The Silent Issue

None of these arguments is perfect, and none releases a Christian voter who was raised with and believes in the evil of abortion from his moral obligation to oppose it. But they do provide Christians who are leaning toward Obama with a rationale and an escape from the divisive, mean-hearted rhetoric of the past three decades. On the far right, these arguments won't change anyone's mind. In the middle, they might.

It is impossible to overstate, however, the potency of the anti-abortion movement among conservative Christians in America, especially since the galvanizing days of Jerry Falwell and the moral majority in the early 1980s. Young evangelicals, especially, who were raised in that environment talk about how difficult it is to see abortion in anything but black-and-white terms. Gov. Sarah Palin, whose family portrait contains the silent but not hidden message, "I didn't have an abortion and neither did my teenage daughter," speaks directly to these Christians and echoes the messages they've heard their whole lives—at home, in Sunday school, at youth group and at church. In September, Cameron Strang, the 32-year-old publisher of the Christian magazine Relevant told me how frustrated he was that the selection of Palin put the abortion debate back on the table—and in such an old fashioned way. "All of a sudden, it's us versus them and you have to pick a side," he said. "With abortion as a wedge issue, it's going to be harder and harder for moderate Christians to feel OK supporting Obama."

This next data point refers to Catholics, but it broadly pertains to conservative evangelicals as well. According to a study by William D'Antonio at Georgetown University, 70 percent of American Catholics say they are willing to oppose their bishops on abortion. But that doesn't mean they will.

© 2008