PRO-LIFE GROUPS IN AMERICA PROMOTING CONFUSION AND DECEIT
COMMENTARY ARCHIVES, 25 Jan 2009
In the spiritual sphere of American politics we witness two major groups. We have the self-proclaimed pro-life group, usually known as conservative or extreme right, and the self-styled pro-choice group, normally referred as liberal or extreme left. Unfortunately, both names are inappropriate because they do not reveal the real nature and character of their adherents.
Pro-Life versus Pro-choice
A pro-life person is one who believes that abortion is murder; it represents the needless killing of the innocent unborn child. This view is morally correct in the sense that there is a violation of one of the Ten Commandments, which God gave to Moses, you should not kill. On the other hand, a pro-choice person is not necessarily one who endorses or promotes abortion. A number of self-proclaimed pro-choice politicians, like the newly elected US President Barack Obama, explain what they mean very clearly.
During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama explained what he meant by proclaiming he was pro-choice. He said clearly that he does not mean he supports abortion. He simply was against the government taking the role of religions and churches in dictating to people what is morally right or wrong in this area. He also stated that he was for adoption, family planning and the prevention of unwanted pregnancies. If a woman opts for abortion, he added, she should seek the council of her relatives, friends, and spiritual advisors.
Obama said also emphatically that we should develop programs to make pregnancies less likely to happen and that abstinence should be one of the objectives of the children’s education in particular. What is ironic in American politics lies here. Self-proclaimed pro-choice politicians tend to oppose the waging of wars to solve political disputes while favoring the spending of more money on the dire needs of all people, such as education and health.
At the same time, self-proclaimed pro-life politicians tend to solve all disputes through the waging of wars. To this end, they take away money from the vital needs of the people to spend it on the manufacture and sales of devastating weapons. They seem to believe in practice that God gave Moses only one law, namely, you should not kill, which is restricted primarily and solely to abortion. As far as the ruthless destruction of the infrastructure of cities is concerned, along with the massacre of tens of thousands of innocent people that follows, this would seem to be perfectly all right.
Irony of US Pro-Life Politicians
Ironically, when the self-proclaimed pro-life politicians in America proceed to commit this mass murder, they do not seem to realize that the vast majority of those they massacre are women, children the elderly and the sick. Their tunnel vision prevents them from seeing that the substantial number of women they murder, through their planned destruction of the infrastructure of cities, happen to be pregnant women! For such pro-life adherents, it is a crime to terminate the life of the unborn but not really a crime at all to terminate the life of the unborn together with that of the mother!
And they all have a way to kid themselves by calling the enormous pain they inflict on tens of thousands of innocent people, amounting to countless millions on a global scale, as self-defense! Moreover, to turn an insult into an injury, several clergymen of various denominations, including the Catholic Church, while they do not hesitate to condemn in the open abortion, they hardly ever do so when it comes to mass murder the way explained. In fact, some clergymen remind their people of their “obligation” to vote for self-proclaimed pro-life politicians and not to vote for self-proclaimed pro-choice politicians.
When such clergymen are reminded by some concerned members of their congregation of the seriousness involved in mass murders through the senseless promotion of wars, such clergymen tend to answer calmly: “Let us pray for the preservation of human life from conception to natural death!” While their eventual condemnation of abortion is always highly vocal, the condemnation of struggles and wars is either ignored or pronounced softly with properly chosen words or expressions, as stated already.
While self-proclaimed pro-choice politicians are condemned in the open and even forbidden to receive communion in religious services, self-proclaimed pro-life politicians are viewed with great reverence and are allowed to receive communion in religious services. To make things worse, pro-life adherents tend to distribute literature at the time of elections that is full of distortion and deceit.
Let us illustrate this from the recent US presidential election. When Barack Obama was elected US President, self-proclaimed pro-life adherents got into panic and vomited from their chest all they could say: “The presidency of Obama brings in our midst the age of abortion! This new president will use the United Nations to advance the cause of abortion all over the world!”
