Politics are vexing

Over on dotCommonweal David Gibson gives more detail on both Democratic candidates' interviews on two Sunday news programs. Of particular note is the extneded response given by Senator Obama on ABC's This Week to his Saddleback misstep. In the interview he goes on to give the answer that, in Gibsons' words, "he wishes he’d given" at the Saddleback debate.

“What I do know is that abortion is a moral issue, that it’s one that families struggle with all the time. And that in wrestling with those issues, I don’t think that the government criminalizing the choices that families make is the best answer for reducing abortions.

“I think the better answer — and this was reflected in the Democratic platform — is to figure out, how do we make sure the young mothers, or women who have a pregnancy that’s unexpected or difficult, have the kind of support they need to make a whole range of choices, including adoption and keeping the child."

Now, that is answer with which I can live. It is far superior to the response given by his running mate, Sen. Biden, who began his answer with "Look, I know when [life] begins for me. It’s a personal and private issue". For more read Gibson's post.

Meanwhile, Molly Wilson O'Reilly, also writing on dotCommonweal, gives us more analysis of the convention speech given by the most famous representative of that false demographic, no better or worse than any other kind of mom, self-proclaimed hockey mom Sarah Palin, who says of Sen. Obama-

"Victory in Iraq is finally in sight… he wants to forfeit.

"Terrorist states are seeking new-clear [sic] weapons without delay… he wants to meet them without preconditions.

"Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America… he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights?"

Okay, explain to me again the appeal, I drifted off in the middle. Didn't somebody tell her that the Iraqis themselves are throwing us out come 2011? That maybe, just maybe, working with allies and using diplomatic means will work with Iran, as it has with North Korea? Is she aware that Sen. Obama wants to re-double our efforts in Afghanistan precisely to prevent Al Qaeda from becoming resurgent there and to protect our country by good intelligence and counter-terrorism, which requires the rebuilding of strained and broken alliances as well as the forging of new ones? Oh yeah, human rights, who needs 'em when you have water-boarding? Let's ask ourselves, apart from economic opportunity, what makes the U.S. a beacon of light in world?

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

It is more than appropriate that in the midst of all this discussion about nascent human life, that we liturgically memorialize the birth of our Blessed Mother.



While contemplating Mary's life, especially in light of all this political hullabaloo, which, again, I enjoy, I came across this by Dorothy Day- “True obedience is a matter of love, which makes it voluntary, not compelled by fear or force”. Diaconal bow to Deacon Greg Kandra.
I post that quote because it shows what obedience truly is. May we, like our Blessed Mother, be humbly obedient to God's will, trusting always in the fact that God loves us.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

More on this emotional issue

Senator Joseph Biden was on Meet the Press today and he, like Speaker Pelosi last month, was asked directly about his position on abortion in light of his being a Catholic. You know what? He said nothing new! He articulated that second component of his position, the one about which I wrote he was confused and unreasonable. Anyway, Deacon Greg Kandra, writing on his most excellent blog, The Deacon's Bench, gives the details in Biden on abortion: "For me to impose my judgment is inappropriate". The post also includes some words from the man who tomorrow will become Sen. Biden's new bishop. Meanwhile, Rocco has video.

In the same post, Deacon Greg also writes about Barack Obama's appearance on ABC's This Week. On the program Obama was asked whether he thought his response to Pastor Rick Warren's question during last month's debate at Warren's Saddleback church was too flip, the senator responded, "Probably . . . What I intended to say is that, as a Christian, I have a lot of humility about understanding when does the soul enter into ... It's a pretty tough question". He continued: "And so, all I meant to communicate was that I don't presume to be able to answer these kinds of theological questions". This response is certainly an improvement over his previous one, in which he said the question of when human life begins was above his pay grade. Nonetheless, for a politician running for office or for a blogging deacon, it is not so much about being able to give a precise answer. Ensoulment is, indeed, a theological issue. The Catholic church teaches that human life, that is, ensoulment, begins at conception and that conception begins when a sperm fertilizes an egg. This is not a teaching that is above thoughtful and informed criticism or debate among informed people. However, like Sen. Obama, I am neither a scientist nor a theologian. Therefore, I am not qualified to engage in such a debate. I, too, am humbled before this question. However, humility leads me to err on the side of caution, on the side of life, not against it. To justify abortion on the basis of not knowing when human life begins does not strike me as humility. It strikes me as confusion. Besides, it is an unsound conclusion to draw from I don't know (i.e., a sound conclusion, logically, is one that is necessitated by the premise(s)). If the conclusion is not logically sound, it cannot be morally sound.

