Where to Go From Here?

Where to Go From Here?

The national election for president of the United States is over. There is a winner and a loser. Who won and who lost this writer does not know, because production deadlines of The Alabama Baptist necessitated this column be written days before the vote actually took place.

But the name of the actual winner is not the main issue. The focus of these thoughts is: “Where does our nation go from here?”

Obviously, President Bush and Senator Kerry cast different views for America. The reaction for most of the public was to embrace one and to castigate the other. The election accentuated that America is a polarized nation.

The campaign season provided numerous examples that neither Democrats nor Republicans were above manipulating events for their own advantages. Sometimes it appeared that public policy discussions were designed to provide partisan political advantage.

Will our nation continue to be a divided nation? Will partisan concerns outweigh the public good? Will leadership come from the fringe of a party or from the center of the political spectrum?

A study prior to the election found 64 percent of likely voters indicated that moral and ethical values would influence their votes. But there was no agreement on what those values were that would cause persons to vote for one candidate or the other. A late development in the presidential campaign illustrated that point.

On Oct. 8, several Southern Baptist leaders joined Focus on the Family in an open letter urging conservative Christians to uphold biblical values with their vote for president. The letter emphasized appointment of Supreme Court justices who will hear cases related to the definition of marriage and the Pledge of Allegiance. The letter also emphasized terrorism, abortion, stem-cell research and the environment.

Another group of religious leaders, including some well-known Southern Baptists, responded with a “Vote All Your Values” campaign.

This group emphasized overcoming poverty, assuring civil rights, caring for the sick, feeding the hungry and community among nations.

The impression was that one had to choose between these warring values, that one could not be for all of them. Southern Baptist involvement fighting abortion illustrates that such a choice is not necessary.

After abortion became a legalized form of birth control, Southern Baptists condemned the practice and began working for changes in the law. Then Southern Baptists realized that help was needed on a practical level. Counseling centers were needed to work with young women faced with unwanted pregnancies. After that, Southern Baptists began helping young ladies who chose life over death for their unborn children. Care centers sprang up all across the nation to help provide necessities of life for young mothers and their children. Now Southern Baptists are active in every part of the anti-abortion campaign.

Every part of that anti-abortion effort was needed and is still needed. To have chosen to do one thing and oppose the others would have been short-sighted.

That point was made again in a recent study by Southern Baptist ethicist Glen Stassen who now teaches at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. Stassen’s study points out that in the last three years, abortion is on the rise in the United States after years of trending downward. Stassen also found corollaries between the rising abortion rate and increased unemployment, the availability of health care and other forces that impacted stable marriages.

The conclusion Stassen drew was that working against abortion on the political front and working to overcome poverty are related. One does not have to choose between the two. One can be for both, and most Alabama Baptists are for both.

My prayer for the new president, whoever he is, is that he will help our nation work together for win-win solutions to the pressing problems before us. I pray that the new president will help us recognize the interrelatedness of issues; that we can work to limit abortion and overcome poverty at the same time.

Polls indicate that most Americans are concerned about the definition of marriage and about caring for the sick. We do not have to choose between the two.

And as our nation goes into the next four years, I pray that discussion of public issues will be done in a civil manner. Verbal attacks and insulting comments toward one another may re­inforce our stereotypes, but they seldom produce understanding. Serious discussion usually brings “light” to issues. Sloganeering and name-calling produce “heat.”

No president can change things by himself. He needs Christian people to support him. I hope you will join me in committing to pray for our president and other national leaders on a daily basis. And more. Join me in committing to conduct ourselves in God-honoring ways as we continue to work in our communities, our state and our nation for the biblically based values of our faith.

Perhaps by our example we can be that “salt” and “light” of which Christ spoke and point our nation to a better way of living together than the polarity so vividly demonstrated during the election campaign.