71 • USA Christian Ministry Leaders • Pastors • Professors
•• Including Fundamentalist Extreme Focus On Family's
Dr. James Dobson •• Have Issued Letter To The Public • Sez:
"The Bible speaks to several ethical issues in this election.
Many Americans seek guidance from the Bible for important
issues of life, while we recognize that many others do not.
With thankfulness for the freedom of all Americans to believe
whatever they think best regarding matters of religion and
ethics, we offer this statement of our personal understanding
of the teachings of the Bible for the thoughtful consideration
of all who are interested in how the Bible might speak to
ethical issues in the current election.
1. Supreme Court justices: People don't often think of the
appointment of Supreme Court Justices as an ethical issue,
but it clearly is now because several decisions of the Supreme
Court have imposed on our nation new policies on major
ethical and religious questions.
A small majority of our current Supreme Court, and lower
courts that follow their example, have gone beyond their
Constitutionally-defined task of interpreting laws passed by
Congress and state legislatures, and have in effect created
new "laws" that have never been passed by any elected body.
By this process they have imposed on us decrees that allow
abortionists to murder unborn babies (contrary to Exodus
20:13 and Romans 13:9, "you shall not murder"), that protect
pornographers who poison the minds of children and adults
(contrary to Exodus 20:17, "You shall not covet ... your
neighbor's wife; see also Matt. 5:28), that redefine marriage
to include homosexual couples (thus giving governmental
encouragement to actions that Romans 1:26-28 says are
morally wrong), and that banish prayer, God's name and
God's laws from public places (thus prohibiting free exercise
of religion, and violating Romans 13:3 which says that
government should be "not a terror to good conduct, but to
bad"). In taking to itself the right to decree such policies, the
Supreme Court has seriously distorted the system of "checks
and balances" intended by the Constitution between the
legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government.
It is unlikely that any elected body such as a city council, state
legislature, or the U.S. Congress, would have decreed policies
like those mentioned above, for such groups are accountable
to the will of the people. Not so the Supreme Court, which is
appointed for life. And democratically-elected members of
Congress and state legislatures are helpless to change those
Court-mandated policies unless the makeup of the Supreme
Court is changed. We believe the ethical choice is for a
President and for U. S. Senators committed to appointing
judges who will follow the original intent of the Constitution
and just interpret law and not make it, rather than for
candidates who have often voted to block such judges in
votes in the Senate.
2. Defense against terrorists: A fundamental responsibility of
government is to "punish those who do evil" (1 Pet. 2:14) and
thus to protect its citizens. We now face a unique challenge,
because terrorists who will sacrifice their own lives in killing
others cannot be deterred by the usual threat of punishing a
criminal after he commits a crime. While Jesus instructed
individuals not to seek personal revenge but to turn the other
cheek (Matt. 5:39), the Bible teaches that governments are
responsible to "bear the sword" (Rom. 13:4) and thus to use
force to oppose violent evil. We believe the ethical choice is
for a candidate who will pursue terrorists and, when
necessary, use force to stop them before they strike us, not
for a candidate who only promises to respond if we are
attacked again.
3. Abortion: The Bible views the unborn child as a human
person who should be protected, since David said to God,
"You knitted me together in my mother's womb" (Psalm
139:13; see also Psalm 51:5; 139:13; Luke 1:44), and strong
penalties were imposed for endangering or harming the life of
an unborn child (Exod. 21:22-23). We believe the ethical
choice is for candidates who believe government should give
protection to the lives of unborn children, not ones who
believe government should allow people to choose to murder
their unborn children if they wish.
4. Homosexual marriage: The Bible views marriage as
between one man and one woman, for "a man shall leave his
father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall
become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24; Eph. 5:31). Because our courts
have shown a troubling tendency to overturn the laws that
have already been passed concerning marriage, we believe
the ethical choice is for candidates who support a
Constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one
man and one woman.
5. Embryonic stem cell research: Creating more human
embryos for their stem cells is making the beginnings of little
babies for the purpose of harvesting their parts, contrary to
the command, "You shall not murder" (Exod. 20:13). There is
a good alternative: using adult stem cells for medical
research, because this does not destroy the life of the adult
whose cells are used. We believe the ethical choice is for a
candidate who has decided he will not allow government
funds to be spent to create more human embryos just to take
their stem cells.
