Evangelical take on the Palin teen pregnancy

Focus on the Family is not an organization about which I have much to say. I don't hang on Dr. Dobson's words as some folks do - as a lot of folks do. Like it or not, he is an influential voice for many people.

So I was so pleasantly surprised at his response to the Palin pregnancy news.

We have always encouraged the parents to love and support their children and always advised the girls to see their pregnancies through, even though there will of course be challenges along the way. That is what the Palins are doing, and they should be commended once again for not just talking about their pro-life and pro-family values, but living them out even in the midst of trying circumstances.

This is the way it's supposed to be. This is what Christianity is supposed to look like. That it doesn't always is maddening. I am sure that the charge of hypocrisy will come up in all this. Not sure from whence, but it will and may well be true. Would the reaction have been different if it was a Democrat's daughter who was announcing a pre-marriage pregnancy? My cynical side says such a thing would never happen, because the problem (baby, oh sorry, foetus) would be disappeared quietly before news got out. I said it was my cynical side.

I have seen Christian hypocrisy up close. Once upon a time I was a volunteer for Planned Parenthood. One night I worked "clinic defense" - escorting women from car to door to protect them from the pro-life "rescuers." Honestly, the rescuers disgusted me. They were vile people, yelling horrid things at these young women. They didn't offer help, or love - if they had, they might have saved a baby. Instead they waved signs and yelled ugliness and let their own little kids run around, ignored, on a busy street corner.

But, you know, there are extremes on both sides. Not all who call themselves Christians are. Not all liberals who praise tolerance practice it.

Next I think I'll explore women's hatred of Sarah Palin. Jealousy, anyone?