Supreme Knight vs. Barack Obama

Supreme Knight vs. Barack Obama
cinops be gone Monday, October 20, 2008 A.M.

I received a letter from the Supreme Knight, Carl A. Anderson urging Knights of Columbus members to support Proposition 8 on Marriage and Proposition 4 on Parental Notification. Barack Obama is opposed to Proposition 8 and 4 on the California ballot.
Now you may not have read the news item in The Washington Times, Monday, Sept. 1, 2008. What follows are excerpts of that article.

Obama’s abortion stance will be his downfall

In November, as we look back on the results of the 2008 presidential elections, I suspect that we’ll conclude that Aug. 16 was the day that Barack Obama lost the race.

At the Saddleback Civic Forum on the Presidency, evangelicals had their chance to meet Mr. Obama and to compare his brand of Christianity to theirs. When Mr. Obama said: “Jesus died for my sins, and {…} I am redeemed through him,” the evangelical audience was on the same page.

Pastor Rick Warren then posed his question about abortion – a pivotal issue for evangelical Christian and Catholic voters alike – this way: “At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?” It was a question on how Mr. Obama’s faith would inform his conscience and his policy. The Illinois senator’s answer,

“ANSWERING THAT QUESTION WITH SPECIFICITY, YOU KNOW IS ABOVE MY
PAY GRADE.”
fell flat, both because it seemed to many people to be a casual answer to a very serious question, and because it simply did not connect with a Christian audience for whom it is an article of faith that God is the author of life.

Every member of the congregation sitting in the church could recite the familiar passage from Jeremiah 1:5 by heart. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you.” Or Psalm 139: “I formed you in your mother’s womb.” In fact, Mr. Warren quoted that psalm a day after the Saddleback Forum, shortly after saying “to just say ‘I don’t know” on the most divisive issue in America is not clear enough answer for me.”

… But Mr. Obama conspicuously declined to say abortion is wrong, saying simply, “I believe in Roe vs. Wade.” … He professed an interest in addressing the question, “how do we reduce the number of abortions?” But he made no effort to explain why they should be reduced, saying only that “there is a moral and ethical element to this issue.” …

But it is a scientific fact, not an “issue of faith,” that each human being’s life begins at conception. To suggest, as he did, that it is a more a matter of theology than biology was hardly the sympathetic attitude that this audience was looking for. Instead of connecting with them, he may well have alienated many of them.

The real question, posed precisely by Mr. Warren, is when “does a baby get human rights?” But even if there is disagreement over precisely when those rights should be recognized, can there really be recognized, can there really be any doubt when a baby is just weeks away from delivery? Why must late-term abortions remain free from restrictions?

Mr. Obama’s words at Saddle-back and actions as a legislator leave no doubt about where he stands. He opposed a partial-birth abortion bill that passed in the Senate by a 2-1 margin, and later criticized the Supreme Court for upholding the law. As an Illinois state senator, he was among a handful of legislators who oppose a state version of the “Born Alive Infants Protection Act” And he has promised that the first thing he’d do as president is sign the “Freedom of Choice Act,” eliminates all existing restrictions on abortion, including the Hyde Amendment’s ban on federal funding. …

P.S. What more is there to say?
George H. Kubeck, Please e-mail to all members of the Knight of Columbus