Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Democrats Woo Religious
Tom McFeely in the National Catholic Register looks back at the 2004 U.S. Senate election in Illinois. Republican Alan Keyes said Democrat Barack Obama's views on issues such as abortion were irreconcilable with Christian moral principles. Barama responded in his Keynote Address to the Call to Renewal conference.
He implies that he hasn't heard any such explanation. Here's the first paragraph of the U.S. Bishops' pamphlet.
Either Senator Obama never heard the argument in those terms, or this explanation would not meet his proposed standard. ¶ 8/16/2006 07:59:00 AM
Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God's will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.
He implies that he hasn't heard any such explanation. Here's the first paragraph of the U.S. Bishops' pamphlet.
All persons, not just Catholics, can know from the scientific and medical evidence that what grows in a mother's womb is a new, distinct human being. All persons can understand that each human being -- without discrimination -- merits respect. At the very least, respecting human life excludes the deliberate and direct destruction of life -- and that is exactly what abortion is.
Either Senator Obama never heard the argument in those terms, or this explanation would not meet his proposed standard. ¶ 8/16/2006 07:59:00 AM
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Interesting that Obama frames the argument in such a way that agnostics/atheists are allowed to vote based on a premise that God does not exist, while believers are not allowed to vote based on the premise that God exists.
But regardless, with abortion I agree no faith is required to see that it contra reason.
But regardless, with abortion I agree no faith is required to see that it contra reason.
And while it's surely not an effective strategy to argue from religious principles, I see no reason why those principles shouldn't inform one's vote.
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