An Obama Vote Is No Sin for Catholics, Even With His Abortion Views
Reader Comments
"Non-legally trained" Pro-lifer who gets it.
I am sorry but your "devout Catholic" friend Kmiec is a snob. I am not a legal scholar, nor have I taught at Notre Dame but I do understand that the people, ie. the legislative process, is the place where Americans believe laws are to be made, by those men and women we vote into these offices to vote on our behalf. Overturning Roe v. Wade would put that power back where it belongs, in the legislative branch of government, not the judiciary, who were not meant to write the law in the first place. His condescending tone really annoys a woman who will continue to vote for Republicans for President so that conservative justices will slowly replace liberal judges and so the Highest court in our land starts doing the job they were put there to do, interpret not make law. Whether a vote for Obama and all pro-abortion candidates is a sin, well that is and will be determined by someone much higher on the pay grade than you or your ND buddy!
Wrong
Are you Catholic? I hope not because you have your facts crooked. Catholics are called to respect life in all its forms first and foremost. Murder for another's lifestyle is not appropriate. Catholics, including the US Catholic bishops maintain a vote is an act and to vote for a candidate engaged in and planning to continue a moral evil (which abortion is) is to become an accessory to that sin effectually sinning. Catholics are big on social welfare, but not at the price of human life. The number of people in the US dying of hunger pales in comparison to the number dying from abortion. If you support Obama, support him, do not distort Catholic teaching to do so. Little FYI, it's more of a sin to lie about church teaching to intentionally deceive the masses like Biden did in his interview with the news journal than to support or vote for a wrong candidate. Catholics are free to choose but morally responsible for that choice meaning a bad vote knowingly is a sin. Also, Obama is not about babies. He voted against the Born Alive Infants Act in the Ill. government because it may limit Roe v. Wade. He's so in love with abortion he denied medical help to babies already born. I can't vote for someone who looks at a struggling infant and walks away to leave it for dead and the Catholic church agrees. It cannot legally in the US endorse a canidate but it can say not to vote for morally depraved candidates. Maybe there are others out there without a heart, but I'm pretty sure not protecting the most innocent of little infants is pretty depraved. Do I think he'd follow through if he was the one holding the infant as it died from lack of medical care, probably not. Do I think that someone who's detached enough to endorse it because he's so strongly for abortion is a moral candidate for Catholics, most surely not.
God Save Us
Thank you to all who posted their perspective. I have been leaning toward Obama for a variety of reasons - except not abortion. I am still an undecided voter.
I'm very much against abortion for two reasons.
1) I am guilty of it and this guilt sent me on a downward spiral. 20 years later, by the grace of God I have only recently begun to recover.
2) I've seen the joy of adoption with close friends. Miracles - if you will - of loving parents unable to conceive just happening to be in the right place at the right time to adopt newborn children. These children are gifts from God and truly reflect His love.
Perhaps we can start by agreeing that adoption is a very good thing and work together on making it more accessible for troubled mothers & fathers as well as eager parents.
God Bless You All. May His Will be Done.
In Jesus' Name I pray.
YBIC,
Ed
Interesting
I agree with the logic you have put in place. So much time and money is spent trying to overturn a law that makes abortion illegal, and so little time and money is being spent trying to reduce the number of pregnancies that would lead to abortions. If abortion were made illegal it wouldn't stop the practice of abortion, it would just make it more dangerous AND we would see the most detrimental effects among the working poor - those who can't afford to fly to a state or Canada to have an abortion performed. If the issue is really about saving human life, we should be focusing less on what is legal or illegal and more on how to prevent the need for the decision in the first place.
Regard confused politically correct? Truley concerned.
Please do more research. Obama doesn't support post-term abortion. He just wouldn't accept the legislation do abolish it because their was no clause to protect the mother. It's easy to skew an idea when you really want to beleive. Please site facts, you're spreading unproductive ignorance. No one wants to hand condoms out to teenagers. Obama truley believes education, at all ages, in an appropiate manner, is necessary to prevent unplanned conception, at all ages. Intentional and hurtfull persicution to another human is no more christian-like than anothers unchristian manner. I don't support abortion, but "A abortion is a sin above all sin's?" What doctrine did you read that from?
One line says it all
I really can't comment on the sum of your article; maybe you really believe all that stuff (using polite language). But when you say, "Truth be told, there is nothing that Democratic Party leaders would like more than to make abortion safe, legal, and rare," you have stepped into the realm of pure, unadulterated propaganda. If Democratic party leaders really were committed to reducing the rate and devastation of abortion, they would immediate cut ties with groups like Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and NOW (who, incidently, have never agitated for anything other than consequence-less, unrestricted sex and abortion-on-demand).
