Conservative Evangelicals Traditionally were Pro-Choice

I was recently surprised, no shocked, to find that traditionally conservative evangelicals were "pro-choice." I discovered this when I read an article titled: When Evangelicals Were Pro-Choice..

You'll find in the article that "in 1968... Bruce Waltke, of the famously conservative Dallas Theological Seminary, explained the Bible plainly teaches that life begins at birth:
'God does not regard the fetus as a soul, no matter how far gestation has progressed. The Law plainly exacts: 'If a man kills any human life he will be put to death' (Lev. 24:17). But according to Exodus 21:22–24, the destruction of the fetus is not a capital offense… Clearly, then, in contrast to the mother, the fetus is not reckoned as a soul.'

The magazine Christian Life agreed, insisting, "The Bible definitely pinpoints a difference in the value of a fetus and an adult." And the Southern Baptist Convention passed a 1971 resolution affirming abortion should be legal not only to protect the life of the mother, but to protect her emotional health as well.

It was Jerry Falwell who first said in 1980 that "The Bible clearly states that life begins at conception… (Abortion) is murder according to the Word of God."

Wow, that statement by Jerry Falwell changed the world because the issue of abortion (never mentioned in the bible) became THE defining political issue for conservative evangelicals. They went from supporting their fellow Southern Baptist (Jimmy Carter) to supporting Ronald Reagan. And, the rest is history.

Today, the power the Republican party wields in most of the country is only possible because of the staunch support of conservative evangelicals. And the issue of abortion is front and center, indeed paramount, to millions of them.

Anyway, I was stunned to find that not very many years ago conservative evangelicals were pro-choice. Yet, today it has become an article of faith in evangelical churches that the "Christian" position is "pro-life."