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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>That's right, folks. If you can't win by being
truthful, get hysterical. I didn't read all of it, but somewhere in all
this twaddle did he claim young boys and possibly girls would be forced
into homosexual acts before they got kindergarten nap time? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Sue H. </FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=privatejf35@hotmail.com href="mailto:privatejf35@hotmail.com">J
Ford</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, November 03, 2008 3:44
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] oBAMA'S COMING
WAR</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><B><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=5>
<P align=left>Obama’s Coming War on Historic Christianity over</P>
<P align=left>Homosexual Practice and Abortion</P></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=4>
<P align=left>by Robert A. J. Gagnon, Ph.D.</P></B></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=2>
<P align=left>Nov. 3, 2008</P></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">
<P align=left>If Obama is elected President this Tuesday he has made it a
priority of his administration</P>
<P align=left>to pass legislation that will make war against Christians and
persons of other religious</P>
<P align=left>convictions who believe that homosexual practice and abortion
are immoral acts.</P>
<P align=left>Persecution will take many forms, as indicated by actions that
have already taken place in</P>
<P align=left>parts of the United States, Canada, and Western
Europe:</P></FONT><FONT face=SymbolMT>
<P align=left>• </FONT><I><FONT face="Times New Roman">Compulsory
indoctrination </I></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">of our children in
schools (kindergarten up), as also of</P>
<P align=left>ourselves in the workplace, that abortion and especially
homosexual practice are</P>
<P align=left>moral and civil “rights” and that their opponents are bigots to
be excluded from</P>
<P align=left>polite society. As regards their children in the public schools,
there will be no</P>
<P align=left>parental notification or opt-out provisions. For examples go
</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">, </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">, </FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">,
</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">,</P></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>
<P align=left>here</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000>,
</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=#000000>.</FONT></P></FONT><FONT
face=SymbolMT>
<P align=left>• </FONT><I><FONT face="Times New Roman">Job discrimination,
termination, and the imposition of fines </I></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">on people who</P>
<P align=left>express contrary views toward homosexual practice within, and
even outside, the</P>
<P align=left>workplace. For examples go </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>here </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">(pp. 10-17),
</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">, </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">, </FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">,
</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">.</P></FONT><FONT face=SymbolMT>
<P align=left>• </FONT><I><FONT face="Times New Roman">Forced subsidization
</I></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">of abortion and homosexual unions
through taxes.</P></FONT><FONT face=SymbolMT>
<P align=left>• </FONT><I><FONT face="Times New Roman">Forced offering of
goods and services </I></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">that directly
advance and promote</P>
<P align=left>homosexual practice and abortion, irrespective of the degree to
which the</P>
<P align=left>conscience of the provider may be violated. This includes, but
is not limited to,</P>
<P align=left>adoption services and foster parenting, health care providers
and counselors,</P>
<P align=left>justices of the peace, those who provide wedding services, the
legal profession,</P>
<P align=left>print shops, and indeed all businesses with employees. For
examples, go </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">,</P></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>
<P align=left>here</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000>,
</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#000000>, </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000>,
</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#000000>, </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>here </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000>(second
half), </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#000000>, </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000>,
</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#000000>, </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000>,
</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#000000>, </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000>,
</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=#000000>,</FONT></P></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>
<P align=left>here</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
color=#000000>.</FONT></P></FONT><FONT face=SymbolMT>
