Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As all of you should know, Novem-ber 4th is Election Day in our country. This year we will not only be electing candidates running for local offices, but we will also be electing a new President of the United States. In a way, I can’t wait until it is over so the news channels will again focus on other things that are going on in our world.

I was told that in many other countries, the election process is a six-week deal. Each candidate has six weeks to convince the people that he or she is right for the position. Our process has gotten so out of hand that we will probably be talking about the 2012 election on November 5th!

As a pastor and a representative of the Church, it is ille-gal for me to endorse any particular candidate since it would compromise our tax-free status. I have never, and will never endorse a candidate from the pulpit. This doesn’t mean that I don’t have my personal prefer-ences. And it also does not mean that I will not speak out on the moral and religious issues of the time that affect our communities, our country, and indeed the world.

I guess that if it comes down to the basic core of my beliefs, I would have to say that I am pro-life. Now many of you would automatically think that I am only talking about abortion. Certainly, that is part of it, but only a part. I truly believe that as Christians, and as a society in general, we need to do whatever we can to limit the number of abortions.

However, I am not convinced that making it illegal is the only, or most effective way to make this happen. There are drugs that are illegal in our country, but that has not necessarily decreased their usage. If we look at the statistics, we will find that there are other proven ways of reducing the number of abortions such as sex education, promoting abstinence and birth control, pro-viding better and affordable health care for women and newborns, making adoption more available and easier, and reducing poverty, which can drive woman to end a pregnancy because of financial issues.

But again, abortion concerns are only part of being pro-life. Pro-life also has to do with the 40 million U.S. citizens who do not have health insurance. Pro-life peo-ple ask why the wealthiest country in the world ranks 28thin regards to infant mortality. Pro-life people un-derstand that all humans are created and loved by God. And therefore, when one suffers, we all suffer. Pro-life people are appalled that 30,000 people die each and every day due to a lack of food or clean water. Pro-life people believe that it is a disgrace that over one half of the world’s population lives on less than 2 dollars a day. Pro-life people do whatever they can to get medicine to people who are dying from curable diseases.

Pro-life people realize the injustice in that the wealthiest country in the world consists of 5 percent of the world’s population, yet consumes over 40 percent of the world’s resources. Pro-life people understand the horrors of war, and that war should only be considered as an ex-treme last resort to save humanity. Pro-life people see creation as part of the life that God created and there-fore seek to care for God’s creation rather than pollute it or destroy it. Pro-life people understand that all people are created in the image of God, and that no matter what evil deeds people might commit, we have no Godly right to destroy a human life in the form of capital pun-ishment, for vengeance is God’s alone. Pro-life people take a stand against the violence promoted through video games, music, and television that affects the minds of our youngest, most impressionable citizens.

I believe that these are the values of God’s Kingdom as revealed to us through the life and teachings of Jesus.

So when you go to the polls to elect those who will rep-resent us, consider which candidate would best reflect the values of God and God’s purposes in the world.

Pastor Gary L. Anholt