I think we can safely say that when a person is elected to public office and certainly when elected president or vice-president s/he has to make judgments. Not only is making judgments unavoidable, as an elected official it is basically your job, whether it is about abortion, federal highway funding, or how to deal with an international crisis. So, how is making a consistent, well-reasoned judgment on abortion so different, or even more difficult, from making judgments a myriad of other issues? What makes it more difficult is the political importance of the issue for people on both sides of it. This, of course, leads us right back into putting emotion over reason.

I am glad this is becoming an issue and that tough questions are being asked of candidates whose positions on this fundamental issue do not make a great deal of sense. Let's hope it extends to include fetal stem cells, not just for political reasons, but because many people who oppose abortion are alright with the creation of human life for the purpose of destroying it in order to harvest stem cells. I really dislike the relegation of one's faith to the background, making it a private matter. For someone to say, as did JFK and Mitt Romney, that their faith will not influence their decision-making as an office-holder is to say that your faith is something added on to your life and not very important to you. What you believe, what you really believe, inevitably informs the decisions you make. I am always amazed that some twenty-seven years after the publication of the first edition what an accurate diagnosis of our culture can be found in Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. Ours is truly an emotivist society, especially when it comes to morals and politics. As Christians we do not have the option of a private faith. Fr. Neuhaus said it best when he wrote that Christian faith is always personal but never private.

Bishop Robert Morlino, SJ, of the Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin, who is a trained moral theologian, weighed in yesterday in a homily given in lieu of the one he had prepared at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Madison. You can link and listen to the mp3 via Whispers.

Correcting an oversight

I have been remiss in not writing a word about the plight of our Christian sisters and brothers in India, especially in Orissa state. The best summary I have found is the U.K.'s Catholic Herald, accurately entitled Mob butchers India's Christian minority. The Holy Father declared a day of fasting and prayer last week. He said a week ago Wednesday:

"I learned with deep sorrow of the acts of violence perpetrated against the Christian communities in the Indian State of Orissa, subsequent to the deplorable assassination of Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati, a Hindu leader. So far several people have been killed and various others have been injured. Centers of worship that belong to the Church have also been destroyed, as well as private homes. While I firmly condemn every attack against human life, whose sacredness demands the respect of all, I express my spiritual closeness and solidarity to the brothers and sisters in the faith who have been so harshly tried. I implore the Lord to accompany and sustain them at this time of suffering and to give them the strength to continue in the service of love on behalf of all. I ask religious leaders and civil authorities to work together to re-establish among the members of the various communities the peaceful coexistence and harmony that have always been a hallmark of Indian society."

Please also read Fr. Robert Imbellis' post over on dotCommonweal, “Et alibi aliorum …” (II), in which he details how Blessed Teresa of Calcutta's Missionaries of Charity are targets of Hindu fundamentalists. It is weird that yesterday marked her birthday. Blessed Teresa, pray for your beloved India.

Politics are frustrating and proportional reasoning is hard

UPDATE II: Gerald Boyer has an article available on the Commonweal website that covers much of what I have covered in the post below, only better and more specfically. It is entitled Yes You Can: Why Catholics Don't Have to Vote Republican. Boyer is a professor of theology at St. Joseph's Univ. in Philadelphia.

UPDATE: My dear friend Rocco passes on a report that appeared in the San Francisco Examiner that Speaker Pelosi has accepted Archbishop Niederauer's invitation to sit down for a discussion about the issue of abortion. Of course, the archbishop addressed the speaker's publicly stated rationale for her unequivocal insistence that a woman has the right to choose an abortion, which position is in direct conflict with church teaching, in the current issue of Catholic San Franciso, the newpaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. As Archbishop Niederauer invited us in his column: "Let us pray together that the Holy Spirit will guide us all toward a more profound understanding and appreciation for human life, and toward a resolution of these differences in truth and charity and peace".

