Cannot supply proof that human life starts at conception

[Maranatha]

Not on Faith Alone
By MARIO M. CUOMO

…
But our pluralistic political system adopts rights that arise out of consensus, not the dictates of religious orthodoxy; and if such rights are adopted - approving abortions or financing stem cell research on leftover embryos - they will be the law of the land, even if religious dissenters, through their tax dollars, end up helping to pay for things that they find anathema. Every day Americans who abhor the death penalty, contraceptives, abortions and war are required to pay taxes used in part for purposes they consider offensive. That is part of the price we pay for this uniquely successful democracy.

So far neither Mr. Bush nor religious believers have convinced a majority of Americans that the use of embryonic stem cells inevitably entails the murder of a human being. Most Americans, vividly aware of the millions of tragic victims of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer and spinal cord injuries, believe that embryonic stem cell research may provide cures. They will demand that Congress act to realize that potential.

If the president vetoes a bill that advances that potential, he will have to provide more than sincere religiosity to prove that human life exists as early as fertilization, a proposition that even the Roman Catholic Church and other religions have historically disputed.
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more

 

[MiddleBear]

This article documents the consequence of following faulty logic regarding the morality of abortion. The article shows the potential folly that could result from not actually studying or considering magisterial teaching.

In this article, the author falls into the trap of hanging the arguments on “when life begins”, or “what is a human?”. I am really trying not to make an ad hominum argument here.

If one reads Father John Hardon 's many well written articles regarding the evil of abortion, one will see that even though the Catholic argument that “life begins at conception” is true, the independent reason that the Church teaches abortion is evil is “the willingness to kill innocent human life”. It does not matter whether science can prove or not prove when life begins to determine the evil of abortion, for the evil is the *willingness * to kill an innocent human life. All can see that the fruit of a pregnacy, is a a baby.

By the way, even now, science can prove through DNA identification, that a unique human person (different that the mother or father) has begun life from the moment of conception.
Thus, even the old discredited argument formerly advanced by the abortion industry that the embryo is sub-human (the word untermensch comes to mind) is being shattered by experiential evidence.
Where to get reliable information?
I suggest reading magisterial documents, and solid writing by Father John Hardon, and see Father Frank Pavone Priests for Life website. An excellent book is “The Architects of the Culture of Death”.

Thanks.

 

[Jennifer123]

What about the fact that all the details that make a human a human like their entire DNA makeup etc. are implanted at conception? The only thing missing is the ability to live outside the womb on its own, but neither can a 2 yr old live on its own.
We can protect turtle eggs and such but not a human being. Shameful rationalization by a “learned” man.

 

[fix]

But our pluralistic political system adopts rights that arise out of consensus, not the dictates of religious orthodoxy;

Rights no longer come from the creator, but from us?

 

[JimG]

Not on Faith Alone
By MARIO M. CUOMO

…
If the president vetoes a bill that advances that potential, he will have to provide more than sincere religiosity to prove that human life exists as early as fertilization, a proposition that even the Roman Catholic Church and other religions have historically disputed.

Om my, how to prove that human life exists “as early as fertilization.”?

Well, how about the findings of biology, embryology and genetics? What do they tell us about when a new individual of the human species has its beginning?

The new human individual begins at conception–genetically, embryologically, biologically.
Any other point would be purely arbitrary.

So, let Mr. Cuomo not argue about religion. Let him argue biology.

The question, as Middle Bear pointed out, is not when a new human being begins. Everyone knows it begins at conception. The question is, when are we willing to kill it, and when are we willing to protect it?

 

[Lanciano]

Not on Faith Alone
By MARIO M. CUOMO

…
But our pluralistic political system adopts rights that arise out of consensus, not the dictates of religious orthodoxy; and if such rights are adopted - approving abortions or financing stem cell research on leftover embryos - they will be the law of the land, even if religious dissenters, through their tax dollars, end up helping to pay for things that they find anathema. Every day Americans who abhor the death penalty, contraceptives, abortions and war are required to pay taxes used in part for purposes they consider offensive. That is part of the price we pay for this uniquely successful democracy.

So far neither Mr. Bush nor religious believers have convinced a majority of Americans that the use of embryonic stem cells inevitably entails the murder of a human being. Most Americans, vividly aware of the millions of tragic victims of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer and spinal cord injuries, believe that embryonic stem cell research may provide cures. They will demand that Congress act to realize that potential.

If the president vetoes a bill that advances that potential, he will have to provide more than sincere religiosity to prove that human life exists as early as fertilization, a proposition that even the Roman Catholic Church and other religions have historically disputed.
…
more

You might consider God’s idea of conception;

Jeremias 1: 4 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 5 Before I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother, I knew thee: and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and made thee a prophet unto the nations (Douay-Rheims Version).

Looks like God knows we are human even before conception.

 

[Maranatha]

MiddleBear:

Where to get reliable information?
I suggest reading magisterial documents, and solid writing by Father John Hardon, and see Father Frank Pavone Priests for Life website. An excellent book is “The Architects of the Culture of Death”.

Someone aught to send these reading materials to Mr. Como, the former Governor of New York, and ask him to read them and reflect before he inaccurately writes about the positions of the CC. He is an embarrassment of the Catholic.