Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments about lethal injection. The Court is trying to learn whether the often-used three-drug cocktail causes pain as it kills. I’m glad to see this issue debated at the highest level. Christians who find in Romans 13 a rationale for capital punishment should also see in the Sermon on the Mount an imperative for humane treatment of everybody. We show our humanity by how we treat our enemies.

We show our humanity by how we treat the powerless too. As we approach the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade (January 20, 2008), it’s disturbing how little mainstream concern exists regarding the brutal violence against the unborn. (Do a Google image search on abortion if you must, and you’ll see what I mean).

Evangelicals have made huge mistakes regarding abortion. We have worked the political angle more than the grasroots one, for example, and we have neglected other issues - poverty, racism, war, pollution, exploitation, and even capital punishment - that are properly part of the seamless garment of life. Thankfully this is changing, and to be faithful to Jesus, we must continue to force it to change.

But I don’t want us to forget about the violence that persists against the unborn.  35 years on, there is still no more powerless group.