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Posted on 09/17/2008 3:47:36 PM PDT by wagglebee
September 17, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a Radio Vatican interview yesterday, Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor-in-chief of First Things, a US based faith and culture magazine, stated that despite the rickety economy, Americans consider the "culture of life issues" to "cut the deepest" when it comes to voting considerations.
A former Lutheran minister turned Catholic priest, Father Neuhaus, 72, has been referenced congenially by President George Bush, who explained that Father Richard "helps me to articulate these [religious] things".
Father Neuhaus stated that life issues are considered to be of "paramount importance" not only by Catholic voters, but also by all "religiously serious" Americans, who, Neuhaus remarks, account for the "majority" of Americans.
"From the viewpoint of the teaching of the Church, of course, and also in the on-the-ground political-cultural reality of America, the great issues are what John Paul II taught the world to call the culture of life and the culture of death - the so called life issues beginning with abortion and euthanasia," Father Neuhaus told Vatican Radio yesterday.
"These continue to be, as they have for the last 30-plus years since the Roe vs. Wade ruling of 1973, something like the vortex of American social, cultural and political conflict. It's the most deep-seated and abiding divide."
In a preamble to Father Neuhaus' interview, the interviewer made reference to the collapse of two major Wall Street houses yesterday and cited both Presidential candidates' intention to seek "greater federal oversight" of the country's financial system.
"You can ask economic questions, foreign policy questions, fiscal questions et cetera; [and these] will bubble to the surface because that's what the media are mainly paying attention to; but if you look underneath that, especially where a community looks at itself to be religiously serious - which is a majority of Americans - the thing that cuts most deeply is the culture of life questions."
Neuhaus, whom Time magazine in 2005 called one of the "Top 25 most influential evangelicals in America", is cited by a Bush Administration official as having "a fair amount of under-the- radar influence" on the country's life policies, particularly those on abortion, stem cell research, cloning and the defense of marriage.
To listen to the Radio Vatican clip:
http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/EN1/Articolo.asp?c=231...
Related LifeSite Coverage:
Christianity "Disestablished" in Canada - Richard John Neuhaus
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07100103.html
The economy will ALWAYS have ups and downs, but the culture of death's slaughter of innocent life WILL destroy our society if we allow it.
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Of course! The economy goes in cycles; human lives do not. The rights of the unborn and other pro-life issues should ALWAYS take priority over the economy!
50 million dead children. No future in that.
Amen.
The same people behind the economic mess are the abortion types
Too bad Fr Neuhaus doesn’t realize that and instead is almost saying despite the GOP causing economic problems etc etc vote for them since they are against abortion
This is a wrong premise
The question he addresses is the most critical one before us, because it goes right to the heart of the concept of liberty embodied in our nation's philosophical foundation--the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson capsulized the significance of the meaning of "all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights" in this statement:
"The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time: the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them."
Although he spoke the following words about the slavery question existing at the time, were he living today, he might just as well have spoken them about a nation whose laws allow the destruction of the life and liberty of unborn citizens:
"Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever."
Today's economic issues pale in comparison with the untold consequences of robbing America's future of millions of potentially productive citizens who may have been intended by their Creator to be the great leaders to rid the world of some of its evils, to be the scientists who discover cures for diseases, to be among those who bless the world with great music and art, or who just simply lived out their lives in service to others.
Kudos to Father Neuhaus!
One question for the good Father - if he could abolish abortion with a direct consequence being voiding the Constitution, would he advise Bush to do just that?
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Why would you assume that as a consequence, given that the Constitution does not support abortion, and the strongest “penumbra” must by any rational person be seen in the 14th Amendment - applied to the person with the most to lose? Read this, of course, in the warm glow of the Bill of Rights, which acknowledges the Right to Life as endowed by the Creator. Which right, by our founding documents, is the more fundamental?
You’re misunderstanding my question. Am not debating whether or not the “right” for an abortion exists in the Constitution. I think you and I agree that it doesn’t. My question pertains to concern over the priest’s stance. If life issues hold so much weight, is it not pertinent to ask whether he would advise Bush to disregard the Constitution in pursuit of that goal? Where does he draw the line?
I see what you’re asking, and I would not want to speak for the priest on this...
I think that because the rights to life and liberty are so very important, the Constitution must not be disregarded. It’s not a matter of outweighing; I think many priests will agree with my viewpoint that any God-given right outweighs a man-made document, no matter how fine a document it is. But in this society, in order to realistically achieve a goal regarding human rights, it must be done within the Constitution. And so I don’t think (though I cannot speak for this priest, this is just my opinion) he would advise Bush to disregard the Constitution, not because the Constitution outweighs the right to life but because without the Constitution that right will never be guaranteed in this country and abortion would be back before you’re done saying “Goodbye Planned Parenthood.” It’s just sensible.
True.
Too bad Fr Neuhaus doesn’t realize that and instead is almost saying despite the GOP causing economic problems etc etc vote for them since they are against abortion.
I don't think that's what he really means, although the comment will be interpreted that way. He should have had more coffee first.
Thanks for ping, good insight from Father Neuhaus.
Simple solution to your dilemma - Right to Life amendment.
Constitution saved, babies saved.
Bumpus Neuhaus maximus!
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