Viciousness of US Pro-Life Politicians
At this stage of history, the alternative of the results of the recent US presidential election would have been the continuation of the self-proclaimed pro-life President George W. Bush. This former president was supported overwhelmingly by self-proclaimed pro-life adherents that brought him into office twice. Ironically, he and his circle of pro-life advisors encouraged the waging of war against Iraq. The reasons brought forth to justify this heinous crime of the mass murder that would follow over the next five years were all proven to be groundless and false.
Outstanding statesmen and religious leaders of the caliber of Nelson Mandela, Oscar Arias, Desmond Tutu, Pope John Paul II, in addition to others, warned the United States that such an invasion would be a grave mistake. The Pope even pointed out that such a war would ignite enmity between Christians and Moslems and that it would turn the region into a base for terrorism that would end up in a quagmire. And we know the rest of the story.
According the United Nations reports furnished over the past year, more than one million innocent Iraqi civilians have been killed, not to mention the tens of thousands that were maimed with legs and/or arms amputated. Besides, some two million are now refugees. In addition, more than 4,000 young Americans were killed and over 30,000 maimed with arms and/or legs amputated, not to mention those that became psychologically ruined for life. Also, as a result, more than 500,000 Iraqi children are orphans having lost their father or mother or both.
What a nice legacy the self-proclaimed pro-life US politicians gave to these children and to the entire Middle East region, as a matter of fact. They say that the election of Obama brought us to the dawn of abortion! This amounts to pure distortion and deceit, as illustrated earlier. What is tangibly true is this. The election of Obama brought the United States in particular and the world at large to the dawn of peace and harmony. During his term in office, countless millions of good law-abiding citizens have now a greater chance to live and enjoy life with their dear relatives and friends. The age of hatred, dissent, struggles and wars instigated by self-proclaimed pro-life US politicians is now coming to an end. We need now to look forward into the future with faith and hope.
Let us keep in mind what the Master Teacher of Nazareth remarked when he was told he was good. He said: “Only the Heavenly Father is good.” This statement did surprise quite a few since this Great Teacher of Nazareth was viewed to be the Messiah that was promised in the Old Testament. Also, when the woman caught in adultery was brought to Him to condemn her. He did not hesitate to state: “Let the one who is without sin throw the first stone.” The scripture tells us that all left one by one because they were all sinners.
Coming to a Sensible Conclusion
In view of this, self-proclaimed pro-life adherents need to keep in mind that for every single accusation they may dig out against Obama, we may dig out ten even worse accusations against the previous self-proclaimed pro-life US president. If self-proclaimed pro-life adherents really and genuinely believe that they are for the sacredness of life, when are they going to come out into the open to condemn all struggles and wars along with the indiscriminate manufacture and sales of weapons to everyone that is willing to give the right price, friend and foe alike? This has now become the greatest source of so much suffering.
If it is true that life is sacred from conception to natural death, then why is it that self-proclaimed pro-life politicians and their adherents, including several clergymen, hardly ever condemn struggles and wars and the terrible destruction of the infrastructure of cities along with the ruthless massacre of tens of thousands of innocent people, including women, children the elderly and the sick? By the way, that would also include the merciless killing of both the mother and the child at the same time, as hinted earlier.
In view of what has been stated, we need to keep in mind that the way to hell is paved with good intentions. The means being used by self-proclaimed pro-life adherents to promote their one humanitarian objective amount to confusion and deceit. They make it appear that only they stand really and truly on the side of justice and goodness, while anyone else is definitely and absolutely on the wrong track! This amounts to supine ignorance or methodical arrogance that may emerge to become very dangerous.
We all know that when we have to choose between good and evil, we are morally obligated to choose the good. When we are faced between two goods, we must choose the better in terms of benefits derived for all people. When we are faced to choose between two evils, we should not hesitate to choose the lesser in terms of universal harm in the long range term. In conclusion, it is obvious that the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States may be viewed as God’s best gift to humanity at this stage of history.
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Charles Mercieca is president of the International Association of Educators for World Peace – Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education, Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament; Professor Emeritus Alabama A&M University
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 25 Jan 2009.
Anticopyright: Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source, TMS: PRO-LIFE GROUPS IN AMERICA PROMOTING CONFUSION AND DECEIT, is included. Thank you.
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