In that manifestation, in the tendency and intention of the political left to use it as a club to silence moral dissent, I reject unity and do so forcefully without so much as a second's doubt or hesitation.

We have in President Obama a man who not only spoke passionately in favor of and voted, twice, to permit abortionists to murder living, breathing, fully born human beings (for a purpose specifically no deeper than convenience) but one who has pledged repeatedly to make the expansion and solidification of infanticide-protection the first action of his administration.

You'll forgive me, as a human being, a moral agent (however flawed), if I reject the opportunity to stand united with this man and his personal brand of barbarism.  And if you won't, frankly, that speaks more to the deadness of your own heart than it does to the stubbornness of mine.  

While a fallen man and one who has all-to-frequently and publicly stumbled, I've never hidden the fact that I am a believer in Jesus Christ.  I recognize Him as my Lord and my Savior, as the only path to God the Father, as the author of life and as my master.  And a master requires obedience.

When Jesus offers in Matthew 25: 40 the parable of the sheep and the goats He states "truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me."  He speaks of those the world does not esteem, of food for the hungry and clothing the stranger.  Those who do not look after those without a voice or power, he says six verses later, will be cast off into "eternal punishment," whether they claim His name or not.  Obedience is the test and the measure of faith.

James speaks of these demands (chapter 2, verses 15-17) in one of the most forceful but frequently overlooked passages anywhere in the Bible.  The faith of those who witness a desperate need and do not seek to provide for that need, when able, the author tells us, is dead.

Tomorrow marks the 36th anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision overturning dozens of state prohibitions on abortion.  The horrors of abortion are not foreign to any of us these nearly four decades later.  Even the President and his legion of supporters are familiar with the process and wanton cruelty by which thinking, breathing  human beings have the flame of their lives extinguished.  

Whether the abortionist puts an end to kicking legs with the use of scissors and a vacuum, entering and clearing the contents of a small child's skull, uses a saline solution to burn through flesh, muscle and bone as the child writhes in agony or his own hands to rend another individual limb from limb, head from neck, tiny fingers and arms fighting then recoiling until torn from the torso, the simple imagining of the most frequently used procedures across what we describe as "civilization" is enough to induce tears and turn stomachs.  Every time.

But as the Word says, even the demons recognize God as the Lord and master of the universe.  Knowing, sadly, is not always enough to alter behavior.

As Christians we are called to speak for those who cannot speak and to fight injustice wherever it is found.  Jesus doesn't give us the option of excuses.  There is only obedience and disobedience.

Still, many religious leaders ignore the innocent blood of fifty-plus million children spilled by abortionists and their protectors in the halls of power.  Others in the community of believers offer and demand that in this time we stand united with President Obama.  There is a prevalent argument in many fundamental circles today that the Biblical exhortation to yield unto Caesar what is Caesar's and to submit to Earthly authority as God-ordained and established strips us of our ability to forcefully dissent.  

Many spiritual shepherds advise Christians to avoid politics completely, some suggest that willing submission requires silence in the public square and still others, this week perhaps more than any other in the last several decades, urge their sheep to tacitly ignore, for a time, the faults, and fatal failings of recently elected leadership in the spirit of unity, cooperation and historicity.

The last suggestion is the most dangerous because it is the most easily accepted.  The message it forcefully and unavoidably delivers, however unintentionally, is that the principles of our faith can be turned off and on based upon the tide of history and the tone of the national political discourse.  

What each of these teachings ignores is the basic truth that Jesus' demand of obedience has stood for over 2,000 years, outlasting each system of government, each historical movement and moment, each tone and tenor of public discourse and, indeed, times when free public discourse was as foreign a concept as magical flying cars.  What's more, these leaders prove their frustrating ignorance about the very system of government they demand we peaceably allow control over our lives.

The United States of America is a democratic republic.  The President has the power to govern and leads the executive branch because you and I and our neighbors and friends and loved ones gave it to him.  Whether we voted for him, for someone else or for no one at all, our collective action last November produced this Tuesday's results.  That power is ours.  Foundationally.  

And we will exercise it again in four years and four years after that and four years after that into perpetuity until we finally hear that long-awaited trumpet call.

Our government is based upon and relies upon the participation of her citizens.  That's us, boys and girls.  And it is set up in such a way as to handle disagreement and debate.  In fact, it encourages it.  

If our Biblical responsibility is, as many urge today, that we submit to those who rule over us then we are, by definition, commanded by the Almighty to use the political process, the ballot box, dissent and disunity to advance social justice and the cause of life.

Doing anything less would be un-American.  Doing anything less would be contrary to Biblical teaching and disobedient to Jesus own specific direction.

So, no, I won't praise the historicity of the day and the instant in time and I won't sit back and let them enjoy it.  The incoming administration hasn't earned a single moment's moral peace where I have any ability to prevent it.  I'll take a pass when it comes to standing united with this President and anyone else who would defend the rampant and heartless killing of innocent human life.  Won't do it for a moment.  

I'll tell you what I will do, though.  I'll pray harder than I have before.  I'll pray and put a renewed, reinvigorated, louder and bolder walk behind the talk, doing everything I can every day for the rest of my life, availing myself of all of my political rights to advance the cause of life however I'm able, to protect those who need protection, to speak for those without a voice and to defend kids and their mothers from the ravenous, murderous bullies everywhere from the state House to the White House.

And while I'm at it I might scribble a letter to the nation's leading schools of theology suggesting they make Federalist 10 required reading.