<P align=left>• </FONT><I><FONT face="Times New Roman">Severe restrictions in
broadcasting and the print media </I></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">against “homophobic”</P>
<P align=left>utterances as civil rights violations that would incur financial
penalties and loss of</P>
<P align=left>license. Limitations would also extend to </FONT><I><FONT
face="Times New Roman">free speech in the marketplace</I></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">. For</P>
<P align=left>examples go </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">, </FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">,
</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">, </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">, </FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">,
</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">, </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">.</P></FONT><FONT
face=SymbolMT>
<P align=left>• </FONT><I><FONT face="Times New Roman">Sanctions against
Christian colleges and seminaries </I></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">that
allow “discrimination”</P>
<P align=left>against “gay, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders,” involving
fines, loss of</P>
<P align=left>federal funds for student loans and research, loss of tax
exemptions, and even loss</P>
<P align=left>of accreditation. In short, what happened to Bob Jones
University over racial</P>
<P align=left>issues will happen to all Christian institutions that tolerate
“homophobic” attitudes</P>
<P align=left>and practices on campus.</P>
<P align=left>2</P>
<P align=left>Persons who express the view that homosexual practice is immoral
will be particular</P>
<P align=left>targets of persecution. They will be likened to virulent racists
and their civil liberties will</P>
<P align=left>be attenuated accordingly. The appropriate comparison here is
not to the limited</P>
<P align=left>toleration that currently exists for moderately different views
on the role of women in the</P>
<P align=left>home and in the church. While Scripture contains many positive
views about women, it</P>
<P align=left>treats homosexual practice as a gross violation of foundational
sexual ethics. To combat</P>
<P align=left>such “hatred,” which allegedly puts homosexual persons at risk
of violence, the state will</P>
<P align=left>practice a “zero” tolerance that is more akin to denying black
persons their rights. The</P>
<P align=left>analogy is, of course, absurd because, unlike homosexual
impulses, being black is not an</P>
<P align=left>impulse to do what Scripture expressly forbids or what nature
shows to be structurally</P>
<P align=left>incongruous but rather is a 100% heritable, absolutely
immutable, primarily nonbehavioral</P>
<P align=left>condition that is therefore inherently benign. However, logic
here will be</P>
<P align=left>irrelevant to the enforcers of “sexual orientation” laws.
Proponents of a homosexualist</P>
<P align=left>agenda have been making an analogy to racism for decades. Don’t
be surprised when the</P>
<P align=left>analogy is codified into law.</P>
<P align=left>How can Christians, as well as other persons who share similar
values, vote for a</P>
<P align=left>candidate who wants to persecute them for their views and to
compel them, against their</P>
<P align=left>consciences and subject to civil penalties, to be indoctrinated
and participate in the</P>
<P align=left>affirmation of immoral practices? In short, how can Christians
vote for someone who will</P>
<P align=left>insure society’s regard for them as bigots? Many persons of
faith who rightly recognize</P>
<P align=left>homosexual practice and abortion to be moral evils have
justified support for Obama on</P>
<P align=left>the basis of one or more of the following assumptions:</P>
<P align=left>(1) Obama is not so hard-left in his views in the areas of
homosexual practice and</P>
<P align=left>abortion.</P>
<P align=left>(2) Even if Obama were hard-left on these issues it would be
politically impossible to</P>
<P align=left>pass hard-left legislation.</P>
<P align=left>(3) Even if a “sea change” of hard-left legislation on
homosexual practice and</P>
<P align=left>abortion occurred, leading to the persecution of those who think
differently, other</P>
<P align=left>issues justify a vote for Obama.</P></FONT><B><FONT
face="Times New Roman">
<P align=left>Obama’s Will and Power to Bring about a Legal Sea Change on
Homosexual</P>
<P align=left>Practice and Abortion</P></B></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">
<P align=left>Let’s take the second assumption first. If Obama is elected, the
Democrats will almost</P>
<P align=left>certainly control both the House and Senate, and do so by
comfortable margins. The </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>2008</P>
<P align=left>Democratic National Platform </FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=#000000>is strongly supportive of
homosexual and abortion “rights”</FONT></P>
<P align=left>and “opposes any and all efforts to weaken or undermine” these
rights (pp. 50-52). What</P>
<P align=left>will stop Obama from implementing his agenda? He only needs a
simple majority in both</P>
<P align=left>houses of Congress. With a Democratic-controlled Congress and an
opportunity for</P>
<P align=left>Obama to appoint up to five Supreme Court justices and numerous
federal court</P>
<P align=left>appointments during his tenure as President, everything Obama
wants in these two areas</P>
