A Long List For Excommunication
Posted on Wed May 09, 2007 at 08:45:06 PM EST
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Via quaoar, the Pope has strongly backed Catholic clergy in their decision to excommunicate politicians who support choice:
Speaking to reporters on his way to Brazil, Pope Benedict has backed Mexican bishops who have threatened excommunication for parliamentarians who voted to legalise abortion in Mexico City. . . . "Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Canon (church) law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ," he said.
Passing a law giving women the right to choose is not having an abortion so the logic escapes me here. I guess there is some accomplice theory but I have to wonder, what about laws allowing for birth control, also viewed as a grave sin by the Catholic Church:
the Catholic church also teaches that many methods of contraception would be a violation of natural law and therefore morally evil because they interfere with the natural processes such as condoms, diaphragms, other barrier methods, spermicides, intrauterine devices, chemical methods such as pills, patches, injections, and implants. Likewise the Catholic Church views surgical sterilization methods as being opposed to natural law because they prevent the possibility of conception.
Some politicians in the world voted to allow birth control. Are they going to be excommunicated?
And what about remarriage?
Last July 6 the Vatican once again reaffirmed the church’s rule that prohibits divorced Catholics from receiving Communion if they have remarried while bound by a valid previous marriage.
Some politicians allowed people to get divorced and remarried. Will they be excommunicated?
And what about the death penalty?
Some politicians vote for the death penalty. Are they going to be excommunicated?
What about unjustified wars?
Some politicians vote for unjustified wars. Are they going to be excommunicated?
What's my point here? My point is the Church makes a serious mistake embroiling itself in this way in politics and the laws passed by politicians.
It is one thing to state your position. It is another thing to threaten legislators with religious punishment if they do not vote the way the Church wants.
To the degree the Church has authority, it is entirely through the use of moral persuasion, not ecclesiastical power. The Church loses moral power when it acts in this way.
Update [2007-5-9 22:36:16 by Big Tent Democrat]: National Review asks an interesting question.
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