Younger Christians Redefine Meaning Of 'Pro-Life' Through Involvement In Global Issues, Opinion Piece Says

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Abortion;  Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 13 Jan 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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Evangelical Christians who are expanding their advocacy work to include fighting sex trafficking and involvement in other global issues may bring a permanent change to the meaning of the "pro-life" movement, Tom Krattenmaker -- an author and member of the USA Today board of contributors -- writes in a USA Today opinion piece. Groups such as the Christian not-for-profit Compassion First and International Justice Mission -- which has been involved in fighting sex trafficking since the late 1990s -- are among the Christian organizations "showing what evangelical Christianity increasingly looks like in the new century, and in the new paradigm," Krattenmaker writes. He adds that this "younger generation of fervent Jesus followers pose a fascinating challenge to the older generation evangelical Christianity, too." According to Krattenmaker, "This younger wave will not stick to the narrow older script -- abortion, gays, the erosion of Christian prerogatives in the public square -- that has governed publicly applied evangelicalism since the [1970s]."

Although these groups might not see their work in global issues, such as poverty, disease and "other forms of human degradation," as political, they could "end up changing the meaning of a political movement and idea -- 'pro-life' -- that has been at the center of one of the most rancorous political arguments of our time," Krattenmaker writes. He adds, "[T]he antitrafficking movement is up against a slavery behemoth that has become the third-largest criminal enterprise in the world," after illegal drugs and arms dealings. He notes that according to the U.S. Justice Department, "of the 800,000 humans trafficked across international borders each year, some 17,500 are sold into slavery" in the U.S., working mostly in prostitution and domestic labor.

Krattenmaker writes that poverty, torture, immigration, health care, disease prevention and climate change also are "finding room on a more broadly defined 'pro-life' movement." According to Krattenmaker, there has been discussion among Christian groups of "respecting the humanity of gay men and lesbians and new interest in cooperation with progressives and non-evangelicals (including the new president) on strategies to reduce the incidence of abortion." Krattenmaker writes that evangelical leader Rick Warren has suggested progressives who support abortion rights "would be mistaken if they interpreted all this as a sign that evangelicals are dropping the abortion issue."

Krattenmaker continues that the "Christian right's tireless championing of the pro-life ethic has gotten through -- just not in a way that might have been anticipated by the culture warriors of previous generations," adding, "But if this evolving meaning of 'pro-life' is seen as a loss by older Christian right adherents, it certainly stands as a victory for the many faith-respecting Americans troubled by the shoehorning of Christianity into a narrow right-wing political agenda." He concludes, "As it does for the multitudes who are benefitting as more Christians fan out to feed the poor, care for the sick, steward the earth and open their hearts to outcast populations" (Krattenmaker, USA Today, 1/12).

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