Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
History and Religion
“Pro-Lifers” Vote for Childkillers? Huh?!

“Pro-Lifers” Vote for Childkillers? Huh?!

Last updated on: March 25, 2017 at 4:10 pm by Dave Armstrong

“Pro-Lifers” Vote for Childkillers? Huh?! 2017-03-25T16:10:16-04:00 Dave Armstrong

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Reductio ad Absurdum

Pro-Life20

Life-size model of fetus at 8 weeks after conception. Brain waves begin at six weeks, and heartbeat at 18 days. Photograph by Bill Davenport: 4 March 2007 [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license]

* * * * *

I have a question for Catholic Democrats or “anti-Republicans”: if a candidate made it clear that he hated black people, or Jews, or Arabs, or Catholics, or Muslims, or had neo-Nazi affiliations, would that be an automatic dealbreaker / disqualifier, in terms of voting for him or her?

Is a neo-Nazi or KKK or anti-Semite acceptable to vote for, provided they get other stuff right? Say, Hitler got the economy or foreign affairs right: could a good Catholic or morally traditional non-Catholic Christian vote for him in good conscience? Sorry for using Hitler, but it just fits so well, in terms of extreme exaggeration to make a point. But even Hitler is responsible for far less murders than the astronomical numbers of dead babies that are the result of the pro-aborts in our time. In terms of death and destruction of innocents (we’re talking maybe half a billion dead babies by now), they make Hitler look like a harmless kitten.

[Note: In July 1932, Germany gave the Nazi party the leading number of seats, by vote. Hitler was the leader. Not much different from the British parliamentary system, looks like. Being named Chancellor was later, but his party was initially voted in by a democratic process.]

We could use David Duke. Forget Hitler. Could a Catholic vote for him if he had a lot of great policies, while he also hates black people, Jews, etc.?

Now, the above, is what is called reductio ad absurdum, or argumentum ad absurdum, in classical logic. It’s designed to show (in this case, by analogy), that one undesirable scenario — that the person being asked would certainly, or most likely reject —, is not even as bad, by analogy, as a position that they do hold. Since the hypothetical analogous scenario is rejected, so should be their real preferred scenario. Thus, such an argument is designed to make a person holding a particular position uncomfortable, or “squirm.” And, this being the case, they often perceive it as a personal insult and attack, in our wonderful world today, where these sorts of arguments are about as foreign and remote to the average person (even a college-educated one) as Hieroglyphics or Sanskrit.

In other words, bigotry and hatred of ethnic or religious groups is not as much of a disqualifier as the far greater sin of advocacy of childkilling [aka, “abortion”]. So if one agreed that a person with such views should not ever be voted for, it would also follow that the childkilling advocate could not be voted for, either.

To bring it down to brass tacks in this election season, many Catholics and other pro-lifers feel perfectly justified in voting for the socialist childkiller advocate Bernie Sanders (or for that matter, the childkilling advocate and quite-possible felon Hillary Clinton), when there is a pro-life alternative (Catholics are allowed to choose the lesser of two evils if those are the only choices available). But I highly doubt that the same people would vote for a bigot and hater, neo-Nazi candidate, if there were a better alternative available. It all depends (for them) on what else a candidate also believes, according to this mentality. If Sanders has great economic policies [choke!], then we can wink at the childkilling stuff, acceptance of euthanasia and assisted suicide, radical redefinition of marriage, etc.

Voting for pro-aborts is what sustains the abortion holocaust. Period. No amount of rationalization can make it otherwise. It’s because good people vote for those with evil policies, that the latter triumph and continue unabated for generations. We observe the pathetic spectacle of pro-lifers (!) voting for those whose views diametrically oppose them on that issue.

* * * * *

I made a public reply to a supporter of Bernie Sanders:

1. If the reasoning is that in a Sanders vs. Trump scenario, we can oppose Trump because he is for waterboarding, which is said to be intrinsically evil torture, this ignores the fact that waterboarding has not been definitively declared by the Church as torture. I oppose it as unnecessary and abusive, but I have not been convinced that it is torture, by the Church’s criteria, nor on the basis of specific magisterial statements about waterboarding (which don’t exist, as far as I know).

