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He garnered the majority of Catholic votes in the 2008 election, but a number of Catholic groups now say President Obama is showing a complete lack of regard for their beliefs. They count his decisions to lift restrictions on abortion and stem cell research among the most offensive. "As far as the Catholic church goes, there's no bigger priority for Catholics than human dignity and human life," said Cathy Ruse, senior fellow at the Family Research Council said. "And the Obama administration has just been an assault on those values again and again in just two months."

Conservative evangelical and Catholic leaders who went out on a political limb by aligning themselves with the Obama administration are expressing feelings ranging from disappointment to optimism in their reaction to the president's decisions so far on culture war issues. Although most of President Obama's moves on abortion and stem cell research have been expected, some right-leaning Christian leaders who took a risk sitting down at the table with a Democratic president feel that several major decisions fall short of the common ground Obama had promised on divisive social issues.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Douglas Kmiec essentially voided his Catholic and pro-life credentials during the president election with his steadfast defense of Barack Obama despite his clear pro-abortion views. Now he's given pro-life advocates no reason to take him seriously by explaining away Obama's pro-abortion actions as president.Kmiec is more impressed by Obama's words claiming to want to reduce abortions than his deeds of promoting more abortions at every turn."I am especially pleased that the President deliberately highlighted at the national prayer breakfast the abortion reduction expectations he has for this Office," he told U.S. in an email on...

A group of 26 Catholic leaders, scholars and theologians Mar. 1 publicly expressed support for the nomination of Governor Sebelius as the next HHS secretary . They issued a statement calling attention to Sebelius’ successful efforts at reducing abortion in Kansas as well as the Catholic faith’s long standing support for universal health care. Sebelius Feb. 28th accepted President Obama's request to become his Health and Human Services secretary. “As faithful Catholics we proudly offer our support to Governor Kathleen Sebelius, who has been nominated to head the Department of Health and Human Services,” statement read. “Governor Sebelius is a...

The underhanded Obama administration has quietly moved to rescind the “conscience clause” found in agreements between the federal government and Catholic hospitals. This “conscience clause” has always protected practitioners from being forced to commit abortions in violation of their consciences. Its removal means Catholic hospitals will be forced to choose between federal funds for committing abortions and closing down to maintain a clear conscience. Phonies with egg on their faces Nevertheless, phony “Catholic” judas goats like Douglas Kmiec are still beating their chests with pride at having delivered 52% of the Catholic vote to the abortion team last fall. In...

When I found out Doug Kmiec had shot out an article for Time magazine in the wake of Pelosi's meeting with Pope Benedict, I geared myself up for yet another point-by-point critique of his flawed arguments. This time, however, I don't even need to take the trouble, because the entire premise of Kmiec's latest piece is factually in error. To see why, first I will summarize Kmiec's argument. Kmiec says: "If you read [the pope's statement to pelosi] carefully, the statement is actually quite radical — perhaps unintentionally so. The brief message — just two short paragraphs — draws...

Malibu, Jan 26, 2009 / 07:23 pm (CNA).- Pepperdine University law professor Doug Kmiec, a pro-life advocate of President Barack Obama’s election, has stated that he thinks he will be considered as a choice for U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See.Kmiec and his wife attended a private worship service with President Obama the morning of the presidential inauguration and also attended the Illinois inaugural ball that evening, Pepperdine’s student newspaper The Graphic reports."The President is nowhere close to determining such things because of the order of events … everyone's first order of business is economic recovery," Kmiec said, according to...

Prof. Douglas Kmiec, Mark Shea and Thomas Peters Denver, Jan 14, 2009 / 06:02 am (CNA).- Several leading Catholic bloggers have responded to Doug Kmiec’s criticism of “right-wing Catholic bloggers” whom he characterized as “online tormenters” who personally attacked him, distorted his position, and potentially poisoned the relationship between the Holy See and the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama. Kmiec, a law professor and a prominent pro-life Catholic supporter of the pro-abortion rights President-elect Obama, had written his essay “A Tangled Web: The Election & the Blogosphere” for Commonweal Magazine. In it, he assailed the “right-wing Catholic blogosphere”...

Washington, DC, Jan. 13, 2009 (CNA) -- In his first lengthy article explaining his position after the election of President Barack Obama, Pepperdine University Professor Douglas Kmiec is accusing “right wing Catholic bloggers" of distorting his position, attacking him personally, and potentially poisoning the relationship between the Holy See and the future administration of President Barack Obama.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- To hear pro-life advocates tell it, attorney and Obama apologist Douglas Kmiec sold out his alleged pro-life, Catholic views for backing the man who could become the most pro-abortion president in history. In a new editorial in Commonweal, Kmiec strikes back at the pro-life people who blasted him. Kmiec claims the so-called "right-wing Catholic" bloggers were the ones leading the charge -- as if to say that they are out of touch with the pro-life views of the Catholic Church. Never mind that mainstream pro-life groups of every stripe called Kmiec on the carpet for underplaying...

