“This day I call heaven and earth’s witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to Him and hold fast to Him, for the Lord is your life” (Deuteronomy 30:19)
Traditions develop rapidly, and the protest against Roe vs. Wade right to abortions has become an annual tradition in the nation’s capitol where Orthodox Christian leaders and people join with like-minded opponents of that ignoble Congressional decision to rally and to protest against legal abortions, praying that it be overturned but, alas, so far to no avail. The current President Bush, previously addressing the Right to Life advocates, will not be in office to welcome the champions of life; and certainly Mr. Obama, scoring the most liberal record of all senators, will support the “Women’s Rights” advocates. Any hope of overturning Roe vs. Wade is fast fading, given the present complexion of Congress. Even Roman Catholic members waffle on the issue.
If we are serious, we must move beyond the ceremonial. Pro-life advocates are manifold. They include not only Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics, but other large and active bodies such as Evangelicals, and beyond Christianity, Orthodox Jews and members of other faiths. At the recent All-American Council in November, the call again was raised for withdrawal from the National Council of Churches of the United States of America. This perennial issue is a sensitive subject. While the vote to withdraw was defeated, the subject will not disappear. That body does in fact tend to support liberal causes, which is generally against our Orthodox doctrines and interests. But we cannot withdraw from concerns that are affected by political decisions motivated by public outcry. The argument for retaining membership in the NCCC is that even though we may disagree with much of what other members advocate, nevertheless, it provides us a public national forum for expressing our points of view, albeit they are contrary to liberal, even downright humanist understandings of the gospel of Christ.
Given our own church history, it is ironic that here in the epitome of democracy we have a reluctance to utilize the system in order to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ as we know and witness to it ourselves. Under monarchies of the past, there were times when the prayer that the Holy Spirit “whisper good things in the ear” of the king was all that could be expected. Consider times when the monks would leave their monasteries, to put their lives in jeopardy by advocating icon veneration or other truths.
Other causes under the general heading of family values are of concern to us. We are not alone in opposing so-called Gay Rights, child abuse, opposition to prayer in schools, religious displays in public places, promiscuity in the name of freedom and other such flagrant violations of Biblical and religious standards. Is it not time to seek out and affiliate with like-minded citizens to form coalitions of concern? Should we not take the initiative in finding ways to return this country to God?
The Ecumenical movement begun following World War I envisioned the unity of all bodies who call upon Jesus Christ as Lord, God and Savior. Most if not all serious theologians would acknowledge that the light of that vision has eclipsed. However, we have a mandate from our Lord to proclaim the truth of the gospel to all humanity. That truth involves commitment to the ethical principles stated above and proclamation of a morality for pure, wholesome, innocent ways of living in order that God’s children can become temples of the Holy Spirit in this nation that still trusts in the Lord. And we ought to search out those who agree with those principles, joining with them to promote our common interests.