An World-Spanning Pro-Life Position

Posted on April 13, 2005 in Class Pontiff Watch

Conservatives have been quick to chide the likes of me for attacking the late John Paul II. I offer to them a challenge that will uphold a precious goal of the late Pontiff, that will cause even a dissenter and a doubter like myself to affirm that they truly stand on Christianity. If they are pro-Life, this position will leave no doubt in my mind that they are serious because they will remove the fetters of early death through overwork and impoverishment from billions of people.

The challenge to the so-called moral conservative Catholics and other Christians: press for the World Bank and the world’s wealthiest nations to forgive the Third World Debt. If you carry out this deed, then John Paul II will have accomplished great good with his life. This will be a miracle: hearts of stone will become compassionate flesh.

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To my liberal friends: can you hear the screams? “Bring back Terri Schiavo!” But that’s the problem with conservativethics: they reduce everything to the individual. And that leads to the multiplication of the Seven Deadly Sins which, in moderation, aren’t bad, but in the excesses to which the rich and powerful take them in their quest to express their Greed become mortal and debilitating to all of Society.

There are middle paths where individual rights are respected while ensuring social justice for all. John Paul II should have been more open-minded and accepting. Secular states need not repress the exercise of personal conscience or deny the hunger bread and shelter.