"Catholics need
to stop voting for pro-abortion politicians," Supreme Knight Carl Anderson told an international gathering of the
Knights of Columbus in Toronto, Canada, Aug 2, 2016.
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| Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. Photo credit: Knights of Columbus |
I am a pro-life
Catholic who believes in the sanctity of human life from the moment of
conception, and an active member and office bearer of the Knights of Columbus
local council, so why do I find this statement by the Supreme Knight extremely concerning?
The reasons are many
and complex.
Simplistic dualism
Firstly, at its most
elemental, it simplistically divides politicians (and, by extension, people in
general) into two groups, anti-abortion and pro-abortion, representing good and
evil, clean and dirty, right and wrong, life and death, righteous and damned
(if they don't repent.) If only life were that simple - black or white with no
shades of grey…
With that simple
statement to stop voting for pro-abortion politicians, Brother Carl Anderson
has reduced the decision making process around the presidential elections facing
Americans today to an obvious, no-brainer choice that is really no choice at
all. Hillary Clinton is pro-abortion, Donald Trump is no longer so - well,
except with "caveats" such as rape and incest and other "it
depends's". (See the piece in Charisma News.) Therefore American Catholics
must vote for Donald Trump! Say, what?
Single-issue voting
This is the world of
single-issue voting where you identify one issue that outweighs all the other
issues combined. “What political issue could possibly outweigh this human
devastation? Abortion is different. Abortion is the killing of the innocent on
a massive scale,” says Brother Anderson. The argument is perfectly logical -
but only up to a point:
Moral issues outweigh
political issues.
Killing innocent
children is a moral issue.
Therefore killing
innocent children outweighs political issues.
From which the
argument continues:
But abortion is
killing innocent children on a massive scale.
Therefore the issue
of abortion outweighs all political issues.
However, after this
there is a leap to the next conclusion:
Therefore Catholics
need to stop voting for politicians who are pro-abortion.
Why is this a leap of
logic? … because the premise presumes that all other issues are purely
political, non-moral issues - which is false.
There are many other
moral issues than "killing innocent children in the womb". For
instance, how about tolerating that, after being born, children are growing up
malnourished (with the accompanying brain under-development that this causes)
or even starving to death, or being exposed to perilous sea-crossings and long
overland treks on foot, or months and years of sub-human living in refugee
camps? Not just children, of course, but their parents and other adults as
well. How about knowingly leaving impoverished communities to drink
mercury-laden water, or water polluted with arsenic or other toxic substances
from gold mining? How about continuing to export asbestos to third-world
countries that do not yet have regulations in place to prevent exposure to
asbestos and the resultant harm to health and life this causes?
Ah, the objection
goes, but abortion is "on a massive scale", involving "millions
of children". Far be it from me to try and defend abortion, but to try and
make abortion the only single moral issue based on numbers is indefensible. How
do you stack up and compare x million abortions against human suffering that
cannot be measured, the human suffering that is being endured daily and has
been endured for decades by the millions of environmental, economic and conflict-driven
refugees that Pope Francis talks about in his encyclical, Laudato Si,
for instance? What if your (somewhat) anti-abortion political candidate wants
to ban refugees from immigrating and to build walls to address the 'security
problems' caused by refugees, and shows little or no compassion for children
who are homeless and hungry, dressed in dirty clothes and lacking the
essentials of healthcare?
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| Photo credit: Macleans.ca |
Whenever I read the
account of the sheep being separated from the goats in chapter 25 of the gospel
of Matthew I am struck not only by what is listed in the "citation"
but also by what is missing: the Ten Commandments are completely missing. The goats are not condemned for lying, cheating, stealing, adultery, fornication, buggery - or
even murder - but for a lack of compassion! It's all about sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked,
feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, assisting the sick and
imprisoned. Read Matthew 25 and see for yourself.
Culture of Death
The other leap of
logic is with the phrase, "culture of death." It is presumed as
axiomatic that pro-lifers support a "culture of life" and
pro-choicers a "culture or death." I am pro-life - in small letters.
A couple of years ago I made a conscious decision to stop identifying with the
"Pro-Life" movement (capital 'P', capital 'L') because of its
exclusive fixation on life before birth. I see it as even worse with some
fundamentalist evangelical Christian churches than with Catholic Pro-Lifers.
The perception is that they will proudly and loudly, and extravagantly, go to
the ends of the earth to elect politicians who will enact laws to prevent a
child being aborted, but once the child is born they have no further interest
in the child's welfare in terms of nutrition, health, home circumstances or
education, or even whether the mother will be executed for 'immorality' -
usually by stoning. It is perceived by its critics as a single issue movement
that calls itself religious and Pro-Life but is mainly anti-abortion and loudly
political.
Then there is the
pejorative phrase, 'culture of death' that is juxtaposed (self-righteously?)
against 'culture of life'. A number of my close friends and family who believe
in a woman's right to choose to have an abortion are warm, caring and nurturing
people. I would unhesitatingly call them 'good' people even though I do not
share their views on abortion. If I have to compare, I would call them a lot
more caring and compassionate than some Pro-Lifers I know or have read about,
or seen on the news screaming "Murderers" at Pro-Choice activists. My
point is that Pro-Lifers and pro-lifers do not have the monopoly corner on a
culture of life. To suggest that a United Church minister of my acquaintance is
spreading a 'culture of death' because he believes in situation ethics and is
supportive of members of his congregation who have felt the need to have an
abortion creates and perpetuates the kind of division between Christians that
is actually contrary to a culture of life. Or to suggest that an agnostic
doctor of my acquaintance lacks a moral compass and promotes a culture of death - a woman who is a loving
mother, dedicated to saving lives and improving the health of her patients, but
who is quite prepared to refer a pregnant patient for an abortion where she
deems appropriate - would be blinkered, pietistic moralism devoid of any constructive,
life-giving energy.
Election guidelines
In the 2015 Canadian
federal election I was very pleased to see that the Canadian bishops did not
propose simplistic, single-issue voting to the Catholic faithful. On the
contrary, they published a very helpful guide covering a multiplicity of
issues - none of which were purely political.
Actually, they published as many as 3 guides - all of which can be found
at the above link:
Link to the Guide of
the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB)
Link to the Guide of
Development and Peace
Link to the Guide of
The Canadian Council of Churches
May I propose that,
in choosing a president, American Catholics follow guides such as those
recommended by the Canadian bishops rather that the simplistic exhortation of
the Supreme Knight who seems to imply that the only Catholic belief of
political relevance is to be Pro-Life.
