Since when is the spritual dimension different from the moral dimension???
Posted on 05/23/2009 5:38:44 AM PDT by rhema
President Barack Obama delivered his commencement address at the University of Notre Dame on Sunday, and he appeared to dive right into the very issue that made his visit to the Catholic university so controversial — abortion.
The President’s appearance at Notre Dame came even as seventy Catholic bishops denounced the university’s invitation. Protests and debates roiled the world of American Catholicism and a major media event was assured.
The President began his address with a call for common ground, noting that the generation represented by the young Notre Dame graduates would face daunting challenges. “Moreover, no one person, or religion, or nation can meet these challenges alone,” said Mr. Obama. “Our very survival has never required greater cooperation and greater understanding among all people from all places than at this moment in history.”
Yet, even as he called for common ground, he also warned: “We’re not going to shy away from things that are uncomfortable sometimes.” Everyone knew that the President was referring to abortion. Once again, he called for common ground. “That’s when we begin to say, ‘Maybe we won’t agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this heart-wrenching decision for any woman is not made casually, it has both moral and spiritual dimensions.’”
In virtually every way imaginable, the Notre Dame speech represents the quintessential Obama. By now, Americans should understand that this President is going to take positions and shape policies that are at odds with the sanctity of human life. He has already done this with respect to federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research and, as a candidate he pledged to do far more — even to sign the Freedom of Choice Act if passed by Congress.
At the same time, the President wants to claim common ground and respect for those who differ with him on these issues. He calls for others to do the same:
I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away. Because no matter how much we may want to fudge it — indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory — the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable. Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature.
Mr. Obama went on to call for “Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words.” In the end, the President’s comments were entirely about how Americans should discuss or debate abortion. There was no serious consideration of abortion itself. President Obama merely talked about talking about abortion.
This was a moral evasion and an insult to the importance of the issue. If the President had actually addressed the issue of abortion — if he had actually even offered a defense or rationale for his own position — he would have dignified the issue. Instead, Mr. Obama issued what amounted to a call for civility.
When the President called for Americans to agree that, while differing on abortion, “we can still agree that this heart-wrenching decision for any woman is not made casually,” he failed to make clear why this is so. If the unborn baby is not a person who possesses an intrinsic right to life, why is the decision to abort so “heart-wrenching?” If the fetus is just a collection of cells, why the angst? Furthermore, does the fact that a decision is “heart-wrenching” make it right or rational?
When the President acknowledged that, in the end, the two positions on abortion are irreconcilable, he was on more solid ground. Both sides frame the issue as a question of rights — specifically a woman’s “right” to control her reproductive destiny by any means, including abortion vs. the unborn child’s right to live. The weakness of the pro-abortion (or “pro-choice”) position becomes evident at this point. The claimed right of control over reproduction is not commensurate with another person’s right to live, and not to be killed in the womb.
If President Obama had actually spoken of abortion itself, rather than addressing abortion only as an issue of controversy, he would have found himself defending the indefensible, which explains why he avoids this discussion at all costs. Yet, now that he is President, he cannot get by with claiming that this question is “above my pay grade.”
The President also called for a certain humility on contested issues. “And this doubt should not push us away our faith,” argued the President. “But it should humble us. It should temper our passions, cause us to be wary of too much self-righteousness.” In itself, this is a good and responsible warning. But, as President Abraham Lincoln made clear in his second inaugural address, avoiding arrogance and self-righteousness does not mean failing to take a clear and costly stand.
This President is entirely predictable on the issue of abortion and related issues of human life, such as embryonic stem cell research. He is framing policies that are completely consistent with what he said and promised during his campaign. It is embarrassing to see some evangelicals who claim to be pro-life running public relations for the Obama Administration’s policies and positions. It is not uncivil to protest the President’s positions as subversive of human dignity and the sanctity of human life.
At the University of Notre Dame President Barack Obama talked about talking about abortion. One day, he will have to talk about abortion itself. He will put that day off as long as possible.