I was provoked by Fred yesterday, in a good way, to think seriously about the issue of abortion and the stance of the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Senator Joseph Biden, who is a Catholic. That last phrase is key. He is a Catholic. That is not disputable, at least not on this blog. That being stated, it is easy to be unreasonable about faith, or to not draw the conclusions necessitated by certain aspects of our Catholic faith, to translate our faith into a life, our life. It is difficult and requires our cooperation with God's grace. I daresay that precious few of us have perfected it, that is, have become perfect. I certainly have not. This is further complicated by the fact that we live in what philosopher Alaisdair MacIntyre accurately describes as an emotivist culture. This is particularly true of our political culture. Both conventions are examples of this reality. Voting, when undertaken responsibly, remains a deliberative act of reason. I misstated something in an earlier post that needs to be corrected: Sen. Biden supported the partial birth abortion ban.

If I am going to address the subject of unreasonable faith, I have a whole lot of ground to cover, especially when faith meets politics, which adds a whole new dimension of unreasonableness, which is driven by the electorate's highly emotional approach to issues. It is political supply and demand. I want to lay out some facts. The first fact is that Sen. Biden is morally opposed to abortion. He has said on numerous occasions that he accepts church teaching that life begins at conception. So, his confusion isn't even about the immorality of abortion. Like many Catholic Democratic office-holders and candidates, his stance has two main components. The first is legal and recognizes that whether you like it or not, Roe v. Wade is presently the constitutional law of the land. Faithful Citizenship confronts this reality directly:

"Sometimes morally flawed laws already exist. In this situation, the process of framing legislation to protect life is subject to prudential judgment and 'the art of the possible.' At times this process may restore justice only partially or gradually. For example, Pope John Paul II taught that when a government official who fully opposes abortion cannot succeed in completely overturning a pro-abortion law, he or she may work to improve protection for unborn human life, 'limiting the harm done by such a law' and lessening its negative impact as much as possible (Evangelium Vitae, no. 73). Such incremental improvements in the law are acceptable as steps toward the full restoration of justice. However, Catholics must never abandon the moral requirement to seek full protection for all human life from the moment of conception until natural death" (FC 32).

I once again urge everyone to read Dennis O'Brien's No to Abortion: Posture, Not Policy. Short of reading a lot of big books, this article is essential reading for anyone interested in the vexing issue of abortion. The second component is a confusion, the refusal to recognize that the church's teaching is derived from reason and not from revelation. Therefore, it is not the case that we are seeking to impose our faith on others. Nonetheless, in the words of Sen. Obama, from a speech he gave in 2006, entitled One Nation . . . Under God

"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."

Sen. Biden's former bishop, now retired, Bishop Robert Mulvee, speaking about the senator said in response to a group of Delaware Catholics who accused him of neglecting his pastoral duties by not censuring Sen. Biden: "I am personally convinced that communication, not excommunication, is the way to change minds and hearts" on abortion (Intermountain Catholic 5 Sept. 2008, pg 4). We saw another example of this pastoral approach, which itself is a prudential judgment made by a person's bishop and nobody else, in Archbishop' Niederauer's response to Speaker Pelosi's recent public remarks on abortion.

It is important to note that Sen Biden has supported a number of measures, including the partial birth abortion ban and even opposing federal funding for abortions, that limit and restrict abortions. Again, it is not the case that an expansion of the availability of abortion is being sought. By all indications, Joseph Biden seems to live his faith, even if he does not always translate it effectively into public policy. By all accounts, he is a solid father and a faithful, caring husband. For several years he raised three children by himself after the car wreck that claimed his wife's life and that of one of his daughters. He is one of the few senators who have been in the Senate long enough (i.e., before the harsh, partisan divisiveness that started in 1994) to have deep personal friendships with members across the isle. He and John McCain are very good personal friends and have been for years. I think this is among the reasons he was chosen by Sen Obama. I also believe this is why the Dem Convention struck such a respectful tone toward Sen McCain, which was not reciprocated at all by the Republicans, who were pretty nasty toward Sen Obama, not Sen McCain personally, but certainly by the other keynote speakers, which prompted yesterday's Jon Stewart fest here on Καθολικός διάκονος.

On the subject of unreasonable faith, Gov Palin, while solid on abortion, is on record as believing that the war in Iraq is God's will.

Politics are funny

UPDATE: Paul Moses has a more mature take on the matter, in which he draws attention to a piece in my hometown newspaper, The Salt Lake Tribune, over on dotCommonweal.

