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Monday, November 05, 2012

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Ellie

I live where the President likes to come and chat (with The Boss), so, a certified ImportantSwingState and, um, I voted to keep y’all married.

**sigh**

I sure hope I have enough chocolate to make it through this night ....

Lissa

For better or for worse, for red or for blue...

<3

Lynn N.

I enjoy your blog and respect your view point. But...What about religious freedom and the statement of the US Bishops? I agree that Republicans often play lip service to pro-life agenda but the President has a lot of power that he uses to further his beliefs. Why did Planned Parenthood hate George W.? Why do they love Barack O.? I hate politics but I will always vote as pro-life as I can. Here in the U.S. and in many parts of the world (because of Executive Order and administration policies), the unborn are the big losers today. :(

scott

Lynn—

A good question. I'm going to outsource my answer to Father Peter Daly, who wrote recently:

Bishops said that never before had people been required to violate their religious conscience to comply with the law. But every day, we tax Quakers and other religious pacifists to support wars. Jehovah’s Witnesses pay Medicare taxes for blood transfusions. Seventh-day Adventists in the military must report to duty on Saturdays. Mormons had to give up their cherished practice of polygamy as the price for bringing Utah into the Union. The fact is that religious liberty has never been absolute. http://ncronline.org/blogs/parish-diary/why-fortnight-freedom-was-failure-among-average-catholics

I can't possibly say it better than Father Daly, although I would add that in the Supreme Court case Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990), Justice Antonin Scalia ruled that even though the use of peyote was part of a Native American religious ceremony, the state still had the right to take punitive action against peyote users using peyote in a religious ceremony. Blood transfusions contradict the teachings of Christian Scientists, and yet the courts and legislatures have dictated that Christian Scientists must allow medical personnel to give their children transfusions if doctors deem it medially necessary. Pope John Paul II said the Iraq War was unjust and illegal, and yet as a practicing Catholic my tax dollars went to support this unjust and illegal war.

It's the price we pay for living in this great nation in which we live. It's not perfect, it never has been and it never will be, but we can and will keep striving to make it a more perfect union.

Lynn N.

Disappointing response. The National Catholic Reporter and Peter Daly will always be there for a dissenting opinion. What about obedience? What about unborn, innocent life? Life is not a matter of personal opinion. Murder is happening every day. If a politician said they were personally against any other type of murder but wanted you to be free to choose, no one would have tolerance for that. Instead of defending the President's position, I wish someone would say that they are trying to get the regulation changed while still thinking this is the right president overall. But all I ever read is justification for the position. I do appreciate your taking the time to respond. Thank you.

scott

I'm sorry you were disappointed by my response. For what it's worth, the feeling is very mutual. Rather than addressing the arguments put forth, you dismiss them out of hand because you don't like the newspaper and have such little respect for the priest that you can't even bring yourself to use his honorific.

As Albert Einstein is reported to have said, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The pro-life movement has been trying to eradicate abortion using the same tactics for 30 years and is no closer to achieving its goals. So by all means, continue doing exactly the same thing and vilify anyone who would dare suggest that the evidence indicates the pro-life leaders don't really have the interests of the pro-life movement at heart, and that the desired end might actually be accomplished some other way. You're doing ever so much good.

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