BUT DOES HE HAVE A POINT?
A pro-life activist is being rebuked by other evangelical leaders for his criticism of the late S.C. Senator Clementa Pinckney.
Steve Lefemine – leader of the group Columbia Christians for Life – sent out an email this week criticizing the S.C. Senate for its decision to display a portrait of Pinckney inside its chamber. The Lowcountry lawmaker was one of nine parishioners gunned down during last spring’s “Holy City Massacre” – a horrific, racially-motivated mass murder at Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston, S.C.
Lefemine’s email linked to an article entitled “When Murder is Not Equal” – which expressed sympathy but pointedly questioned Pinckney’s record on the issue of abortion.
“While offering condolences and prayers for the Pinckney family and the families of the other eight men and women who were heartlessly murdered in Charleston, SC, the truth needs to be told regarding Senator Pinckney’s voting record in the SC Senate,” the article stated. “Senator Pinckney did not work for, but rather voted against, establishing justice for ‘the least of these’ innocent, voiceless unborn children who are murdered in the wombs of their mothers.”
Lefemine’s email drew a swift rebuke from fellow evangelicals.
“This guy has crossed the line again,” said Oran Smith, president of Palmetto Family. “Despicable.”
You know, we probably wouldn’t have selected this particular occasion to raise such a criticism – assuming we chose to raise it at all – but Lefemine has a point.
Abortion is one of those rare issues uniting limited government libertarians like us and members of the lunatic evangelical fringe.
But whatever you think of abortion, shouldn’t it be something all Christian pastors oppose?
Again … our opposition to abortion has nothing to do with religion. It’s all about liberty.
“Freedoms must flow from something,” we wrote recently. “There must be an underlying liberty upon which all the others hinge. We believe life is this underlying liberty.”
But for those who preach God’s word, it seems to us the message is pretty clear. Set in stone, even.
Again … Lefemine isn’t going to score any points (with anybody) when it comes to the time, place and manner in which he chose to raise these objections. But as offensive and seemingly unfeeling as his communication may be, he is making a valid point.