<P align=left>he will get. This will result in a “sea change” in morals in
this country and a wave of</P>
<P align=left>intolerance for those who cannot accept this sea change.</P>
<P align=left>3</P>
<P align=left>Now as to the first assumption: “Obama is a moderate man in his
views on homosexual</P>
<P align=left>practice and abortion.” Obama was ranked the </FONT><I><FONT
face="Times New Roman">most </I></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">left-of-center Senator in 2007 by the</P>
<P align=left>non-partisan </FONT><I><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>National Journal</I></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">,
assessing 99 votes made by Obama that year (his running</P>
<P align=left>mate Joe Biden, finished third, just edged out for second
place). This hard-left standing is</P>
<P align=left>certainly secure as regards his stances on homosexual practice
and abortion.</P>
<P align=left>As regards </FONT><B><FONT face="Times New Roman">homosexual
practice</B></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">:</P></FONT><FONT
face=SymbolMT>
<P align=left>• </FONT><I><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#333333>Obama
wants to do everything that he can to foist “gay marriage” on all 50</P>
<P align=left>states. </I></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#333333>Obama wants the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act repealed, going so
far as</P>
<P align=left>to call it </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>“abhorrent” </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#333333>even though its main purpose is merely to prevent “gay</P>
<P align=left>marriage” adopted in one state from being foisted on all other
states. </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000>In </FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>Obama's</P>
<P align=left>own words</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
color=#000000>: “Unlike Senator [Hillary] Clinton, I support the complete
repeal of</FONT></P>
<P align=left>the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)—a position I have held since
before</P>
<P align=left>arriving in the U.S. Senate. While some say we should repeal
only part of the law,</P>
<P align=left>I believe we should get rid of that statute altogether.” Under
Obama’s influence,</P>
<P align=left>the </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>2008
Democratic National Platform </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">also calls
for its full removal (p. 52).</P>
<P align=left>Obama also strongly opposes California’s Proposition 8, which
merely limits the</P>
<P align=left>definition of marriage to a “marriage between a man and a
woman,” and any other</P>
<P align=left>amendment to a state constitution that would prevent the courts
from arbitrarily</P>
<P align=left>imposing “gay marriage” on the people. He says that he
“respects” the California</P>
<P align=left>Supreme Court decision foisting “gay marriage” on the state and
opposes any</P>
<P align=left>federal constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union
between a man</P>
<P align=left>and a woman. Obama strongly endorses granting every single
marriage benefit to</P>
<P align=left>homosexual unions.</P></FONT><FONT face=SymbolMT>
<P align=left>• </FONT><I><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#333333>Federal
“sexual orientation” legislations. </I></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Obama strongly supports </FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>every “sexual</P>
<P align=left>orientation” special-protections law imaginable</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=#000000>, including “hate
crimes”</FONT></P>
<P align=left>legislation (which will make every statement against homosexual
practice an</P>
<P align=left>alleged “incitement to violence” that will hold the speaker
legally liable),</P>
<P align=left>“employment non-discrimination” legislation (which turns out to
be “employment</P>
<P align=left>discrimination” legislation against any who disapprove of a
homosexualist agenda</P>
<P align=left>in the workplace), removing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy
in the military</P>
<P align=left>(meaning now that all military personnel must now embrace
homosexual practice</P>
<P align=left>in their midst), and full adoption rights (making no distinction
whatsoever</P>
<P align=left>between homosexual and heterosexual families, even though the
former is</P>
<P align=left>constituted by immoral behavior and almost invariably ends in
short-term</P>
<P align=left>dissolution). “Sexual orientation” laws constitute state
endorsement of</P>
<P align=left>homosexual practice as a valid form of sexual union deserving
special societal</P>
<P align=left>protection. Imagine a “sexual orientation” law broadened to
include two other</P>
<P align=left>sexual orientations, polysexuality (inclination toward sexual
relationships with</P>
<P align=left>more than one person concurrently) and pedosexuality (or
pedophilia). Few would</P>
<P align=left>stand for it because such a law would be rightly recognized as
establishing official</P>
<P align=left>state endorsement. Sexual orientation laws encompassing
homosexuality,</P>
<P align=left>bisexuality, and transsexuality by definition make civil and
cultural bigots of</P>
<P align=left>4</P>
<P align=left>everyone who espouses a male-female prerequisite to sexual
relations, in the</P>
