Christian, I was appaled and insulted by your comments! How can you question Obama's Christian beliefs because he may believe in the right for a woman to choose? Let me preface this by saying that I personally and morally do not support abortion and I believe that Obama jas like moral views. Your narrow view of what government leaders should do in relation to Christian moral values does not fit in to what the founding fathers of this nation envisioned when the constitution was formed with the SEPARATION of church and state. This allowed for our governmental leaders to run the country and our evangelical leaders to deal with spiritual/moral issues and lead the efforts of bringing more souls to Christ.
You also mentioned that Black Americans vote based on race. could you name me a black man who was president or seriously ran for president? How many black senators are there? three. So how can we vote based on race when the only race we've been able to vote on is not our own. Abortion views and whether the candidate will appoint conservative judges who will overturn Roe v. Wade should influence my opinion on the candidate but are not the sole reason for my vote! Although abortion is morally wrong, our gov't has far to many pressing economic and national security issues that require attention.
Do you honestly think that the Republicans really care about Conservative Christian values? hey just want the vote to try to win the election. I've yet to see one president include Christian moral values on his agenda. It's a sad yet true statement.
The message is for all Christians, regardless of race, gender, creed, or political party, to come together, and determine what is really most important and determine how we can place our Christian influence on government.
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