I’ve been thinking lately about the “values voters” that make up so much of American social conservatism, and how so much of their focus is on two things:
- Opposition to abortion;
- Opposition to homosexuality (and especially homosexual marriage).
What’s interesting about this is to consider what, according to the New Testament, Jesus Christ actually said about these two issues.
Which is absolutely nothing.
Think about it:
- Jesus said absolutely nothing about abortion.
- Jesus said absolutely nothing about homosexuality.
He could have said something about those issues. Abortion was not unheard of in the time of Christ. Or even before the time of Christ. Consider the following:
- One of the earliest references to abortion is found in the Ebers Papyrus, an Egyptian papyrus dated about 1550 B.C. that describes ancient remedies for a wide variety of ailments including several herbal recipes for causing the abortion of an unwanted child.
- Both Plato and Aristotle, writing a few centuries before the time of Christ, recommended abortion under certain circumstances for the good of society (Republic 5 [460], Politics 7.16 [1335b]).
- Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23–79) listed various substances which were commonly used in his day as abortifacients.
Nor was homosexuality unknown in Christ’s time.
The fact is, Jesus was clearly not particularity interested in those issues. The two issues that do predominate in Jesus thinking, based on what he is reported to have said, are:
- How to get into the Kingdom of Heaven.
- Taking care of the poor and dispossessed.
So tell me, my friends, how are opposition to abortion and homosexuality a demonstration of “Christian values?”