Just Look by Cardinal Egan
Bolded parts by this writer for emphasis only. I have seen the DVD's he speaks of ON the National Geographic channel, and I have to tell you that they are exactly what he says that they are.
God bless!
From Cardinal Egan:
In the Holiness of Truth - October 23, 2008
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Just Look
The picture on this page is an untouched photograph of a being that has been within its mother for 20 weeks.
Please do me the favor of looking at it carefully.
Have you any doubt that it is a human being?
If you do not have any such doubt, have you any doubt that it is an innocent human being?
If you have no doubt about this either, have you any doubt that the authorities in a civilized society are duty-bound to protect this innocent human being if anyone were to wish to kill it?
If your answer to this last query is negative, that is, if you have no doubt that the authorities in a civilized society would be duty-bound to protect this innocent human being if someone were to wish to kill it, I would suggest—even insist—that there is not a lot more to be said about the issue of abortion in our society. It is wrong, and it cannot—must not—be tolerated.
But you might protest that all of this is too easy. Why, you might inquire, have I not delved into the opinion of philosophers and theologians about the matter? And even worse: Why have I not raised the usual questions about what a "human being" is, what a "person" is, what it means to be "living," and such? People who write books and articles about abortion always concern themselves with these kinds of things. Even the justices of the Supreme Court who gave us "Roe v. Wade" address them.
Why do I neglect philosophers and theologians? Why do I not get into defining "human being," defining "person," defining "living," and the rest? Because, I respond, I am sound of mind and endowed with a fine set of eyes, into which I do not believe it is well to cast sand. I looked at the photograph, and I have no doubt about what I saw and what are the duties of a civilized society if what I saw is in danger of being killed by someone who wishes to kill it or, if you prefer, someone who "chooses" to kill it. In brief: I looked, and I know what I saw.
But what about the being that has been in its mother for only 15 weeks or only 10? Have you photographs of that too? Yes, I do. However, I hardly think it necessary to show them. For if we agree that the being in the photograph printed on this page is an innocent human being, you have no choice but to admit that it may not be legitimately killed even before 20 weeks unless you can indicate with scientific proof the point in the development of the being before which it was other than an innocent human being and, therefore, available to be legitimately killed. Nor have Aristotle, Aquinas or even the most brilliant embryologists of our era or any other era been able to do so. If there is a time when something less than a human being in a mother morphs into a human being, it is not a time that anyone has ever been able to identify, though many have made guesses. However, guesses are of no help. A man with a shotgun who decides to shoot a being that he believes may be a human being is properly hauled before a judge. And hopefully, the judge in question knows what a "human being" is and what the implications of someone's wishing to kill it are. The word "incarceration" comes to mind.
However, we must not stop here. The matter becomes even clearer and simpler if you obtain from the National Geographic Society two extraordinary DVDs.
One is entitled "In the Womb" and illustrates in color and in motion the development of one innocent human being within its mother. The other is entitled "In the Womb—Multiples" and in color and motion shows the development of two innocent human beings—twin boys—within their mother. If you have ever allowed yourself to wonder, for example, what "living" means, these two DVDs will be a great help. The one innocent human being squirms about, waves its arms, sucks its thumb, smiles broadly and even yawns; and the two innocent human beings do all of that and more: They fight each other. One gives his brother a kick, and the other responds with a sock to the jaw. If you can convince yourself that these beings are something other than living and innocent human beings, something, for example, such as "mere clusters of tissues," you have a problem far more basic than merely not appreciating the wrongness of abortion. And that problem is—forgive me—self-deceit in a most extreme form.
Adolf Hitler convinced himself and his subjects that Jews and homosexuals were other than human beings. Joseph Stalin did the same as regards Cossacks and Russian aristocrats. And this despite the fact that Hitler and his subjects had seen both Jews and homosexuals with their own eyes, and Stalin and his subjects had seen both Cossacks and Russian aristocrats with theirs. Happily, there are few today who would hesitate to condemn in the roundest terms the self-deceit of Hitler, Stalin or even their subjects to the extent that the subjects could have done something to end the madness and protect living, innocent human beings.
