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."
Is he getting “Foot in Mouth” disease from Biden? LOL!
I am so confused. The Obamabots told us Obama was being “thoughtful” and “sensitive” and “passionate.”
Now Obama tells us he was being “flip.”
whatever Senator.
There are quite a few Democrats who do not seem to have souls at all.
Additionally, there are a great many on the left who are militant atheists and it would seem to me that they do not necessarily believe in souls either.
I believe that Obama's whole answer with the soul was nothing more than a way to avoid addressing whether he thinks it's wrong to kill another human being.
When you get right down to it, none of us know for a certainty at what moment we get a soul and now the left is trying to use this as a red herring to divert attention from the real issue and that is that 3500 babies are murdered in American abortuaries EVERY DAY. However, the left vastly prefers debating theological subtleties to addressing FACTS.
This is really no different from when they talk about exceptions for rape and incest -- they use this to create a panic but neglect the fact that of the 1.3 MILLION abortions per year in the United States, LESS THAN ONE PERCENT are the result of rape or incest.
I decided a long time ago I'm more comfortable believing the moment God causes conception to occur is the same moment that life is given a soul. This life has always been known to God who purposed every atom in existence from before the foundation of the world by His creative will. And because this life was created by God, it therefore belongs to God. Regardless of the woman's rights, or even the baby's rights, God has rights that trump them all.
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." -- Psalm 139:13-16"For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
Liberals are always uncomfortable talking about the unborn baby, and so they quibble about the meaning of "life" and "soul" and even of "beginning." Instead liberals try to focus the discussion on the mother, and not on the child. They talk about the mother's options and the mother's well-being, and thus their consciences are eased by deflecting the truth away from the obvious fact that a life is being knowingly and willfully extinguished by an expedient decision of men.
As Peggy Noonan said recently, “everyone’s who’s ever used a condom knows exactly when life begins.”
:>)
Okay, there's one thing I like that Noonan said. 8~)
I fully agree and I think the Bible clearly points to this. However, I think when people like Obama try to get us to debate this it is nothing more than theological sophistry designed to divert attention from the real question and that is the fact that abortion is morally wrong because its SOLE PURPOSE is to prevent and destroy human life.
Instead liberals try to focus the discussion on the mother, and not on the child. They talk about the mother's options and the mother's well-being, and thus their consciences are eased by deflecting the truth away from the obvious fact that a life is being knowingly and willfully extinguished by an expedient decision of men.
I have talked with hundreds of women who have had abortions and without exception they all eventually come face-to-face with the reality of what they have done. At this point they go in one of two directions: they either ask and receive God's forgiveness and become passionately pro-life or they descend into spiritual bankruptcy as a means of escaping the truth.
Thanks for the link! Never knew Victoria was so religious.
“words, just words...” Barrack Hussien Obama
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