My first (and last) stab at demonstrating occurred in 1969 on a Christian college campus where I joined a handful of students and faculty who carried candles and a wooden casket to protest U.S. involvement in Vietnam. It was peaceful and polite, but it nearly got us thrown out of school.
Fast forward 20 years to a women’s “health clinic.” Several hundred antiabortion protesters block the entrance to the clinic and are dragged off to jail. Most are evangelical Christians.
In Washington, D.C., several thousand Christians join a massive demonstration protesting apartheid in South Africa. Elsewhere, Christians have taken to the streets against nuclear arms, acid rain, and poverty.
What used to be considered tools of leftist radicals are now being used by Christians.
Christianity Today Institute contributors Ronald Sider and Charles White are no strangers to this current brand of Christian activism. Joining the fray as believers in an inerrant Bible, both encourage Christians to campaign vigorously against efforts to destroy human life. Yet they could conceivably carry signs denouncing each other’s prolife positions.
Instead, they face off in this issue, beginning on page 27. We invited them to give us their best shot, and allowed a final response from both. If there is a winner in this debate, it must be the church. For despite disagreement, we find hope in the fact that in the battle to protect innocent lives, increasing numbers of Christians are on the front lines.
LYN CRYDERMAN, Senior Associate Editor
