Posted on 10/01/2008 11:17:38 AM PDT by presidio9
I am a Catholic and I am anti-slavery. I deplore slavery and have been an active part of the abolitionist movement. But this November of the year of Our Lord 1860 I am voting for Stephen A. Douglas.
Now I know my announcement will befuddle many Catholics who think that Abraham Lincoln is the only possible choice if you are truly as anti-slavery as I say I am. Some of my friends ask me how can I possibly support Senator Douglas when he was largely responsible for the Compromise of 1850 and supported the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision of 1857?
Though Senator Douglas does not regard a slaveholding society as one whit inferior to a free society I think he is the best choice to reduce slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 proves that he is pro-choice on the issue of slavery since the act allowed these new states coming into the union to make up their own mind as to whether slavery should be allowed in their territory. He lets the people in the state decide as to whether slavery is moral or immoral. Surely this will limit slavery and as we work for a more just society more and more slaveowners will decide to reduce the number of slaves they own. Just because Sen. Douglas has invoked racist rhetoric and accused Lincoln of supporting black equality which he believes the authors of the Declaration of Independence did not intend, does not mean that he is pro-slavery. Even supporters of slavery can be conflicted about slavery and whether blacks are equal to us or not and we should work to move to a society where slavery is safe, legal, and rare. Plus it is not true to call him pro-slavery. He is for the choice of slavery and people can decide on their own whether they want to become slaveowners or not. Shouldn't we let people make their own choices on this issue? Do we really want to legislate morality? Now as a Catholic I personally believe that slavery is wrong, but lawmakers need to represent the people.
Catholics should not be single issue voters and let slavery dominate the discussion. Human dignity and the acceptance of the government of human rights is just one issue of many. What about economic and other social justice issues? The election of Lincoln could even lead to civil war. Do we want a president whose "personal" moral code could lead us to war with all of the horrific deaths that could result? Plus if a war does start no doubt someone like Mr Lincoln would infringe on our civil liberties by suspending the right of Habeas Corpus.
This year the best choice to reduce slavery is to vote Sen. Douglas.
Signed Douglas Kmiec
And, the Cafardi guy, if he were alive during the 1860 election season would have said this. (Taken from comment section on the same blog post at The Curt Jester):
Unless the Catholic Church has changed its teaching since I was in high school (which HAS been a long time, I must admit) it is still a mortal sin to use contraceptives and it is still a mortal sin to divorce and remarry, or to marry a divorced person. Yet U.S. Catholics are doing these things by the millions. They insist, as Catholic politicians do about abortion, capital punishment and war, that the individual’s judgment must be respected. If you claim that all self-identifying U.S. Catholics who practice artificial birth control are not “real” Catholics, church membership has gone down even more than surveys indicate.
Accepting your definition of “real” Catholics, this group might well vote in the same way as they have traditionally—for the pro-life candidate. But the self-identified Catholics who aren’t “real” Catholics, like the author of the article, who I believe are now in the majority in the U.S., will vote on other issues, and they won’t influence an election predictably as they used to. There is no longer a monolithic block of Catholic votes that politicians can try to corral using the abortion issue.
I think that just as we have won permanently on the gun issue, American culture has become permanently dependent on the availability of abortion. Yes, I know that there are still efforts to take away our guns, but how many politicians are running on that issue? Liberals have backed away from it big time because they know they’ve lost. Limitation is all they’re going to achieve, and every inch will be hard won. I think it’s time conservatives acknowledged the same about abortion.
what you lay out is an exercise in moral relativism. as i pointed out above, abortion is intrinsically evil. always has been, always will be, it is THE defining issue. all mankind sins, but not all subscribe to evil. i am a practicing Catholic and i have heard this discussed from various parish pulpits this election season. the Church cannot control how “Catholics” [real or self-described] vote, but it can sure lay out the guiding principles and let them KNOW what they are choosing. Silliness like that put forth by Kmiec and the author of his article, only attempts to muddy the waters by injecting moral relativism into the debate.
I believe that sacrificing children to Molech is an unspeakable evil, yet I support King Ahaz. It is true that Ahaz took the treasures from the house of God to use in the worship of false gods, and even burned his own son alive as an offering to Molech. I do not support him because he is idolatrous, but in spite of it. Is that a proper moral choice for a committed follower of Jehovah?
Despite what some fanatical “prophets” would like the Israelites to believe, the Law of Moses does not consist solely of a prohibition on making human sacrifices to false gods. In fact, there are numerous commandments that must be considered.
Shortly after Yom Kippur, the Judean Levitical Council on Classifying Abominations released a a document that provides several examples of sins: consuming shellfish, failing to wash your hands before eating, burning your children alive, blending dissimilar fabrics, etc. As we can see, morality is much more complex and nuanced than some simplistic mantra that “killing children is bad.”
Ahaz’s fiery infanticide has led some to the conclusion that no faithful Jew can support him. That’s a mistake. While I have never swayed in my conviction that burning children in the name of Molech is an unspeakable evil, I believe that we have lost the idolatry battle — permanently. Withdrawing support for King Ahaz does not guarantee the end of infanticide in Judah. Not even close.
Let’s suppose Ahaz were dethroned. What would happen? His son Hezekiah would become king. Hezekiah is barely out of his teens, and said to be sickly. He lacks the executive experience necessary to operate an entire kingdom. There are rumors that he was once seen carrying a pot across the road on the Sabbath. And we could hardly expect that Hezekiah could put a stop to the idolatry. I mean, what is he going to do — tear down all the high places, shrines and altars of Baal? We need to be realistic.
There’s another factor that is often lost amid the inflamatory rhetoric on sacrificing to Molech. There is a difference between being “pro-Molech” and recognizing the right of other people to worship Molech as they see fit, such as by conflagratory filicide. During the most recent four years of King Ahaz’s reign, the number of children being sacrificed to Molech has dropped by almost 18%. While opponents claim this is due to factors such as “artificially reduced child population” or “parents fleeing in terror to other nations”, you cannot argue with results. King Ahaz favors a sophisticated, comprehensive approach to child sacrifce, where burning your children to death is not necessarily the only option. He is also an advocate for adoption, for those who have no children left to burn. In contrast, the self-styled “prophets” intolerantly insist on an immediate stop to ALL human sacrifice, with no evidence of willingness to reach out to Ahaz in a spirit of compromise.
It should also be kept in mind that the perceived need to pacify Molech with the flaming bodies of our young varies on the basis of how the country as a whole is doing. If, for example, King Ahaz’s brilliant pursuit of a military alliance with King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria is successful in alleviating the Syrian threat Judah faces, does it not make sense that the increased stability means fewer children will have to be burned to turn aside the wrath of Baal, Asherah, Chemosh and Molech? Is this not more practical than the prophets’ all-or-nothing demands?
I have informed my conscience. I have weighed the facts. I have used my prudential judgment. And I conclude that it is a proper moral choice for this Jew to support the agenda of King Ahaz.
The more I look at this, the more I believe that we had him figured wrong. His position has come as quite a shock to us, but we're not going to let it depress us. One of the most dispiriting lines was, "the abortion battle is over." Damn that statement to hell!
Personally, we've decided to re-double our pro-life efforts. We'll be protesting at an area abortuary this weekend. And Nick can sit around and do nothing to help fight this "unspeakable evil."
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"We've already lost on slavery - permanently. Vote Douglas!"
- Nicholas Cafardi