<P align=left>workplace, at school, in the media, and throughout the public
sector.</P></FONT><FONT face=SymbolMT>
<P align=left>• </FONT><I><FONT face="Times New Roman">Obama’s and Biden’s big
lie: “We do not support gay marriage.” </I></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Obama and</P>
<P align=left>Biden have attempted to deceive the public by claiming that they
are only for</P>
<P align=left>granting civil unions that contain all the civil benefits of
marriage without the</P>
<P align=left>name “marriage.” It is impossible for any reasonable person
acting reasonably to</P>
<P align=left>oppose every attempt at preventing courts or other states from
imposing “gay</P>
<P align=left>marriage” on a state, to insist on the full equality of
homosexual unions to</P>
<P align=left>marriage, and then to claim non-support for “gay marriage.” It
is a big lie. In his</P>
<P align=left>book, </FONT><I><FONT face="Times New Roman">The Audacity of
Hope </I></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">(Crown, 2006), Obama </FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#333333>coyly stated that he wanted</P>
<P align=left>“to remain open to the possibility that my unwillingness to
support gay marriage</P>
<P align=left>is misguided.” This “unwillingness” was, at any rate, based only
on political</P>
<P align=left>expediency, not moral conviction, for he gave as his reason for
not advocating for</P>
<P align=left>“gay marriage” only this: “In the absence of any meaningful
consensus, the</P>
<P align=left>heightened focus on marriage [is] a distraction from other
attainable measures to</P>
<P align=left>prevent discrimination against gays and lesbians” (p. 222). In
short, if “gay</P>
<P align=left>marriage” were “attainable” without doing harm to his own
political aspirations or</P>
<P align=left>to other homosexualist goals, he would come out in favor of “gay
marriage.” As</P>
<P align=left>soon as he becomes President with a Democratic-controlled
Congress he will</P>
<P align=left>“discover” his former “unwillingness to support gay marriage” to
be “misguided.”</P></FONT><FONT face=SymbolMT>
<P align=left>• </FONT><I><FONT face="Times New Roman">What to expect in the
first half-year of Obama’s administration on homosexual</P>
<P align=left>issues. </I></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">Obama has made
it a priority in the first months of office—taking a page</P>
<P align=left>from Bill Clinton’s playbook with regard to the military—to get
passed in the</P>
<P align=left>Democratic-controlled Congress a series of “sexual orientation”
laws that will</P>
<P align=left>make clear the state’s endorsement of homosexual unions, offer
special legal</P>
<P align=left>protections to such unions, provide civil penalties against
those who oppose the</P>
<P align=left>legitimizing of homosexual unions, and extend all the benefits
of marriage to</P>
<P align=left>homosexual unions. At the same time he will get Congress to
remove the federal</P>
<P align=left>Defense of Marriage Act, which is the only thing preventing the
application of the</P>
<P align=left>“Full Faith and Credit Clause” of the Constitution to require
that “gay marriage”</P>
<P align=left>adopted in one state be respected and accepted in all other
states. Within two</P>
<P align=left>years all states would be required to accept “gay marriage,”
which carries with it</P>
<P align=left>the ultimate governmental and cultural seal of approval. All
newspapers will have</P>
<P align=left>to post “gay weddings.” Any time the subject of marriage is
taught in schools or</P>
<P align=left>institutions of higher learning “gay marriage” will have to be
embraced as the law</P>
<P align=left>of the land and as equal in all respects to male-female
marriages. Churches that</P>
<P align=left>allow couples to use their buildings to get married will have
their tax-exempt</P>
<P align=left>status put at risk for not allowing “gay marriages.” Those who
believe in a malefemale</P>
<P align=left>prerequisite for marriage are immediately institutionalized
civilly and</P>
<P align=left>cultural as bigots. American society is not likely ever, this
side of heaven, to</P>
<P align=left>return to the view that homosexual unions are intrinsically
immoral.</P>
<P align=left>As regards </FONT><B><FONT face="Times New Roman">abortion
</B></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">(see further the online articles by
</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>Robert George </FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">and </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>George</P>
<P align=left>Weigel</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
color=#000000>):</FONT></P>
<P align=left>5</P></FONT><FONT face=SymbolMT>
<P align=left>• </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">Obama would be the most
extreme abortionist ever elected to high office. Obama</P>
<P align=left>as a state legislator was so extreme on this issue that he
</FONT><I><FONT face="Times New Roman">opposed the </FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>Born Alive</P>
<P align=left>Act</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
color=#000000>—which would mandate medical aid to infants who an
abortion</FONT></I></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
color=#000000>—even when</FONT></P>
<P align=left>assurances were given that it would not impact abortion law.
Even when all the</P>
<P align=left>major abortion groups supported it Obama continued to oppose it.
