We’re now trying to deal with a miserably complex issue in…

“We’re now trying to deal with a miserably complex issue in a brutalized political culture. Majorities don’t rule in this country, polarized minorities do. The evidence this week is that post-Roe politics would make even our current politics seem tame. I’m not sure our democracy is strong enough for that.”

David Brooks from the @nytimesopinionart column “Abortion: The Voice of the Ambivalent Majority”

I’ve long shied away from the topic of abortion for two primary reasons. First, I don’t have anything unique to add to the argument. I’m primarily of the “I’m pro-life but let’s do everything we can to take care of mothers in difficult situations” kind of thinking. I think there’s a lot of voices speaking this way that are way more influential and articulate than I can be so I don’t need to add to the mix. Second, like David states in his article, the topic of abortion is miserably complex. I know we as Christians like to boil things down to very easy binary solutions that is usually as helpful as just saying “don’t sin” but when we evaluate reality, things become increasingly messy and usually not so easy. For the most part, I find social media ill-equipped to discuss such things. A discussion like this needs to be done in a loving and graceful way and our social media tools tend to incite anger rather than empathy.

My contribution to the abortion argument is this: we need to turn the volume down. Our ability to contribute to and solve large and difficult problems is directly related to our ability to listen and empathize with the person we are trying to solve it with. I know some would say “I’m so angry because so many are being lost” to which I would say “Would you be willing to let that anger go if it would contribute to saving some of them?” What if listening, not yelling, was our greatest tool?

I appreciated David’s column on this because I think he exposes a real problem with the debate. God be with us as we work through this. I have so much more to say on this but there’s only so much space. I should probably write a blog post or something. 🤔