Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Chris Matthews Takes on Abortion With Bishop Tobin

You may have read that Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin has told Patrick Kennedy he will not be offered communion because of his views on abortion. Chris Matthews hae the Bishop on his show last night and there was a very interesting conversation.

What I thought was interesting was that Matthews asked the Bishop a question, basically if Tobin were in Congress, would he legislate against a woman's right to choose and outlaw abortion, period. That question the Bishop answered, yes. However, when Matthews asked what the punishment should be, the Bishop wouldn't answer that question. Since Catholics and the anti-abortion forces call abortion murder, it seems like the answer to that question is that they would be willing to put the woman that got the abortion on trial for murder, along with the doctor. But for some reason, the Bishop wouldn't go that far.

Matthews kept coming back to the question, but the Bishop would still not answer it. I've had this conversation with people that are pro-life. But they never think the answer all the way through. How many more prosecutors would we have to hire? How many courthouses would we have to build? How many more judges would have to sit on the bench?

Why do you think the Bishop wouldn't answer Chris Matthews' question on what the punishment should be for the woman that has the abortion and the doctor that performed it.

4 comments:

DJ said...

George Carlin said it best:

Boy! These conservatives are really something, aren't they? They're all in favor of the unborn. They would do anything for the unborn. But once you're born, you're on your own! Pro-life conservatives are obsessed with the fetus from conception to nine months. After that, they don't wanna know about you! They don't wanna hear from you! No nothing! No neo-nato care, no day care, no head start, no school lunch, no food stamps, no welfare, no nothing! If you're pre-born, you're fine, if you're pre-school, you're fucked!

Bruce Fealk said...

Amen, DJ.

vomamike said...

djtyg - you hit the nail on the head. Of all the hypocrisies I have heaped on the Right - this one perhaps is the worst of all. It is dogma without compassion. It is a horrible stance without any idea of the consequences. It lacks the milk of human kindness. One but needs to see the human misery in poor locations of this world, where children are born into abject poverty, starvation, disease,child abuse,neglect, and human trafficking in prostitution; to understand what we are dealing with. My biggest complaint against the Catholic Church - if the "right to life" is so important to them, then why havent they used their millions to help these people? I know - they spent it all on paying off people over the pedophilia scandal within their own ranks.

DJ said...

Don't thank me, guys. Thank George Carlin. He summed it up better than anyone else could:).

As far as the Bible is concerned, there is no passage on abortion. You would think that God would've mentioned it, considering abortions did take place in Biblical times.

The closest thing you have to that is Exodus 21:22, where if you read any English translation before 1973 (and I'm sure that's not a coincidence), it says that if two men are fighting and one man accidentally hits a pregnant woman and causes her to miscarry, he has to pay a fine. If the woman is injured it's eye for eye, life for life.

Clearly in Old Testament times the fetus was not considered to have the same value as a human life.

In newer versions, the Bible has translated the verse to imply a premature birth. However, the verse was likely taken from the Code of Hammurabi, which said in laws 209 and 210 the same thing nearly word for word. Even Jesus admitted that there was Biblical law that came from men, this is possible without being contradictory to Christian ideals.