And Obama</P>
<P align=left>and his campaign staff repeatedly lied about his actions here
and attempted to</P>
<P align=left>cover it up.</P></FONT><FONT face=SymbolMT>
<P align=left>• </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">According to </FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>Obama</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">, “The first thing that I’d do as President is
</FONT><I><FONT face="Times New Roman">sign the Freedom</P>
<P align=left>of Choice Act</I></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">.” This
act, with one stroke of the President’s pen, would throw out</P>
<P align=left>every state and national pro-life law. It would establish
abortion as a</P>
<P align=left>“fundamental right” for all nine months of pregnancy for any
unspecified “health”</P>
<P align=left>reasons. It would strike down </FONT><I><FONT
face="Times New Roman">parental notification laws, non-use of taxpayer</P>
<P align=left>money to fund abortions, conscience clauses to protect
health-care workers from</P>
<P align=left>having to participate in abortions, and the federal
partial-birth abortion ban</I></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">.</P></FONT><FONT face=SymbolMT>
<P align=left>• </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">Obama wants to end any
government funding of crisis pregnancy centers and has</P>
<P align=left>even </FONT><I><FONT face="Times New Roman">opposed the Pregnant
Women Support Act</I></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">, which would provide
assistance</P>
<P align=left>for women facing crisis pregnancies and insurance coverage for
unborn children</P>
<P align=left>(a provision that even hard-left abortion advocate Senator Ted
Kennedy</P>
<P align=left>supported).</P>
<P align=left>With a pro-abortion Democratic-controlled Congress, a rabid
pro-abortion Democratic</P>
<P align=left>President who may have the opportunity to appoint up to five or
six Supreme Court</P>
<P align=left>justices the damage that could be done on the abortion issue
would be incalculable and</P>
<P align=left>might never get turned around.</P></FONT><B><FONT
face="Times New Roman">
<P align=left>Why Obama’s Homosexualist and Abortion Agendas Should Be the
Main Concerns</P>
<P align=left>for Christian Voters, Not Iraq and the
Economy</P></B></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">
<P align=left>This leads to the third assumption made by many: No matter how
bad things could get</P>
<P align=left>under an Obama administration as regards the persecution of
those who do not support</P>
<P align=left>homosexual practice and abortion on demand, other issues justify
a vote for Obama. Let’s</P>
<P align=left>consider briefly the two biggest issues other than homosexual
practice and abortion.</P>
<P align=left>1. </FONT><B><I><FONT face="Times New Roman">Iraq
war</B></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">. </I></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Regardless of whether one believes that the United
States should have</P>
<P align=left>become involved in a war in Iraq in the first place, the
question is: What is the best</P>
<P align=left>strategy now? Obama’s rigid commitment to pulling American
troops completely out of</P>
<P align=left>Iraq within a relatively short window of time could risk
something much worse: the</P>
<P align=left>development in Iraq of an Islamic terrorist state comparable to
Iran. Do we really want a</P>
<P align=left>man like Obama with absolutely no military experience in charge
of such matters? Even</P>
<P align=left>Obama has had to admit that the “surge” of American troop
strength in Iraq this past year</P>
<P align=left>has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams—a surge that Obama
strongly opposed and that</P>
<P align=left>McCain advocated at great political risk to himself. Moreover,
Obama is hardly a “peace”</P>
<P align=left>candidate. He has expressed willingness to take military action
in Pakistan and to step up</P>
<P align=left>the war in Afghanistan.</P>
<P align=left>6</P>
<P align=left>It seems to me that an evaluation of the Iraq war depends
largely on whether the outcome</P>
<P align=left>is a Turkey-style democracy in Iraq or a fundamentalist Islamic
state. Most political</P>
<P align=left>pundits in early 1780 or in the summer of 1864 argued that
Washington and Lincoln,</P>
<P align=left>respectively, were disasters and that serious thought should be
given to getting out of the</P>
<P align=left>war against Britain and the war against the southern
secessionists. History has proven</P>
<P align=left>both groups of pundits wrong. I’m not saying that I know for
certain what we should do</P>
<P align=left>as regards the Iraq war. I’m saying that nobody at the present
time has a clear vision</P>
<P align=left>about the future. And whether we stay in Iraq as long as there
is reasonable hope for</P>
<P align=left>achieving a Turkey-style democracy or get out before such
reasonable hope fades, it is</P>
<P align=left>not likely that the United States is going to turn into a rogue
militarist state or a pacifist</P>
<P align=left>nation. I think that the greatest military risks lie with
Obama’s strategy because he</P>
<P align=left>appears willing to pull out of Iraq no matter what the outcome
of a pullout, even if it</P>
<P align=left>leads to the victory of radical Islamic fundamentalists, which
presents the further risk of</P>
<P align=left>encouraging terrorist activity around the globe. However, I
don’t see any evidence that an</P>
<P align=left>Obama victory would result in a “sea change” on foreign policy
for the better or that a</P>
<P align=left>McCain victory would result in a “sea change” on foreign policy
for the worse. No matter</P>
<P align=left>who wins, the United States will still reserve the option to
intervene militarily around the</P>
<P align=left>globe. People are not going to be persecuted or regarded as
bigots as a result of their</P>
<P align=left>stance on the Iraq war or any other war.</P>
<P align=left>2. </FONT><B><I><FONT face="Times New Roman">The economy and the
poor</B></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">. </I></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">No one has a crystal ball on this one, neither
campaign.</P>
<P align=left>I’m not a big “cut taxes” guy and in that sense am not a
convinced Republican. I think</P>
<P align=left>that there are good arguments about how to handle the economy in
both parties, and</P>
<P align=left>failings in both parties. For me this consideration is a wash.
