for Barack Obama

As electrifying as his acceptance speech was and as personable as he seems, Barack Obama will not be the presidential candidate I will vote for.

My reason is Mr. Obama's answer to a foundational question posed by Pastor Rick Warren at the forum sponsored by Saddleback Church in California earlier this month. After prefacing his question with the fact that there have been 40 million abortions since Roe vs. Wade, pastor Warren asked, "At what point does a baby get human rights in your view?" Senator Obama's response was, "...answering that question with specificity, you know is above my pay grade."

Obama went on to say that he is pro-choice and believes in Roe vs. Wade and a woman's right to an abortion. What Senator Obama is saying is that though it is above his pay grade to know when life begins, it is not above his pay grade to agree that is it ok to have killed 40 million Americans, with 3,500 added each day.

When a person says they don't know something involving the life or death of an individual, then caution is always given to the side of life. In essence, one is saying that there is a 50 percent chance it is life and a 50 percent chance that is it non-life. In his book "Politically Correct Death," Francis J. Beckwith gives an excellent argument to this "above my pay grade" mentality, he writes that if a building is going to be demolished and there is a 50 percent chance that a bunch of children are in the building, you do not go ahead and demolish the building. You always error on the side of caution, because if you are wrong the results are catastrophic.

As a Christian and a pastor, I believe that government should make decisions that are in the best interest of the people it represents. Allowing the killing of the most vulnerable in our society is not in these little ones' best interest any more than daily lining up 3,500 first graders and shooting them. If Barack Obama and the party he represents cannot get it right on this most foundational issue, then I do not believe they have the moral or cognitive abilities to occupy the presidency of the United States or any other public office.

If you can't get it right on this issue of life and show proper discernment, how can you be trusted to get it right on all the other issues? It is my opinion that the stakes are too high in this presidential election to entrust life and death issues to someone who believes that the question of life is above their pay grade, but yet is willing to error on the side of death!

Pastor Randy Leskovar

Calvary Chapel West Seattle