Monday, February 27, 2012
At the start of the bewildering Republican Primary process everyone agreed
that the overriding issue would be jobs and the economy. But a week before
Super Tuesday, with jobs the economy recovering, Rick Santorum is calling
for a holy war: "I don't believe in an America where the separation of
church and state is absolute." He should take a minute to read the First
Amendment. Meanwhile, Franklin Graham, son of Billy, questions the
Christian credentials of both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. Halfway around
the world, two American officers were shot dead in Afghanistan
in "retaliation" for the inadvertent burning of Korans, which of course
harmed not a living soul. Here in Maryland, the Legislature sent a gay-
marriage bill to Governor O'Malley, which he will sign. That won't hurt
anyone either. Next door in Virginia, the State Senate voted to suspend
consideration of a bill defining life as beginning at conception, which is
the position of to the Roman Catholic Church. The law would instantly
create millions of one-celled persons. Perhaps they would be granted souls
by heaven, citizenship by the state, and be counted in the census along
with millions of frozen embryos? Or would the frozen embryos have to wait
till they thaw? Based on a different reading of Genesis, a Jewish zygote
wouldn't be a person for another nine months. How do we resolve this? Under
case law, protection of a fetus by the state begins only after the fetus is
capable of surviving outside the womb. As WN pointed out in the last issue
(WN 15 Feb
2012), freedom of religion is not up for discussion. Gods do not
compromise.
Last Sunday on Face the Nation, Rick Santorum opposed amniocentesis testing
of an embryo in the womb. One of the great advances in modern diagnostic
medicine, amniocentesis can be used to diagnose certain severe medical
handicaps long before full-term. On the grounds that bad news might lead a
woman to terminate her pregnancy, Santorum, who opposes abortion for any
reason, would deny a women the right to make that decision. Santorum, of
course, is not a candidate for the test.
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