I’ve been skeptical that the Left was willing to embrace Christians (even “progressive” Christians) with open arms, and this column (via Get Religion) from The Nation‘s Katha Pollitt supplies further evidence for such skepticism. Pollitt just can’t bring herself to believe that Jim Wallis, for all his progressive bona fides, isn’t itching to put the clamp down on “reproductive freedom”:

Wallis often points out that the Bible mentions poverty thousands of times and abortion only a few. I’m not sure what this tells us–first we eradicate poverty and then we force women to have babies against their will? But in any case, Wallis is wrong: The Bible doesn’t mention abortion even once. Wallis cites the text antichoicers commonly use to justify their position: “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). Say what? Nothing about abortion there, pro or con. Nobody who wasn’t sure that somewhere in the Bible there must be a proof text against terminating a pregnancy would read that meaning into these words.

That so many Christians are firmly persuaded that the Bible condemns abortion suggests that God’s politics tend to be the politics of the people who claim to speak for him. Since these men, and now women, have been arguing for centuries without reaching agreement on even the simplest matters, the rest of us are entitled to wonder if perhaps they are reading the wrong book.

Pollitt is the same writer who lambasted Dennis Kucinich for his longstanding opposition to abortion (which he promptly abandoned after declaring his presidential candidacy) despite the fact that Kucinich was hands-down the most progressive candidate in the race.

Wallis is on record saying he is not in favor of “criminalizing” abortion, but that he supports measures that would serve to reduce the number of abortions. Now, leave aside whether that’s the best stance – it’s certainly a defensible one. The question is, can the “pro-choice” Left bring themselves to admit that 1,000,000+ abortions a year is a bad thing, even if there is room for reasonable debate about how to publicly address it?

Chrisitans of a more liberal bent often criticize more conservative Christians for selling out their beliefs for the sake of joining the conservative political coalition. I wonder what kind of sail-trimming the left side of the spectrum might demand from their would-be allies.

(Incidentally, since when did liberals become such strict biblical literalists? The Bible doesn’t mention abortion? Well, I guess that settles that! Doesn’t mention global warming or welfare reform either. Huh.)