Anyone and everyone who voted for Obama is a damn fool and should never be allowed to vote as they will never understand good and evil and the difference between the two.
The majority of Americans are fools and the rest are go alongs to get alongs.
These pictures are horrible so be sure you can stomach them before clicking into what the King of America has made legal again..WARNING!! http://www.100abortionpictures.com/Aborted_Baby_Pictures_Abortion_Photos/
Since when is the spritual dimension different from the moral dimension???
When the President called for Americans to agree that, while differing on abortion, “we can still agree that this heart-wrenching decision for any woman is not made casually,” he failed to make clear why this is so. If the unborn baby is not a person who possesses an intrinsic right to life, why is the decision to abort so “heart-wrenching?” If the fetus is just a collection of cells, why the angst? Furthermore, does the fact that a decision is “heart-wrenching” make it right or rational?
I remember that woman in South Carolina who drowned her children in a pond talking about how difficult a decision that had been for her.
This is the wordsmith Obama where every line on the teleprompter is geared to appeal to someone.
The word 'moral' appeals to some, but 'spiritual' appeals to another group.
The unsuspecting listener walks away thinking that Obama really understands the morality involved in choosing life......or that Obama understands the spiritual underpinnings of the abortion debate.
Get it? He uses carefully chosen words to lure the unsuspecting. It is one reason why some believe he is a great orator.
There is a thread on FR on this. It is about using key words in speeches to appeal to the largest number of people possible.
I think a lot of dictators used this technique.
“That’s when we begin to say, ‘Maybe we won’t agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this heart-wrenching decision for any woman is not made casually, it has both moral and spiritual dimensions.’”
In other words: I won. It’s my way. Shut up.
To an atheist. Only a fool would think Obama is anyting but one.
Do you think a lot of FReepers voted
for Obama?
That's why I prefer reading speeches rather than hearing them. You have time to analyze what the person is saying.
No I do not think many people here voted for the Muslim I believe the people here are lots more intelligent than that and we do our home work and check these people out..but lots of Catholics as well as other religions mine included did vote for him because they believed his lies..
Will one of you liberal lurkers explain to us what the common ground is between Life and Death???
In February 2004, US Senate candidate Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, sent a fund-raising letter with the "alarming news" that "right-wing politicians" had passed a law (prohibiting doctors from stabbing half-born babies in the neck with scissors, suctioning out their brains and crushing their skulls).
Michelle Obama called partial-birth abortion "a legitimate medical procedure. " She urged supporters to pay $150 to attend a fund-raising luncheon for her husband, who she promised would fight against "cynical ploy[s]" to stop it.
BACKGROUND Legislation was presented on the federal level and in various states called the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. It stated all live-born babies were guaranteed the same constitutional right to equal protection, whether or not they were wanted. BAIPA sailed through the U.S. Senate by unanimous vote. Even Sens. Clinton, Kennedy and Kerry agreed a mother's right to "choose" stopped at her baby's delivery. The bill also passed overwhelmingly in the House. NARAL went neutral on it. Abortion enthusiasts publicly agreed that fighting BAIPA would appear extreme. President Bush signed BAIPA into law in 2002.
But in Illinois, the state version of BAIPA repeatedly failed, thanks in large part to then-state Sen. Barack Obama. Obama worried aloud that legislation protecting live aborted babies might infringe on women's rights or abortionists' rights.
In 2003, as chairman of the next Senate committee to which BAIPA was sent, Obama stopped it from even getting a hearing, shelving it to die much like babies were still being shelved to die in Illinois hospitals and abortion clinics.
BAIPA passed in 2005.........after Obama left.
I will speak against this until the day I go be with my Lord.. Monsters like the Obama’s will burn in the eternal flames of hell..They really do not believe there is a God, but one day very soon they will come face to face with him and then he will tell them you are no child of mine..and then they will go with their master in hell..That day is nearer than we all think..I know living as long as I have and seeing what is going on in the last few years tell me God is near and he could come at any time to collect his children..then we can live with him and his angels and have no more problems..with the filth that the monsters have made in this world..
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