Professor Douglas Kmiec Washington DC, Jan 13, 2009 / 11:53 am (CNA).- In his first lengthy article explaining his position after the election of President Barack Obama, Professor Douglas Kmiec is accusing “right wing Catholic bloggers" of distorting his position, attacking him personally, and potentially poisoning the relationship between the Holy See and the future administration of President Barack Obama.In the article entitled “A Tangled Web. The Election & the Blogosphere,” written for Commonweal magazine, Professor Kmiec explains that “as the author of a book whose title asked Can a Catholic Support Him? –and whose contents answered with an enthusiastic...

Russell Shaw warns that “Assorted Catholic voices have been raised lately calling on Catholics to give President-elect Obama a chance and look for common ground between him and the Church. Part of the message is: ‘Don’t worry about the Freedom of Choice Act...’”

Doug Kmiec’s Departure from the Pro-life Movement November 28th, 2008 by Steven Mosher and Colin Mason The more incredible the claim, the greater the number of column inches the liberal media devotes to making it. That’s why The Washington Post, on November 18th, gave over such a large swath of its front page to religion writer Jacqueline Salmon, who fantasizes at length about the “growing number of anti-abortion pastors, conservative academics and activists [who] are setting aside efforts to outlaw abortion and instead are focusing on building social programs and developing other assistance for pregnant women to reduce the number...

If 2008 is remembered as the year of the “bailout,” when the federal government spent billions to rescue the nation’s financial system, it should also be recalled for another kind of bailout—Christians with impeccably pro-life records who suddenly abandoned what they declared to be a sinking ship. Abortion seemed to be one of the few issues on which Senator Barack Obama had an unambiguous and unchangeable position during the campaign, as he promised that “the first thing I’d do as president is to sign the Freedom of Choice Act,” something that would nullify all existing laws restricting abortion. The most...

Ambassador to the Holy See is not like most ambassadorships. For starters, the First Amendment notwithstanding, it is the only position in the U.S. government that involves formal recognition of religion. Ambassadors are not accredited to the Vatican City-State, the 103 acres on the west bank of the Tiber that give territorial reality to papal independence. Ambassadors are accredited to the Holy See, that is, to the Pope in his capacity as leader of the Catholic Church. This was the grounds for opposition to the establishment of formal diplomatic relations from both conservative, evangelical Christians and from the ACLU, two...

A number of anti-abortion activists across the country have looked fully in the face of a Barack Obama presidency and foreseen that, with this ardently pro-choice president in place, chances that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade in the next four years will be nil. They prudently have decided to put their energies toward making abortion a less-attractive choice by strengthening the social programs that would help more pregnant women choose life for the unborn. Other activists have said that this nod to practicality is selling out, that it undermines the progress the pro-life movement has made. No...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Pepperdine law professor who calls himself a pro-life Catholic but was one of the leading apologists for perhaps the most pro-abortion presidential candidate in history is at it again. Douglas Kmiec is now saying Barack Obama is more Catholic than previous presidents who were pro-life. Kmiec's comments come in response to some from Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Holy See, who called Obama on the carpet on abortion in a speech at the Catholic University of America last Thursday. In an address sponsored by the John Paul II Institute,...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Pepperdine law professor who calls himself a pro-life Catholic but was one of the leading apologists for perhaps the most pro-abortion presidential candidate in history is at it again. Douglas Kmiec is now saying Barack Obama is more Catholic than previous presidents who were pro-life. Kmiec's comments come in response to some from Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Holy See, who called Obama on the carpet on abortion in a speech at the Catholic University of America last Thursday. In an address sponsored by the John Paul II Institute,...

Camarillo, CA, Nov 15, 2008 / 06:11 am (CNA).- Doug Kmiec, a pro-life Catholic who vocally supported President-elect Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy, defended his support for the pro-abortion rights politician in a lecture Tuesday at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California. About 30 to 40 protesters against Kmiec’s speech stood in silence outside the seminary gates, an attendee who requested anonymity told CNA. Inside the seminary, nearly 300 people listened to Kmiec’s speech, the Thirteenth Annual Newman C. Eberhardt lecture. Father Eberhardt was a long-time history professor at the seminary. “Several of his students wished that he could be there...

More than 50 protesters with anti-abortion signs recited the rosary outside St. John's Seminary because inside a politically conservative Catholic was explaining why he voted for Barack Obama. The Democratic president-elect supports abortion rights. And though Douglas Kmiec, former constitutional law counsel for presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, is adamantly opposed to abortion, he not only voted for Obama but campaigned for him and wrote a book about his reasons.