A new Bush/Cheny ad misquotes John Kerry on the abortion issue

[JimmyJazz]

and encourages Catholics not to vote for Kerry because of his stand on this issue. I have a question to Catholic (both practicing and non): How can the same people who are pro-life be for the death penalty? After all, Bush is clearly pro-death penalty. I have never been able to get that straight in my head. Thanks in advance for the help!

Here's the entire fact check article:

http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=266

[K-W]

1. because no one is running ads about the death penalty

out of sight, out of mind, the right wing is constantly bombarding people with this issue for a reason.

[JimmyJazz]

2. okay, then how can you be anti-abortion and pro-war? I'm asking

this as a serious question regarding theology. It makes no sense to me.

[K-W]

3. The answer is, there is no answer.

There are a large number of catholics and christians who are pro-life and take abortion, death penalty, war, poverty, etc all into account.

But there are a ton of people who just dont think. They dont bother doing what you did, and applying logic to things. For them it is all about faith. They go to church, the minister rails against abortion, there is a pro-life group recruiting at thier church socials. Nobody is telling them about death in the war. All they hear about is how the war is good, it is protecting us, and to many of them, muslims in Iraq arent important.

[JimmyJazz]

5. lemmings n/t

[Hutzpa]

7. Hmmm.....this smells like fre....... n/t

[Kid_A]

4. I've never gotten a serious answer to that question.

And I've given up trying to understand. Some people are just so far gone that they're hopeless.

[polmaven]

10. Because they don't think for themselves.

I am speaking as an active, practicing Christian (United Methodist). Too many read the Bible literally, so when they hear things like "an eye for and eye..." and "turn the other cheek..." that means the death penalty is all right.

They conveniently ignore the Pope's stand against it because it isn't really church doctrine. They listen to passages that talk of killing the enemies of God, or they look at the hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers, Marching as to War" and, of course conclude that war is OK. The enemy will go to Hell, and the good guys to heaven, so it's OK.

Of course, a thinking person, who not only reads the Bible, but THINKS about it, and cares to learn about the cultures and the times during which each portion of it was written, or realizes it is a translation of a translation of a translation, cannot believe every word fell out of heaven and onto the pages IN ENGLISH! Most fundies don't care to take it that far, as it is much easier to let people like Swaggert, of Falwell, or Robertson tell them what to believe.

Sorry...A long answer to your question, but it can be SO frustrating to see God's "word" so misused.

[morgan2]

6. there is an easy answer

the death penalty is killing something for an action.
abortion is killing someone who hasn't had the chance to do anything. If you truly believe a fetus is a child, then its murder.

[JimmyJazz]

Okay - so what about civilian casualties in war - at least the

amish aren't hypocritical in their thinking - they are against abortion, the death penalty and war. That makes so much sense to me than being for one and not the other.

Besides, what about when a person repents for their crime? According to the Bible, if they truly ask the Lord for forgiveness and accept Christ as their saviour, they will be forgiven and will go to heaven. So, with the death penalty, we just help them get there sooner?

[K-W]

11. The catholic church disagrees with you.

To them the death penalty is wrong.

[HFishbine]

8. The Catholic Church opposes the death penalty.

http://www.americancatholic.org/News/DeathPenalty/default.asp

[JimmyJazz]

9. okay - so then how can Bushco encourage Catholics not to vote

for Kerry because he is pro-choice, when they are for something that the Church opposes as well? Why doesn't someone call them on this?

[HFishbine]

12. The Catholics I know...

...are pretty independent thinkers.

I think team Bush is wasting money because, for those to whom the edicts of the Pope are supreme, both candidates present a moral delima, so Bush holds no high ground on morality.

[JimmyJazz]

13. That's a relief to hear. I know people who are catholic, but not well

enough to discuss religion with them. Thanks for the input.