From: dlcraft@amherst.edu (deb, just deb)
Newsgroups: talk.abortion
Subject: Re: THE IMPLICATIONS OF ABORTION ON OUR SOCIETYdir
Date: 31 Mar 92 00:35:05 GMT
Article-I.D.: amherst.1992Mar30.203505.1
Organization: Totems, Incorporated

Okay, I know that this posting has been already flamed to death, but there
was one comment made that I really *had* to respond to:

In article <1992Mar29.171702.25617@cs.dal.ca>, franklin@ug.cs.dal.ca (Steve Franklin) writes:
>    Another thing that kills me is that some people who are "catholic"
> on the net believe in abortion... How can that be? We Catholics value and
> cherish life at all levels, potential, and handicapped. The reason you 
> see us as such "freaks and eccentrics" is because each time there is
> an abortion, we see it as MURDER. Not some convenient "termination of
> a fetus" but the "Killing of a life". Whether you believe, or agree with
> us does not matter. That is how we see it, and our opinions cannot be
> changed. 

I'm very glad to hear that you have a personal "in" to your religion.  I'm 
sure that you know better than anybody else exactly what it means to be a
Catholic.  Or, for that matter, any Christian.

By denoting the other Catholics on this newsgroups as "catholics," thereby
implying that you deny their claim to the distinction, you indicate an 
appalling close-mindedness that has plagued organized religion almost since
its beginning.  What gives you the right to claim that somebody else is not
really a Christian just because they don't adhere to your beliefs?  Granted,
the things you say about abortion being murder follow the Catholic hierarchy's
point of view.  But, when it comes down to the crux of it, they are merely
human just like the rest of us, and none of them know any better than we
do what it means to truly be a good Christian.  Only Christ knows that, and
I doubt that any of us will discover it until we've shuffled off this mortal
coil.  

I know that not all devout Catholics (as I'm sure you see yourself) are as
exclusionary as you.  One of my closest and dearest friends is a Catholic
born and raised, and an adamant pro-lifer, but she would never belittle
someone else's faith in the way you have just done.  I (as one of those 
rather controversial anti-abortion but pro-choice Christians who is used to
having people like you deny my right to calling myself a Christian) accept 
her beliefs, just as she accepts mine.  We know that we will never agree
on our stances, and both of us work to further our own viewpoints.  I look
up to her in many ways, and frequently am amazed by her conviction, her
gentleness, and the depth of her faith.  BUT, she would *never* dream of
telling me that I was not a true Christian.  The only one who has the 
right to do that is God. 

>    I know that we cannot impose our views on others, not because it would
> be ethically wrong, 

'scuse me?  <cough, cough>  It wouldn't?

Anyway.


You believe that abortion is murder.  Fine.  I tend to agree with you.  
However, please do not belittle our--yes, "our", yours and mine--religion
by denying somebody else the right to call themself Catholic just because
their views do not correspond to yours.

--solya.

-- 
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  dlcraft@amherst.edu
solya@amhux1.amherst.edu
    dlcraft@amherst
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Newsgroups: talk.abortion