"Seamless Garment" voting

[SeanR]

Hi everyone, my name is Seán. I was under the impression that because abortion is intrinsically evil, while war and the death sentence are not, we must put moral priority in voting on anti-abortion politicians. I know this is true; I know there is a moral hierarchy to these situations. A Legionary Priest told me this, and my Uncle whom I trust said the same. However today, I was told by a parish Priest that he is not sure that anti-abortion is what we should base our voting decision on. He says that war is evil and the death sentence is evil, but they can be done in a “lesser of two evils” situation, but that they are still evil. He said that he is not sure how we are to vote.

What is the best arguement in support of voting Pro-Life; what is the best way to counter that “seamless garment” motto?

Thanks

 

[T.A.Stobie_SFO]

Understand the issues well enough to understand what the Seamless Garment is.

I have a webpage titled 100% pro-life and it goes briefly into the issues. URL: stobie.home.sprynet.com/religion/100prolife.htm

Different issues have different weights and considerations. Some are absolutes. Abortion is in every case a grave moral evil. The death penalty is some place may be needed (but I doubt this should include the highly developed countries). War is to be avoided, but sometimes is necessary.

 

[Gryphon]

My best counter is:

“Show me a “seamless garment” politician, and I’ll vote for him or her.”

Reality: there are none.

The “seamless garment” argument is a red herring to distract attention away from the on-going atrocity of abortion - which has quietly killed 40+ MILLION unborn children since 1973 in the US alone - in favor of the headline-grabbing news of another 10 people… or 24… or 3… killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

We could be in Iraq for 40 years, and not have reached the death toll built by the abortion mills in the United States at the rate of 3000+ babies a day.

Despite what you may hear from the media, all death and violence is not the same.

You are right to make a distinction between honorable service of one’s country and abortion:

Our troops serving in the Middle East do so in defense of our nation against terrorism, and in the effort to secure a stable, free, nation in the heart of the Middle East. In other words - their deaths are in the name of a worthy purpose and cause. As the old Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young song put it: “Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground. Mother earth will swallow you, lay your body down.” There is the hope of a better future in their service.

On the other hand… abortion sacrifices unborn children to the gods of sex, fear, and convenience. There is no “upside potential” - at all! - to the act of abortion. As a great bumpersticker put it: “Abortion: One Dead, One Wounded.”

It is truly sad when are priests are so lost to the evils of abortion that they refuse to defend women and children from this ongoing assault by exercising their own right to vote for pro-life politicians, much less encouraging others to do so!

God bless,

Gryphon

 

[marciadietrich]

These from The Catechism of the Catholic Church:

[2308](javascriptpenWindow(‘cr/2308.htm’) All citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war. However, "as long as the danger of war persists and there is no international authority with the necessary competence and power, governments cannot be denied the right of lawful self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed."106

[2267](javascriptpenWindow(‘cr/2267.htm’) Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.

compare to language on abortion:

[2270](javascriptpenWindow(‘cr/2270.htm’) Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.72 …

2271 Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. …

[2272](javascriptpenWindow(‘cr/2272.htm’) Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae,"77 "by the very commission of the offense,"78 …
Here is a quote from CHRISTIFIDELES LAICI

The inviolability of the person which is a reflection of the absolute inviolability of God, fínds its primary and fundamental expression in the *inviolability of human life. *Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights-for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture- is false and illusory if *the right to life, *the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination.
The Church has never yielded in the face of all the violations that the right to life of every human being has received, and continues to receive, both from individuals and from those in authority. The human being is entitled to such rights, *in every phase of development, *from conception until natural death; and in *every condition, *whether healthy or sick, whole or handicapped, rich or poor.