6. Natural resources: God put human beings on the earth to
"subdue it" and to "have dominion" over the animals (Gen.
1:28). We value the beauty of the natural world which God
created, and we believe that we are called to be responsible
stewards who protect God's creation while we use it wisely
and also seek to safeguard its usefulness for future
generations. The Bible does not view "untouched nature" as
the ideal state of the earth, but expects human beings to
develop and use the earth's resources wisely for mankind's
needs (Gen. 1:28; 2:15; 9:3; 1 Tim. 4:4). In fact, we believe
that public policy based on the idealism of "untouched
nature" hinders wise development of the earth's resources
and thus contributes to famine, starvation, disease, and death
among the poor. We believe the ethical choice is for
candidates who will allow resources to be developed and
used wisely, not for candidates indebted to environmental
theories that oppose nearly all economic development in our
nation and around the world.
7. Should Christians speak out and try to influence our nation
on these issues? God's people in the Bible often spoke about
ethical issues to government rulers. Daniel told the
Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar to practice "righteousness"
and to show "mercy to the oppressed" (Dan. 4:27); several
Old Testament prophets speak to foreign nations about their
sins (Isaiah 13-23; Ezekiel 25-32, Amos 1-2, Obadiah (to
Edom), Jonah (to Nineveh), Nahum (to Nineveh), Habakkuk
2, Zephaniah 2); and Paul spoke to the Roman governor Felix
"about righteousness and self-control and the coming
judgment" (Acts 24:25).
As Christian leaders we agree that the primary message of
the New Testament is the good news about salvation through
faith in Jesus Christ. But the primary message is not the
whole message, and another significant part of the New
Testament teaches us how people should live. With respect
to issues like these we have mentioned, the Bible also teaches
us about what kinds of laws governments should have.
The laws of a nation have a significant influence on the
nation's moral climate, for good or for ill. This is because
laws can either restrain evil or encourage it, and because laws
also have a teaching function as they inform people about
what a government thinks to be right and wrong conduct.
Therefore we urge pastors and Bible study leaders to teach on
these crucial ethical issues facing our nation. We urge all
Christians that they have a moral obligation to learn about the
candidates' positions, to be informed, and to vote. We urge
all Christians to pray that truthful speech and right conduct
on both sides would prevail in this election. We also
encourage Christians to consider doing even more for the
good of our nation, such as giving time or money, or talking
to friends and neighbors, or even serving in office
themselves. Such influence for good on the direction of our
country is one important way of fulfilling Jesus' command,
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt. 22:19)."
31 • Christian Faculty Members At CONSERVATIVE
University Of Chicago Divinity School • Have Issued Letter
To Public • Sez:
"It is often observed that the flag is a scoundrel's last resort,
and that even the worst policies can successfully be wrapped
in Old Glory. We believe the Bush administration is making
similar misuse of religion in its attempt to justify the debacle
in Iraq...Of greatest concern to us, the President maintains
that America's sole interest in Iraq is to establish freedom,
thereby serving God's plan for humanity. Thus, in his
convention acceptance speech he described America as called
to lead freedom's cause, freedom being God's gift to the
world. And in the third debate he proclaimed: 'I believe that
God wants everybody to be free. That's what I believe. And
that's been part of my foreign policy.'
We are persuaded that motives for the war were more varied
and more questionable than the President acknowledges.
Geopolitical calculations, desires for vengeance, military
opportunism, and corporate interest (most notably greed for
oil) all accompanied, and at times overshadowed the religious
and moral considerations. To package this motley collection
under the heading of 'freedom' is deliberately misleading: an
offense to language and reason, but a familiar political
strategy. To justify it as God's will, however, seems little
short of sacrilege.
As faculty members of the University of Chicago Divinity
School, we deplore this attempt to wrap failed policies in
religious rhetoric. We call for the repudiation of Mr. Bush's
war and his misuse of religion to defend or sanctify it."
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