How Do Christian Voters Feel About Abortion?

According to The Barna Group's recent research on the moral and social concerns of born again Christians, the most signficant issues are personal indebtedness, poverty and HIV/AIDS. Abortion isn't in the top three.

However, born again members of the GOP are significantly more concerned about abortion than Democrats (80% versus 58%), and when the results are sliced further, abortion is the top concern among evangelicals, who make up about one-fifth of the born again population.

When looking at the issues along party lines, faith affiliation doesn't track as closely as stereotypes suggest.

• About two out of every five registered Democrats and three out of every five Republicans are born again voters.
• Born again Republicans are most concerned about Americans’ personal indebtedness and abortion.
• Born again Democrats are most likely to identify HIV/AIDS and poverty as the major problems facing the country.
• Born again Independents are most concerned with personal debt and poverty.

Barna's Definitions

"Born again Christians" are defined as people who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and who also indicated they believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior."

"Evangelicals" meet the born again criteria (described above) plus seven other conditions. Those include saying their faith is very important in their life today; believing they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians; believing that Satan exists; believing that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works; believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; asserting that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches; and describing God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today. Being classified as an evangelical is not dependent upon church attendance or the denominational affiliation of the church attended."

I discussed my opinion about abortion in this recent post, Slap Your Label Here.