[Apologetics] FW: Obama "most committed 'abortion-rights' presidential candidate"

Tue Oct 21 20:26:08 EDT 2008

________________________________

From: nrlc at nrlc.org [mailto:nrlc at nrlc.org] 
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2008 4:35 PM
To: Art Kelly
Subject: Obama "most committed 'abortion-rights' presidential candidate

 <http://www.nrlc.org/images/nrlogo2.gif> 	National 
Right to Life	       Today's 
News & Views

Today's News & Views
October 21, 2008

Archbishop Chaput: Senator Obama "most committed 'abortion-rights'
presidential candidate of either major party since the Roe v. Wade
abortion decision" -- Part One of Two
<http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/Oct08/nv102108part2.html> 

When someone writes as eloquently and in such depth as Archbishop
Charles J. Chaput, summarizing what's said in a manner that honors its
complexity presents unique challenges.

But the speech the Denver Roman Catholic Archbishop delivered October 17
to a dinner of the Catholic Women's Group ENDOW (''Educating on the
Nature and Dignity of Women'') is so elegant, so important I'm going to
give it a go. 

 <http://www.nrlc.org/news_and_views/Oct08/ppchaput010708.jpg> 	
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput

An additional reason for talking about his far-reaching remarks is that
I can mention what I have inexcusably failed to note earlier. Archbishop
Chaput is the author of the wonderful new book, "Render Unto Caesar."

Let me begin by emphasizing what the Archbishop emphasized. He was not
telling anyone how to vote and that what he had to say were "my personal
views, nothing more." (He added, "I think they're pretty solidly
grounded in Catholic teaching and the heart of the Church.")

Let me offer four quotations from his remarks.

1. "[D]emocratic pluralism does not mean that Catholics should be quiet
in public about serious moral issues because of some misguided sense of
good manners. A healthy democracy requires vigorous moral debate to
survive. Real pluralism demands that people of strong beliefs will
advance their convictions in the public square--peacefully, legally and
respectfully, but energetically and without embarrassment. Anything less
is bad citizenship and a form of theft from the public conversation."

What a fascinating insight, not limited to Catholics citizens, of
course. It not only is incumbent on us to argue our case vigorously, to
do otherwise is to deprive the public conversation of an important
ingredient. Our participation is not an unnecessary add-on, but a
crucial component to an educated citizenry.

2. "I believe that Senator Obama, whatever his other talents, is the
most committed 'abortion-rights' presidential candidate of either major
party since the Roe v. Wade abortion decision in 1973. " The "party
platform Senator Obama runs on this year is not only aggressively
'pro-choice.' it has also removed any suggestion that killing an unborn
child might be a regrettable thing." 

Obama supporters have spun the changes in the party platform every which
way but up. Far from suggesting a softening or a "reaching out" to
pro-lifers, the Democratic Party's 2008 platform is even more
cold-hearted, even more committed to enlarging the pool of aborted
babies.

3. Referring to Prof. Douglas Kmiec's book, Can a Catholic Support Him?
Asking the Big Question about Barack Obama, Archbishop Chaput said,
"Prof. Kmiec argues that there are defensible motives to support Senator
Obama. Speaking for myself, I do not know any proportionate reason that
could outweigh more than 40 million unborn children killed by abortion
and the many millions of women deeply wounded by the loss and regret
abortion creates. To suggest--as some Catholics do--that Senator Obama
is this year's ''real' prolife candidate requires a peculiar kind of
self-hypnosis, or moral confusion, or worse. To portray the 2008
Democratic Party presidential ticket as the preferred 'prolife' option
is to subvert what the word 'prolife' means."

4. (This falls in the "nothing new under the sun" category.) "And here's
the irony. None of the Catholic arguments advanced in favor of Senator
Obama are new. They've been around, in one form or another, for more
than 25 years. All of them seek to 'get beyond' abortion, or
economically reduce the number of abortions, or create a better society
where abortion won't be necessary. All of them involve a misuse of the
seamless garment imagery in Catholic social teaching. And all of them,
in practice, seek to contextualize, demote and then counterbalance the
evil of abortion with other important but less foundational social
issues."

What is new is the level of intensity, sophistication, and sophistry
we've seen going back to 2004. Following the defeat of Sen. John Kerry,
pro-abortionists grasped that they had to rhetorically change their
position while (if anything) hardening their commitment to abortion on
demand at tax-payers' expense. The American electorate needed to be
convinced the leopard had changed its spots.

Right now, depending on whom you believe, the Catholic vote is either
slightly tilting toward Obama or split down the middle. What's clear is
that this segment of the electorate is the most willing to tell
pollsters that they are uncommitted or could change their minds by
election day.

To help Americans of all religious persuasions or none understand the
abortion positions of pro-life Sen. John McCain and pro-abortion Sen.
Barack Obama, please download the presidential comparison sheet at
http://nrlc.org/Election2008/comparison0909084c.pdf. You can also order
multiple copies online at only a nickel each at
http://www.nrlchapters.org/comparisonbuy.htm and have them sent out the
same day.

Part Two <http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/Oct08/nv102108part2.html>
-- CFC and Other Workplace Campaigns Indispensable to Pro-Life
Educational Efforts

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