Rather, the fact of the matter is that the Democratic Party is as beholden to the abortion-mill corporations as any Republican is to big industry. Planned Parenthood certainly isn't about women's health (vis the number of citations that occur when any health inspector manages to get inside ont of their centers), it's about find ways to milk the U.S. taxpayers for every infant murder they conduct.
If the Democratic Party really wants to "work with" pro-life forces, let them take the first step and agree that any abortion procedure must be done in a licensed medical facility under the care of a board-reviewed medical practitioner after a consultation that reviews the proven medical and psychological risks of the procedure to the women. Oops, we can't have that because it would put PP out of business ...
You, sir, are a liar.
WOW! Here's a cafeteria Catholic at his finest!
Man Farrell, you can tell straight-faced lies as well as Obama himself!
e.g.:
Farrell:
"First off: It is not a sin for a Catholic to vote for Barack Obama or other Democratic candidates who support abortion rights. Indeed, it may be morally preferable.
As a matter of church doctrine, Catholics are free to vote for any candidates whose stands they like on foreign policy, the economy, or other issues."
PLEASE! YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!
Might want to check out the USCCB's Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship http://www.usccb.org/faithfulcitizenship/FCStatement.pdf. You cannot vot for a pro-abortion candidate as a Catholic if there is a a pro-life candidate running against him/her. I'm sure you know all of this and just like to use "spin" to justify your liberal leanings like Pelosi and Biden. Here, read my blog: http://www.dfwcatholic.org/obama-his-catholic-supporters-and-balderash/.html , at least I apply some thought and rationale instead of just spouting unfounded personal opinions. How can I get a job at US News & World Report?
Obama Vows To Pass FOCA
Obama has promised, as his first act as president, to pass FOCA "Freedom of Choice Act". FOCA is a law that makes abortion tantamount to a human right. Under what conditions is this acceptable to any Catholic?
Your opinion is false
Your opinion that someone can vote for a full-fledged pro-abortion candidate is incorrect, out of line with Church teaching, and irresponsible. If someone were running for office and was flagrantly racist (for instance, David Duke)- could you vote for him? Would it matter what his positions on other issues were if he classified black persons as not human?
Senator Obama voted 3 successive times against measures to give care to babies born after a botched abortion. He's changed his reasons for those votes- first he said the proposed Illinois law did not provide enough protection for the mother's right to choose to have her child killed. That wasn't true, though. The law was written exactly as a federal later law was to protect infants born alive. Now, Obama claims he voted against the bill because Illinois law already provided for the protection of the child after a botched abortion. False again. The law says the abortionist is to decide BEFORE the abortion whether the baby is strong enough to live after the abortion. In other words, if a baby is born, the abortionist can crush it's skull and it's legal. And this infanticide is okay for Obama. It's also okay in his mind, to allow partial birth abortion where scissor are stabbed into the baby's skull and the brains are vacuumed out. C'mon. You are committing a grave sin by trying to brainwash other Catholics to vote for
a candidate that supports and promotes infanticide. Neither you nor Doug Kmiec should recieve holy communion as you are in rebellion against Church teaching. You treat this horrendous issue- the only foundational issue for all others- as trivial. I remind you that Obama told both Planned Parenthood and NARAL that the very first bill he would get signed was one to expand a woman's right to choose (ie. more abortions, more millions of babies killed than ever before). You may consider abortion a trivial issue, but the candidate you support definetly does not see it that way.
Your opinion is false
Your opinion that someone can vote for a full-fledged pro-abortion candidate is incorrect, out of line with Church teaching, and irresponsible. If someone were running for office and was flagrantly racist (for instance, David Duke)- could you vote for him? Would it matter what his positions on other issues were if he classified black persons as not human?
Senator Obama voted 3 successive times against measures to give care to babies born after a botched abortion. He's changed his reasons for those votes- first he said the proposed Illinois law did not provide enough protection for the mother's right to choose to have her child killed. That wasn't true, though. The law was written exactly as a federal later law was to protect infants born alive. Now, Obama claims he voted against the bill because Illinois law already provided for the protection of the child after a botched abortion. False again. The law says the abortionist is to decide BEFORE the abortion whether the baby is strong enough to live after the abortion. In other words, if a baby is born, the abortionist can crush it's skull and it's legal. And this infanticide is okay for Obama. It's also okay in his mind, to allow partial birth abortion where scissor are stabbed into the baby's skull and the brains are vacuumed out. C'mon. You are committing a grave sin by trying to brainwash other Catholics to vote for
a candidate that supports and promotes infanticide. Neither you nor Doug Kmiec should recieve holy communion as you are in rebellion against Church teaching. You treat this horrendous issue- the only foundational issue for all others- as trivial. I remind you that Obama told both Planned Parenthood and NARAL that the very first bill he would get signed was one to expand a woman's right to choose (ie. more abortions, more millions of babies killed than ever before). You may consider abortion a trivial issue, but the candidate you support definetly does not see it that way.
