As a traditional Catholic Christian, I am repulsed by a long list of disingenuous, abortion-enabling Catholic "in name only" politicians whom have sold their soul for an unworthy career: Nancy Pelosi, Mario Cuomo, Joe Biden, John Kerry, etc. (In fact, only 1 of 17 Catholic Democratic senators (Bob Casey) is reliably pro-life.) Nancy Pelosi and others have materially misrepresented the brief periods in Church history when some scholars held that early abortion was not necessarily considered murder (but still gravely sinful), primarily due to the scientific influence of ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, whom hypothesized a staged development process of the fetus, considered human only at the point of ensoulment (roughly speaking, the quickening). In fact, the Church has always considered the act of voluntary abortion gravely sinful and inconsistent with Christian values. The relativistic viewpoint, particularly espoused by Cuomo at a notable Notre Dame commencement in the 1980's, that one can be "personally opposed" to abortion as murder but will not impose his morality on others, is morally incoherent, not unlike saying I am personally opposed to racism, but I'm not going to impose my beliefs in racial diversity on other people. You cannot triangulate a core moral value. As a civilized people, we impose moral standards in our laws all the time, e.g., prohibitions against child abuse, rape, etc.
Bishop Thomas Tobin's public chastisement of Representative Kennedy and request for him not to receive the sacraments is righteous and long overdue. A number of progressive Catholics who have somehow reconciled themselves to the evil of abortion are troubled by the public nature of the rebuke, as if more discreet approaches by bishops to nominally Catholic politicians over the past four decades have been fruitful. It's about time some of our prelates find meaning in the example of John the Baptist, whom was not satisfied with morally insensitive kings refusing to confront their consciences. John Kerry and others have put the god of their politics above Yahweh.
And while we're at it, and I will address this issue more substantively in future posts, it is time for Catholic Christian conservatives to push back on the indulgent morally self-superior promotion by Christian progressives of government programs (euphemistically identified as "social justice") which, in fact, undermine the moral and spiritual development and self-reliance of the actuated citizen. The audacious idea that somehow facilitating a dependency on government handouts morally outweighs the inconvenient, intentional deaths of preborn children, the height of progressive Christian arrogance, must be exposed as morally bankrupt.
Various Terrorist Trials
News reports this week that Major Nidal Hasan, the alleged Ft. Hood mass murderer and an Army psychiatrist, might plead insanity, and that at least one of the coming 9/11 show trials in New York City might include a defense of justifiable homicide are sorely testing my patience. Attorney General Eric Holder has snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory; the show trial defendants wanted to plead guilty at a military tribunal. With a nearly $2T budget deficit, Holder wants to give the terrorists a soap box and possibly spend millions of dollars in additional security costs for exactly what reason? To prove terrorists are as guilty in a civilian court as they would be in a military tribunal? What's left that could make this any worse? Maybe taxing the settlements made to 9/11 victims' families to pay for the show trials? Recruit the prosecutors from the OJ Simpson trial? (I shouldn't give the Obama White House any ideas; they just might go for it...)
Political Cartoon
Lisa Benson reminds us that the devil is in the details of health care "reform" and some organizations have sold their soul, forever losing their credibility with the American people.
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Amy Grant Song
I have loved this song, a 1982 Christian music #1 hit, from the very first time I heard it on an Amy Grant The Collection CD I bought in the 1980's. (This is a great album; I also love the songs "Thy Word" and "Father's Eyes".) Amy Grant has since recorded a number of crossover pop songs as well.
El Shaddai: God Almighty
El-Elyon na Adonai: God Most High, O Lord
Erkamka na Adonai: I love you, O Lord
