The Presidential Election: How Should a Christian Vote?

I've been agonizing over this presidential election. As a Christian I feel obligated to vote but... According to my Baptist co-religionists (and other Christians I've read on the subject) it's cut and dried: Vote Bush. He's pro-life and in favor of vouchers for private schools; Kerry isn't. He drove Saddam out of Iraq thus making it safe for democracy (and Christians). He is strongly anti-terrorist.

Sounds simple. But not to me.

Bush certainly sounds pro-life. Being strongly pro-life myself, I applaud this. But if if anything has gotten any better for the innocent babies I haven't noticed it. If Kerry is no more effectual than Bush in this respect, would he really be a threat? Nothing has changed on the school voucher front either.

Under Bush many people have been laid off and jobs have gone overseas. Company executives are getting richer while families are losing their homes. Surely this is nearly as much of a life issue as abortion.

And Bush has brought us war. We are sacrificing our children to kill other people's children in Iraq. Certainly Saddam was no moral leader. But is it just to kill too many people in order to get rid of a government that killed too many people? This makes no sense to me.

So I want to vote for Kerry. But like a hamster on a wheel I come back to the conviction that I simply can't vote for someone who favors abortion. I'll pray about it and hopefully make peace with my conscience. But ah, the agony of the single issue voter!