It is high time to stop pretending that we do not know what this nation of ours is allowing—and approving—with the killing each year of more than 1,600,000 innocent human beings within their mothers. We know full well that to kill what is clearly seen to be an innocent human being or what cannot be proved to be other than an innocent human being is as wrong as wrong gets. Nor can we honorably cover our shame
(1) by appealing to the thoughts of Aristotle or Aquinas on the subject, inasmuch as we are all well aware that their understanding of matters embryological was hopelessly mistaken,
(2) by suggesting that "killing" and "choosing to kill" are somehow distinct ethically, morally or criminally,
(3) by feigning ignorance of the meaning of "human being," "person," "living," and such,
(4) by maintaining that among the acts covered by the right to privacy is the act of killing an innocent human being, and
(5) by claiming that the being within the mother is "part" of the mother, so as to sustain the oft-repeated slogan that a mother may kill or authorize the killing of the being within her "because she is free to do as she wishes with her own body."
One day, please God, when the stranglehold on public opinion in the United States has been released by the extremists for whom abortion is the center of their political and moral life, our nation will, in my judgment, look back on what we have been doing to innocent human beings within their mothers as a crime no less heinous than what was approved by the Supreme Court in the "Dred Scott Case" in the 19th century, and no less heinous than what was perpetrated by Hitler and Stalin in the 20th. There is nothing at all complicated about the utter wrongness of abortion, and making it all seem complicated mitigates that wrongness not at all. On the contrary, it intensifies it.
Do me a favor. Look at the photograph again. Look and decide with honesty and decency what the Lord expects of you and me as the horror of "legalized" abortion continues to erode the honor of our nation. Look, and do not absolve yourself if you refuse to act.
Edward Cardinal Egan
Archbishop of New York
posted by WI Catholic @ 10/24/2008 07:14:00 PM
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When and where did Barack obama proclaim that he was the messiah of the united states. And now we are comparing barack obama to Hitler because some children sang a song in praise of him??
I do agree that there are a lack of critical thinkers in the US. Any one gullible enough to believe or put any value in Lori Kalners writing need do critically read this piece. I really doubt Lori Kalner exists.
Is this the way to get votes for McCain by scaring people into thinking Obama will turn this country into Nazi Germany?
Do you live in a small town? Especially one wracked by a loss of jobs and unemployment. I do and Obama is not far from the truth. This is alarmist drivel trying to scare people.
Redboy,
I do not think that there is one place in any of MY posts, nor of Lori's emails from the Thoene's blog that says Obama has called himself a messiah. Nor do I think that it is correct to say that HE is being compared to Hitler in this particular post.
The topic is the propaganda styles that were used then, and are being used now. The topic is the similarities of people turning to someone who runs on 'Change' and not paying attention to what is really being said in the many soundbytes and 'polls' and biased news coverage. The topic is the similarity of events then that were witnessed by a woman who very much DOES exist with things happening now, today.
I am very sorry that you think it is gullible to listen to someone who LIVED through a country going from one form of gov't to a totalitarian form of gov't in a relatively short time, and how it happened. You need to speak to a few other survivors of those times, I think. OR to those who suddenly found themselves under Communist rule. It is too long ago to speak to those who survived the Bolshevik revolution.
You truly think it cannot happen here? It is happening in Venezuela with Hugo Chavez taking over the news, etc. It has happened in other nations, and we are not immune.
When the checks and balances of our Constitution are removed as they will be with a Federal Justice System that MAKES laws, and a Legislative Branch that also causes more and more to become dependent on Gov't, AND an Executive Branch that is leaning toward a more socialist form of gov't... a lot can happen.
Scare tactics? I think not. A realistic view of how propaganda sways people to 'change' that is NOT good, that is NOT going to preserve our rights, nor protect the citizen's of our country.
As for Lori being a real person...you take that one up with Brock and Bodie Thoene, who have known her for years.
By the way, as for your statement about it being OBAMA who will turn this country into something it is not supposed to be? No, not Obama.
The people who fall for the rhetoric, who want the gov't to 'gimme more', who pay more attention to the polls and soundbytes and 'cute kids' singing 'cute propaganda' and see nothing to worry about... those people who will vote for Obama without KNOWING what he stands for, what he is saying, etc JUST because he sounds 'good'.. those are the ones who will turn this country into something that our Founding Fathers would roll over in their grave to see happen.
Listen to Howard Stern's guy Sal interviewing three people in Harlem, REALLY listen to it...
As for where I live. Yes, I do, and I have lived in small towns that have lost their ONE company that most of the town worked in, several times. Merrill lost their paper company. Kimberly has lost theirs, Oshkosh has lost many businesses, big ones...
And a LOT of that loss stemmed from the high taxation here in WI, as well as outsourcing of jobs to other countries. Merrill? IP not only shut the Mill down, refused to sell the company, removed the machines to another mill that they owned, but also left the dam in danger of breaching. MOST of that city, that area, had been employed by that mill for years.
Economics is NOT the primary thing if LIFE is in danger.
God bless!