LANGUAGE WARNING

Because I just can't resist and because the vitriol deserves an airing:

and

because Turd Blossom (that is Pres. Bush's no kiddin' nickname for this alleged genius, whose divisive politics set civility back centuries- click the link to verify or google the nickname yourself) can't make up his mind about what consistutes real political experience. Bill "No Spin" O'Reilly can't help spinning. Karl Rove can't be from Utah if he really calls Colorado, Colorada. I suppose he'd call Hupper, Hooper, like it is spelled. He did get Nevada correct and we won't even go there with Tooele. Fox News, on which all of these comments were made, remains fair and balanced.

Two quick notes:
1) I have not spared the Dems when it comes to the abortion and have praised Gov. Palin for her stance. I will not relent when it comes to that issue or marriage.
2) Jon Stewart is a comedian who works on a comedy show that pretends to be news. Back when CNN was competing with Fox News by airing shouting matches, which they sadly turned Crossfire into, before it went off the air, Jon Stewart lambasted real news people. Oh, what the hell:

Jon Stewart on Crossfire Viral SPIKE.com

The synch problem is weird, but worth the watch nonetheless. By the way, whatever happened to Tucker Carlson? Anyway, sorry for the excess. It's like the Go-Gos thing back in February.

Analysis and background: I think the convention this week lowered the bar in terms of our political discourse, which is why I posted the first clip. There is no change here. It is the same old Rovian strategy of the politics of fear and divide and conquer. I could not agree more with Sen Obama's analysis of it, delivered in the town in which my lovely wife was born. I am not shy about where I am coming from, but I'd have to say that the Dems went out of their way to be respectful to Sen. McCain personally and to reserve their criticisms for what he proposing and how often his votes converged with the Bush Administration's legislative agenda, but isn't that what elections are supposed to be about, comparing candidates' records, pointing out differences, and making an argument for your proposals? I mean, what was that bit about holding back the waters and healing the planet? Is it a jab at making policy proposals about our nation's infrastructure in places like New Orleans and taking environmental concerns seriously by suggesting a $130 billion investment over 10 years in alternative energy? I have been up-front about the fact that I think some Obama supporters get carried away to the point of suffering from messianic delusions about their candidate, but I don't think Sen Obama himself does. Further, what in the hell is Giuliani talking about? He played right into the Mitt Romney characterization of him: "A noun, a verb, and 9/11". Sen Obama has not attacked Gov Palin's experience, or lack thereof. If nothing else, give him credit for being politically smarter than attacking her on that, thus drawing attention to his biggest vulnerability. Gov. Palin, on the other hand, had no such qualms, which is what makes Stewart's bit on their denigration of Sen Obama's time and service as a community organizer so funny, especially ending it with a reference to Republican President George H.W. Bush's "thousand points of light". The GOP, which still seems to be taking its cue from the playbook of the aforementioned Blossom, launched a full frontal and personal attack.

"All I needed was a friend to lend a guiding hand, but"

Maggie May always reminds me of fall. So, here is Rod Stewart and the Faces. This is our traditio.

SARCASM ALERT Our Friday traditio is a good time to mention this, largely because traditio features celebrities: I learned something in today's "news" that I don't really care much about, namely that David Spade is the father of newborn daughter borne to a Playboy Playmate- I suppose there are those who are our mates and those with whom we just play in a certain way like they are our mates. In a deeply moving display of fatherly affection and loving commitment to his child's mother, Jillian Grace, "The 44-year-old comedian told TMZ.com earlier this year that he had a brief relationship with Grace, and would accept responsibility if confirmed to be the father of her child". If you are still unconvinced, Spade, according to his publicist, "plans to visit her on his first break from filming the CBS sitcom 'Rules of Engagement,'". I feel compelled to comment on this for two reasons. First, in light of the Holy Father's message to participants of the Meeting about what it means to be a protagonist. Second, in light of this post and link over on Paper Clippings, entitled Perpetual adolescents.

More important than a rock n' roll reminiscence or celebrity "news" is remembering Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, who, when she is raised to altar, will have her memorial on this day. Please see Rocco's post "Give God Permission". Rocco reminds us that it is she who said: "There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives - the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them". It does take courage to admit to ourselves, but especially to others, that we are hungry for love, which, by its very nature and design requires an Other. After all, God can only be love because God is a Trinity of persons. This fact, this insight, is all the apologetic needed for this foundational dogma that sits atop the hierarchy of truths. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us.