Posted on 09/08/2008 7:54:53 AM PDT by Gamecock
On This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., expressed regret at his answer on abortion at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church a couple weekends ago.
"At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?" Warren asked.
"I think that, whether you’re looking at it from the theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade," Obama said -- an answer that offended some people.
"Was that phrase too flip?" Stephanopoulos asked Obama today.
"Probably," Obama said. "Yes. I mean, 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 goes back to Augustine," Stephanopoulos interjected.
"It does," Obama said. "It's a pretty tough question. And so, all I meant to communicate was that I don't presume to be able to answer these kinds of theological questions. 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."
**
Speaking of this debate, on Meet the Press last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was asked about Obama's answer, and she ignited a firestorm of criticism among Catholic officials with her response.
"As an ardent practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time," Pelosi said. "And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the Church have not been able to make that definition. And St. Augustine said at three months. We don’t know. The point is, is that it shouldn’t have impact on a woman’s right to choose. Roe v. Wade talks about very clear definitions of when the child, first trimester, certain considerations second trimester, not so third trimester, there’s very clear distinct, this isn’t about abortion on demand, it’s about a careful, careful consideration of all factors that a woman has to make with her doctor and her God. And so I don’t think anybody can tell you when life begins, human life begins."
Pelosi said the "Catholic Church, for centuries, has been discussing this."
Cardinal Francis George, the archbishop of Chicago, begged to differ.
"The Catholic Church, from its first days, condemned the aborting of unborn children as gravely sinful," George wrote in a statement. "Not only Scripture's teaching about God's protection of life in the womb (consider the prophets and the psalms and the Gospel stories about John the Baptist and Jesus himself in Mary's womb) but also the first century catechism (the Didache or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) said: 'You shall not slay the child by abortions. You shall not kill what is generated.' The teaching of the Church was clear in a Roman Empire that permitted abortion. This same teaching has been constantly reiterated in every place and time up to Vatican II, which condemned abortion as a 'heinous crime.' This is true today and will be so tomorrow. Any other comments, by politicians, professors, pundits or the occasional priest, are erroneous and cannot be proposed in good faith."
Geraldine.....
“Obama made Me do it!”
Flip Wilson was a funny man!
“Does Bambi ever say anything other than “Let me correct/clarify what I said last...”?”
He doesn’t have to, because ne NEVER says anything that is incorrect - ONLY things that YOU and I, as mere mortals, fail to interpret and/or understand properly.
Yey, thou spakest and the meaning was dumb.
“I was the Word, the Truth, and the Right.
(And I was the Wrong and the Left-Behind.)”
BO must be at the starting point again with all of his
“BarackFlips”.
Yeah Obama is a Christian and by the logic so is, the Ayatollah Khomeini, and Mohammed.
and Me? I’m the Pope of Chili Town.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Didache
That’s not the Obama I knew...
I heard his “new” answer and it wasn’t any more clear. I have humility and know when life begins.
Barack is somehow trying to say that because his Christian faith gives him humility. Deciding when life begins would be...what?
Arrogance? Assertive? Egoism? Pretentious? Prideful? Self-importance?
As if he’s lacking those now.
“It’s like saying ‘The US Constitution goes all the way back to David Souter.’ “
You mean it DOESN’T???
Boy have I got a lot more research to do...
:^)
Hussein is very good at intentional mis-characterization. (I wonder if he had help with this one).
1) It is not "criminalizing" if the taxpayers refuse to pay for these murders -- or if children are required to consult with their parents -- or if anyone is asked to wait 24 hours.
2) We have long known that the left thinks the decision to kill an unborn child rests entirely with the mother entrusted with it in her womb. Daddy's are not to be consulted (thought they will pay for 18 years) in the liberal scheme of things, parents are not to be concluded if the mother is a minor.
This statement was carefully contrived -- and is cynical in the extreme.
Yeah, WHY
is it a “difficult decision”?
If the “fetus” isn’t alive, isn’t human, WHY should it be a difficult decision? Just cut it out like a wart. (I’ve heard lefties make this exact comparison, the evil bastards.)
If it IS alive, and IS human, then we have no “difficult decision” at all.
And if you “don’t know”, then you are immoral and evil to err on the side of killing it.
A hunter who fires at movement in the brush when he “doesn’t know” whether it’s his hunting buddy or a deer, is making an immoral and irresponsible decision.
Too late and too bad for you.
“It’s beyond your pay grade.”
Is it possible for aman to throw HIMSELF under the bus?
;^)
Is it possible for a man to throw HIMSELF under the bus?
;^)
It will never happen, but I can dream.
love those questions Georgie S... just set it all up for B.O. and he only has to answer yes or no...
It’s about NOT LETTING BABIES BE BORN.
Having children and expecting the sperm donor to be a father has SO MANY IMPLICATIONS that all lead to a more conservative culture that
the left cannot allow this.
IMHO This was clearly a “pre-arranged” question which O wanted to be asked after hearing the flack that his previous responce produced.
And..of course little George was more than happy to comply.
He wants to base killing a baby on when HE thinks a soul enters it???? What if they don't have a soul until 5 or 10 years old, Mr OBama -- do we get to kill then?
Theologically, he just went from ignorant to ignoramus.
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