-millenialism or dispensationalism, not to mention the methodology of salvation, baptism, and the observance of the "Lord's Supper." Together, they (generally) stand opposed to Roman Catholicism, or at least to that church's methodologies, customs, and practices.
In the meantime, from some perspectives, the (secular and/or non-Christian) world is heading toward hell in a handbasket, and it is Christianity's God-given duty to prevent that from happening, at all cost. In the United States, the rise of personal liberty, the reach for sexual equality, the decline of religious affiliation, to identify a few, are seen by some as the ultimate moral decay of society which will usher in the final tribulation of the world and bring about the Second Coming. Of course, this imposes man's desires upon God's timetable!
In order for there to be any social or theological significance to the theme state above, certain assumptions must be allowed. First, some form of systematic Christian (Judeo-Christian ?) theology and/or doctrine must be admitted. For the purposes of this paper, that form will generally follow those of evangelical Protestantism (such as Baptist or Pentecostal).
Second, it is important to recognize that while the United States can perhaps be regarded a "Christian" nation, it is by no means exclusively so. The fabric of American society draws upon a variety of moral systems, including those of Descartes, Rousseau, Kant, Mill, Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato, to mention just a few. Just as no systematic theology has been proven to be superior to all the others, no one system of moral reasoning has been demonstrated to fulfill every social or theological need or desire.
For this reason, abortion has neither social nor theological significance for some. This is not to say that abortion has no social or theological significance at all. Most "pro-choice" advocates acknowledge that arriving at a decision to terminate...