By Dean Barnett | May 21, 2007 AT ONE POINT during John Kerry's 2004 presidential run, the candidate told the press that as a matter of his "Catholic belief" he thought life began at conception and thus "oppose(d) abortion personally." Being the modest sort, however, Kerry would not impose his spiritual beliefs on anyone else and placed himself squarely in the pro-choice camp.
The comments were vintage Kerry. His maladroit straddle helped him with no one. Pro-choice people questioned Kerry's commitment to their side; pro-lifers questioned the honesty of Kerry's declared beliefs about when life begins. Nevertheless, Kerry's position did provide a brief window into how much of the country understands pro-life people. At least as portrayed in the media, people who have a problem with abortion are usually seen as coming from religious circles and basing their conclusions solely on religious beliefs.
I'm not sure how accurate this stereotype is, but I know that I'm an exception to it. I'm proudly Jewish, but not at all religious. Quite frankly, I'm the very picture of the Chinese food-eating secular Jew who drives some of my more devout co-religionists batty. But I'm pro-life, and adamantly so. Unlike the often erroneous stereotype of the pro-life citizen, I didn't arrive at my position as a matter of religious faith. Rather, my conclusions flow strictly from logical inquiry.
No comments:
Post a Comment