Republicans have a</P>
<P align=left>reputation for disregarding the poor, favoring big corporations,
and making the rich</P>
<P align=left>richer. Democrats have a reputation for thinking that the
government can fix everything,</P>
<P align=left>overspending and overtaxing, and creating bloated and wasteful
bureaucracies. Obviously</P>
<P align=left>there has to be a balance between helping the poor and exerting
fiscal restraint. If McCain</P>
<P align=left>gets elected, there will still be hundreds of millions of
dollars spent on social programs. If</P>
<P align=left>Obama gets elected I would hope that we don’t turn into a
socialist state, though Obama</P>
<P align=left>has talked about enforced redistribution of wealth and has
hobnobbed with socialist</P>
<P align=left>radicals. Again I don’t see a “sea change” for the worse if
McCain is elected or a “sea</P>
<P align=left>change” for the better if Obama is elected. I don’t see myself
or other Christians being</P>
<P align=left>persecuted on the issue of the economy no matter who gets
elected. There are obviously a</P>
<P align=left>lot of voters who think that they will be better off
economically if a Democratic</P>
<P align=left>administration is in power. History, however, does not always
bear this assumption out.</P>
<P align=left>The conservative Reagan administration, for example, was
characterized by an economic</P>
<P align=left>boom that took us out of the Carter malaise.</P>
<P align=left>In conclusion, the only sea change for the worse that Christians
are likely to experience is</P>
<P align=left>the sea change on homosexual practice and abortion that an Obama
victory would bring.</P>
<P align=left>The country’s legal and moral stance on abortion and especially
homosexual practice will</P>
<P align=left>deteriorate rapidly and likely remain in a deteriorated state
for at least decades to come.</P>
<P align=left>Should the issues of homosexual practice and abortion, then, be
paramount in this</P>
<P align=left>election? Or, to put it in a different way, can you vote for a
candidate who will turn your</P>
<P align=left>7</P>
<P align=left>family into persecuted and marginalized outcasts of the state?
Can you vote for a</P>
<P align=left>presidential candidate who thinks you are a bigot and will
codify that belief into law? In</P>
<P align=left>so doing, would you be taking a page from the story of Jacob and
Esau—selling one’s</P>
<P align=left>birthright in the hopes of some bread and lentil stew (Gen
25:29-34)? I do not here</P>
<P align=left>presume to tell anyone for whom they should vote. Nevertheless,
these are difficult</P>
<P align=left>questions that every Christian should reflect on before casting
a vote.</P></FONT><B><FONT face="Times New Roman">
<P align=left>See also my article, “Barack Obama’s Disturbing Misreading of
the Sermon on the</P>
<P align=left>Mount as Support for Homosexual Sex” </FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff>here</FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman">.</P></B></FONT><I><FONT face="Times New Roman">
<P align=left>Dr. Robert A. J. Gagnon is Associate Professor at Pittsburgh
Theological Seminary and</P>
<P align=left>the author of </I></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">The Bible
and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics </FONT><I><FONT
face="Times New Roman">(Abingdon</P>
<P align=left>Press, 2001). The views put forward in this essay are the
author’s own and do not claim</P>to represent the official views of Pittsburgh
Theological Seminary.<BR></I></FONT><BR>
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