If You Don't Like History, Rewrite It
As most people are aware, Nancy Pelosi demonstrated on Sunday that one of her gifts, as Archbishop Chaput of Denver said on Monday, is not expertise in Church History.
Of course, the Speaker of the House couldn't be more incorrect, as several Roman Catholic bishops (most notably Archbishop Chaput, Archbishop Wuerl of Washington, and now Cardinal Egan, among others). One doesn't have to look far within the early Church to find repeated and pointed condemnation of abortion, beginning with the Didache, ca the mid 60's (as in first century).
Chapter 2. The Second Commandment: Grave Sin Forbidden. And the second commandment of the Teaching; You shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit pederasty, you shall not commit fornication, you shall not steal, you shall not practice magic, you shall not practice witchcraft, you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is born. You shall not covet the things of your neighbor, you shall not swear, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not speak evil, you shall bear no grudge. You shall not be double-minded nor double-tongued, for to be double-tongued is a snare of death. Your speech shall not be false, nor empty, but fulfilled by deed. You shall not be covetous, nor rapacious, nor a hypocrite, nor evil disposed, nor haughty. You shall not take evil counsel against your neighbor. You shall not hate any man; but some you shall reprove, and concerning some you shall pray, and some you shall love more than your own life.
That, of course, is merely the tip of the iceberg. Of course the context of this latest controversy is Roman Catholic doctrine. However, for those wondering what the Orthodox view is, here's the statement from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese on abortion:
Abortion
The Church from the very beginning of existence has sought to protect "the life in the womb" and has considered abortion as a form of murder in its theology and canons. Orthodox Christians are admonished not to encourage women to have abortions, nor to assist in the committing of abortion. Those who perform abortions and those who have sought it are doing an immoral deed, and are called to repentance.
For a good read on the Orthodox view, here is an Amicus Curiae brief submitted by the Orthodox Church in the case of Webster v. Planned Parenthood. I only hope (but doubt) that Archbishop Demetrios takes the opportunity to address this during the prayer he offers later today. There is no doubt, by any person rationally looking at the facts, that the Church has always been against abortion, that it views such as murder (okay, Rome may have waffled at times over whether it was merely gravely sinful or murder, but there was never time when it was acceptable).
Anyone who dares to defend that they (unborn babies) may be legitimately killed because another human being "chooses" to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name.Yes, I think I'll vote for the dog.
Let's Go to the Rudder
The Rudder, or the book that contains all of the Canons of the Orthodox Church, has some things to say about abortion. Within the Orthodox Church, Canons are perpetual. That is, they don't expire, so we are still held to those standards. The Canons start with the Canons of the Holy Apostles, include all of the canons of the Ecumenical Councils, local councils, and Canons of various Church Fathers.
Canon 91, of the 6th Ecumenical Council has this to say:
for women who furnish drugs for the purpose of procuring abortion,and those who take foetus-killing poisons, they are made subject to the penalty prescribed for murderers.
Canon 2 of the 92 Canons of St. Basil says the following:
A woman that aborts deliberately is liable to trial as a murderess. This is not a precise assertion of some figurative and inexpressible conception that passes current among us. For here there is involved the question of providing justice for the infant to be born, but also for the woman who has plotted against her own self. For in most cases the women die in the course of such operations. But besides this there is to be noted the fact that the destruction of the embryo constitutes another murder, at least in the opinion of those who dare to do these things. lt behooves us, however, not to extend their confession to the extreme limit of death but to admit them at the end of the moderate period of ten years, without specifying, a definite time, but adjusting the cure to the manner of penitence.
The term "confession here refers to how long the individual will be kept away from communion. St. Basil, interested as all Orthodox Fathers, in the healing of the individual, adjusts the timeframe below that of an "ordinary" murderer. This does not reflect the seriousness of the act, but rather the state of the penitent's soul.
There are some other references in the Rudder to abortion, but were all other recommendations for how long to keep from communion. The view of the Orthodox Church is clear.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Really Too Good to Pass Up
Even a Dog Knows Better
Following up on my comments about Obama's abortion views, is this story from CNN. I was sent the link from a priest whose mailing list I'm on (and I have the good fortune of having heard him speak several times). Most notable is this part:
'The dog had apparently carried the baby 50 meters from where his mother had abandoned him to where the puppies were huddled, police said.
"She took it like a puppy and rescued it," Salcedo said. "The doctors told us if she hadn't done this, he would have died.
"The dog is a hero to us."'
Clearly the dog knew what the right thing to do was. Based on Obama's comments quoted yesterday, I wonder if he would agree?
Saturday, August 23, 2008
There is No Way You Can Vote for Him
Offense alert. Don't read this unless you're willing to be offended.
The him is Barack Obama. The why is his attitude toward babies.
I could give you numerous reasons why I think he would make a bad president. Worse than McCain, who himself is no gem. However, that is not the issue here. I may post some on that later.
I know a number of people, Orthodox, as well as others who consider themselves Christian who will vote for Obama. I think a lot of what drives them, beyond the war in Iraq, which Obama is shifting on (reality will do that to you), is a general liberal tendency. Its all well intentioned. They think that Obama will do more for the poor and otherwise disadvantaged. Laudable goals. For the moment, let's assume that he will do more to help the poor than McCain. If you voted for McCain in spite of that, you could compensate, in part, by giving more to charity, and convincing your friends to do more. That is, you could take care of the poor yourself.
Let's look at abortion, on the other hand. If you vote for someone who will do everything in their power to ensure that 1.2 million babies are aborted each year, what could you possibly do to stop that? Would you go and physically stop those 1.2 million women? I think not.
That has been my opinion all along. Its not making the campaign a one issue campaign, but rather realizing there is nothing you can do to protect the life (the first of the three rights stated in the Declaration of Independence) of the unborn if you elect a strong pro-abortion President.
What is particularly disconcerting about Obama, goes beyond simply his pro-abortion stance. Its his incredibly cavalier attitude toward babies. The following is a quote from some discussion in the Illinois senate about a bill to protect the life of babies who were born alive as the result of an abortion attempt:
"As I understand it, this puts the burden on the attending physician who has determined, since they were performing this procedure, that, in fact, this is a nonviable fetus; that if that fetus, or child - however way you want to describe it - is now outside the mother's womb and the doctor continues to think that it's nonviable but there's, let's say, movement or some indication that, in fact, they're not just coming out limp and dead, that, in fact, they would then have to call a second physician to monitor and check off and make sure that this is not a live child that could be saved."
I'm left virtually speechless. His view of babies is clear. Elsewhere in the proceedings, you are left with the distinct impression that he is willing to do anything as long as a woman's ability to choose to kill her baby is left intact. If this doesn't chill your blood, you should be worried.