Give to Caesar

"Responding to the news, Patrick J. Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition told LifeNews.com that Obama's making taxpayers fund abortion takes away from his claims to want to govern from the center and find common ground on abortion.

Mahoney said "it would greatly increase abortions around the world. It would also create a scenario in which American evangelicals and Catholics would be paying for abortion referrals through their tax dollars."

"If President-elect Obama reverses this policy, it would show a complete and blatant disregard for the faith values of millions of American Christians as well as expanding the violence and tragedy of abortion worldwide. America should be exporting justice and human rights, not brutality and violence," he said."

http://www.lifenews.com/nat4559.html

I don't know what I think of this article. On the one hand, its hard to figure out if America is ever not exporting violence. Everyone seems to have their own least favorite form of violence, (wars, abortion, an imperialistic consumer mindset, violent video games, movies, whatever) and to them that is the real evil that America should be blasted by lighting from heaven for exporting. People who can justify the other guy's least favorite kind are perfectly willing to condemn him for liking their own least favorite. Was Patrick J. Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition this angry about Gitmo? If you listen to them all, we're just sunk- but maybe listening to everyone is too simplistic.

(But what makes 'them all' assume that violence is bad? I... am not sure.)

On the other hand, since I believe abortion is a form of disrespect for human life, and that human life ultimately should not be disrespected, more funding for it seems like a bad thing. Also, making people who believe that abortion is an evil against humanity (and God!) help pay for it, forcing them to go against their conscience and actually participate it what they believe to be wrong, seems like nothing short of oppressive ideology at work.

Then again, along with pet peeves about evil violence, anyone who gets into power and acts on their beliefs seems to have an ideology that oppresses someone else. For instance, many people feel the wars we are fighting now aren't right, and their tax dollars are paying for that. I almost wish there was some way of conscientious objection- so the individual could work for the perceived good of the community without taking part in its perceived evil. Of course, in practice, that would probably turn into either slave labor camps or terrorist acts against the state, so scratch that idea.

On the fourth and final hand, I wonder if funding for abortion really matters. All the funding in the world could only offer abortions. If no one wanted them, the abortion clinics would be the best funded empty places in the world. I don't believe this justifies abortion- since Saddam Hussein and his sons wanted to torture and kill dissidents and naysayers, and apparently so did we. Those things aren't justified. But are there CNA's at the nursing home where I work who aborted because they felt abandoned and that they didn't have a future? I honestly don't know. Of course, whether or not you believe you have a future is a choice I can't make for you. But if I knew I had done everything in my power to serve the people around me, born and unborn- if I knew that there was no need for abortion clinics, I would with a clean conscious give them any amount of taxes (though not with a very happy wallet!). If I have given to God what is God's, what can Caesar do?

But I have to ask, have I given it? That's the million dollar question.