I read two very important things today that I would share.
“I am an evangelical Christian with a record of voting in line with the Republican Party. This year, however, I am casting my vote for Barack Obama. My support for Obama stands on its own, and has been well documented throughout this blog. But why would an evangelical Christian vote for a Democrat? The answer is as much a reflection of what Obama stands for as it is what the GOP does not.
Last week I received an email from Dr. James Dobson – whose internet ministry I subscribe to – imploring me to “vote my values,” meaning to vote for the candidate whose “pro-life” and pro traditional marriage rhetoric carried Dr. Dobson’s stamp of approval. My immediate thought was: Why should I vote two of my values to the exclusion of all others? In that question lies the problem of the Christian allegiance to the Republican Party. “
Read the full article: The Conservative Christian Case for Supporting Obama
Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Biden is telling the Catholics in his audiences that St. Thomas Aquinas had a different teaching on abortion than the current pope and his immediate predecessors. Many Catholics are saying, “He simply cannot be right.” Well, the short answer is: Biden is right, says Frank K. Flinn, Ph.D., adjunct professor of religious studies at Washington University in St. Louis.
The following was written by Frank K. Flinn, Ph.D., adjunct professor of religious studies in Arts & Sciences and author of the Encyclopdia of Catholicism (2007).
Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Biden is telling the Catholics in his audiences that St. Thomas Aquinas had a different teaching on abortion than the current pope and his immediate predecessors. Many Catholics are saying, “He simply cannot be right.” Well, the short answer is: Biden is right. The news media are saying that American bishops are giving him a theology lesson on abortion. Mr. Biden is in a position to give them one right back.
The Catholic teaching on abortion has complex roots in Jewish teaching, Greek thought and early Christian doctrine. Jewish teaching shows great reverence for life as a gift from God. The law of compensation in Exodus 21:22 makes a distinction between the penalty for striking a pregnant woman that ends in the loss of the fetus (a monetary amount) or the mother (death).
The Greek Septuagint text of this verse shows the influence of Greek thought. It distinguishes between incompletely and completely formed fetuses, and exacts a penalty of death in the case of the abortion of the latter. This is a clear reference to Aristotle’s distinction between three types of souls corresponding to three types of living beings: plants, animals and humans. Aristotle taught that the human fetus does not receive a human soul until it takes on a human form. This became known as the delayed hominization thesis or the late implanting of the human soul.
Read the full article: Joe Biden, Abortion and the Catholic Vote
Meka
October 29, 2008
This is interesting. I don’t know much about politics and its religious beliefs or practices but you state a good point on this subject.
timethief
October 29, 2008
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Best wishes for happy blogging :)
Melinda
October 29, 2008
Timethief–I truly believe that the blogger who wrote about excluding all values to vote on just one or two has it right. I believe that Obama and his campaign speak far more to what I know about Christianity than the Republican ticket or their campaign has. The Republican Party and their current campaign have been about the furthest from Christian principles that I can imagine, whereas Obama’s campaign has taken a far purer path.
I was so disheartened a few months ago–so pessimistic but I am starting to grow more hopeful every day that my country will finally get this important presidential election right.
Thanks for posting this–I hope many others read it, which is why I have stumbled you.
Take care,
Melinda
Jeff Baker
October 29, 2008
Hey TT… you always, and I mean always have the coolest posts. This one is interesting. I like to think that I have a good bit of history under my belt, but this info is new to me. I must add that I like it.
Now to get Dobson to see it………
Peace — jb
Lana Gramlich
October 29, 2008
Good points, but I’m afraid the power of Xtian brainwashing may be too much for some to overcome. My fingers are still crossed, of course…
timethief
October 29, 2008
@Melinda
It was opinionstreams to which you refer to. The research and writing are both excellent. He said what he meant to say and framed his opinion with great thoughtfulness and respect. I salute him for being impeccable with his use of words and for deeply exploring the issue. I was deeply touched by reading it. I don’t know a single pro-choice person is pro-death. There is so much that can be achieved if fear filled legalists would choose to exhibit compassion, rather than a desire to control the personal private affairs of women. The upcoming months and years point towards a need for increasing cooperation, not the polarization of the past. Much can be done towards educating citizens to prevent unwanted pregnancies and this is indeed is the underlying issue.
timethief
October 29, 2008
@jeff
I have read Dobson’s stuff. Suffice to say that it is exaggerated, off base and in many ways a bizarre hold over from the dark ages. I am tempted to posted each point he hammers at in his columns and his other publications and refute them point by point but to what end? Dobson is brainwashed and he has become a multi millionaire by brainwashing many others. The paranoia and mean spirited rhetoric we hear from the right wing religious extremists grieves me.
timethief
October 29, 2008
@Lana
I know exactly what you mean. I have been experiencing brainwashed people like TBR and GG since March and I have the same concern that you do.
Roads
October 30, 2008
That’s intriguing, Timethief. I agree with you entirely that a more caring and collectively-focused inspirational agenda seems intrinsically more akin to the Christian doctrine than one based on the narrowly aspirational opportunity of the individual.
My closest friend at college is now a Church of England vicar in Liverpool. He told me once that Jesus was indisputably a Marxist, and I’m convinced he’s right. The growing association of Christianity with the neoconservative extreme right is one of the most unlikely and perplexing developments of the modern age.
It’s also fascinating and ironic, as seen from a transatlantic perspective, to note how socialist has somehow become a dirty word in modern America. The welfare state we have here in Britain was founded in 1948 by a socialist government, and has been maintained by social democratic governments ever since.
None of this has been in the least detrimental to the economic progress of the individual. In fact, it has been a powerful instrument of change in providing the opportunity to lift the disadvantaged out of poverty. And we have free health care for all.
If this makes us all socialists, then I’d say we’re distinctly lucky to be classified that way.
MusEditions
October 31, 2008
TT, as always, your awesomeness is stunning! I so appreciate your excellently laid-out points and references. As a Canuck you recognize the inevitability of your ties to us “downstairs neighbors” and you make a good case for us to examine our common sense as well as our emotions. I believe we each have our “deal-breaker” issue(s) but the one referenced here doesn’t have to be one of them. I was *somewhat* complacent until I read that my home state, and that of Senator McCain, Arizona, is now a real player in the election dynamics. How cool is that? PS: Women, of course, must have the right and responsibility to determine the operations of their own bodies. Thanks, TT