Even if we grant that waterboarding is intrinsically evil torture, for the sake of argument, we know that all of three people (all terrorists) were waterboarded during the Bush years. So the comparison is between that and some ten million babies being legally slaughtered and murdered during the same time. This is hardly an immoral equivalence or a scenario where it is morally superior to vote for Sanders the childkiller, as if he is relatively morally superior (i.e., the lesser of two evils).

2. It is stated that Trump is pro-abortion, too. This is untrue. His stated position is that he is pro-life, including de-funding of Planned Parenthood (even though he thinks PP does some good things, too).

People doubt this because it would be a radical change of mind. Well, they should be aware that Ronald Reagan was also pro-choice, as recently as 13 years before he was elected President. In 1967 he signed a bill into law in California that legalized abortion. It is estimated that 200,000 legal abortions resulted: before Roe v. Wade.

Elder Bush was also pro-choice not long before he became Vice President. I believe his wife still is.

Conversely, President Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Jesse Jackson, and others used to be pro-life, yet no one questions that they are sincerely pro-aborts now.

It’s all a moot point because Sanders is very unlikely to be the candidate, unless Billary is indicted or if the FBI at least recommends same. If Sanders is actually the candidate, he’ll be defeated in a landslide: possibly an historic one. We’re talking 46-47 states or more.

If Clinton or Sanders are elected, more babies will die. There is no doubt about that. They’ll appoint ultra-liberal, pro-abort Justices to the Supreme Court, who will then uphold abortion “rights” and restrict restrictions on abortion, which are the primary cause of the reduction in abortions.

Catholic Democrats can get as elaborate and legalistic as they like (spin and fine-tune and rationalize and nuance it till kingdom come); the blood remains partially on their hands if they vote for people for national office who sanction childkilling. They directly allow the holocaust to continue. Things will only change if Catholics and other pro-lifers start voting according to their stated positions, and never vote (unless faced with a terrible choice of two rabid pro-aborts: which scenario the Church recognizes) for those who advocate childkilling: by far the greatest and most diabolical evil and social issue of our time.

Life Issues

Political & Ethical & Moral Issues

partial birth abortion

Previous Post

March 3, 2016

Inaccuracies of Anti-Catholic "Foxe's Book of Martyrs"

Next Post

March 3, 2016 Liturgical Abuses at Mass: What to DO?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category & Last Things About Me Anti-Catholicism Atheism & Agnosticism Baptism and Sacramentalism Bible and Tradition Blessed Virgin Mary Books by Dave Armstrong C. S. Lewis Calvinism & General Protestantism Catholic Apologetics Catholic Apologists Catholic conversion Catholic converts Christmas Church (Ecclesiology) Church History Conversion and Converts Development of Doctrine Eastern Orthodoxy Ecumenism & Christian Unity Eucharist & Liturgy Fathers of the Church French Translations G. K. Chesterton Hell Hell & Satan Hell & Satan & Last Things Heresies & Comparative Religion Holistic Health Inquisition & Crusades & Scandals James White Jews & Judaism & Old Testament John Calvin John Henry Newman Liberal / Modernist Theology Life Issues Literary Resume Lutheranism Mariology Martin Luther Music Orthodoxy Papacy & Infallibility Personal Page Philosophy & Science Political & Ethical & Moral Issues Protestant Persecution & Intolerance Protestantism Purgatory Purgatory & Penance Romantic & Imaginative Theology Saints & Purgatory & Penance Salvation Salvation & Justification Satan & Last Things Sexuality and Gender Issues Spanish Translations Traditionalism vs. Radical Catholic Reactionaries Traducciones al español / tradução para português Trinitarianism & Christology Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 April 2010 March 2010 December 2009 October 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 March 2009 February 2009 October 2008 September 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 May 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 October 2005 June 2005 April 2005 February 2005 July 2004 May 2004 April 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz