How Is It That A Person Can Oppose Abortion And Still Be Comfortable W

[SaintOfVirtue]

[quote name='Presbylicious' date='30 March 2010 - 04:17 AM' timestamp='1269947866' post='2083178']
What the title says. I'm really mystified about this.

Do Roman Catholics tend to be pro-war? What about pro-Iraq-and-Afghanistan-war?

If so, how do you justify such a blatant contradiction in your pro-life convictions? To me, my peace convictions (I am a pacifist - I attend a Presbyterian church but many of my convictions about the Christian's involvement in war and to what extent the Christian should use force are more Mennonite/Anabaptist in nature) are absolutely part and parcel of my pro-life convictions. I would rather die than knowingly carry out an abortion or allow one to be carried out if I could prevent it. I would rather die than to take a gun and shoot someone - in war or not.

It seems like, for a lot of Christians, dedication to defending life stops once a person is born. There is no protest of the horrors of a terrible, criminal war - there is complicity and co-operation with it. There is no protest of situations which degrade the lives of human beings already living (the sex trade, child soldiers, etc).

Sorry for this rant. I'm not terribly familiar with Catholicism, so maybe the Catholic Church already works hard to speak out against unjust war (I realize you are not, institutionally, a 'peace church', but adherents of just war theory) and social injustice. It just seems silly that so many Christians neglect a truly [i]consistent [/i]pro-life ethic. "Pro-life" means "anti-abortion" in people's minds. I am always quick to correct people and say "No, pro-life means PRO-LIFE. Opposition to ALL conditions which would destroy the life and dignity of a human person, from conception to natural death."

What say you?
[/quote]

First of all the Principle of Double Effect applies even to the waging of a just war. A just war is fought for self defense or for protecting those who cannot defend themselves. This agrees with the pro-life view of the Catholic Church as, it enforces the idea that as little blood as possible should be spilled. War sometimes has good effects that are greater than its bad effects: the Allied victory of WWII stopped the Holocaust. However, abortion never has a good effect greater than the bad effect.

God guided the Israelites into war multiple times throughout the Old Testament. In the New Testament (Luke 22:36-37) Jesus tells his Apostles to buy swords, "He [Jesus] said to them 'But now one who has a money bag should take it, and likewise a sack, and one who does not have a sword should sell his cloak and buy one.'"

Sorry about the choppiness of my explanation, I'm a little under the weather right now.