Cerberus addresses the issue of McGuinty's rejection of Catholic teaching on life:
While everyone has a right to their own choice of religion and certainly to acting on that religion, when the religion of choice requires bowing to the decrees of any individual and particularly a foreign individual, then there is an extremely delicate balancing act to walk. The balance though must always lie with the public, your constituency.
Bowing to a decree of an individual? The Catholic Faith is not the decree of one individual.
If McGuinty were a faithful and knowledgeable Catholic, he would understand that the decree against abortion is not some man-made law, but from God.
Now, suppose he did agree with that: how can he go against God's law? What kind of man of integrity believes God divinely revealed a truth, but doesn't act on it?
I suspect McGuinty doesn't believe that the prohibition against abortion is divinely revealed. But he wants to look oh-so-defiant. So he gives another reason as to why he won't listen to the Church. In fact, he just never accepted it.
If acting in the best interests of the people who elected you or complying with voter desires is in conflict with your beliefs, then the only answer in that rare circumstance is to reject that part of your religion or be true to your religious beliefs and step down.
First, if you believe that God revealed a truth, then it's automatically in the best interest of the people.
Secondly, politicians act against voter desires all the time. The people disagreed with homosexual marriage, but the politicians voted for it just the same. Should those politicians have stepped down? Why of course not, because they were doing the right thing.. So it's okay for them to act against voter wishes when liberals agree with the stance?
We would ask no less of any other religious politician from any other religion.
If we want politicians of integrity, we must allow the act on their convictions. If we do not allow them to act on their convictions, we dehumanize them. If politicians can't be faithful to themselves, they cannot be faithful to the people.
UPDATE:
I just read a quote from Bishop Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island. I thought it was pertinent to this post:
Pointing out the eternal costs of such actions, the Bishop wrote: "How these intelligent men and women will someday stand before the judgment seat of God and explain why they legitimized the death of countless innocent children in the sin of abortion is beyond me. (But God, really, I was personally opposed to it, but just couldn't do anything about it.")"
And this part was precious:
Tobin concluded: "I won't be attending the fundraiser for Rudy Giuliani. If Rudy wants to see me, he'll have to arrange an appointment at my office. We'll talk about his position on abortion. And if he wants a photo, it will cost him $1,500 as a donation for the pro-life work of the Church."
Wow, this bishop has chutzpah.
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