Luke 18:4-5
Posted by DLW in Uncategorized at 2:46 pm | 
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I wrote Stephen Carter another email with the above as a title. I guess the reference would be that I planned to continue to plea until I received justice and so I wrote to him…
I was hoping you would give me your informed opinion on my idea to depoliticize abortion and help me to make it better known as an alternative to the existing proposals. I think it is key as I do not want this issue being decisive in determining who are next Sup Court Justice will be.
We really do need lay-readable accounts of judicial review/restraint/activism and why strict constructionism is not tenable as a consistent judicial philosophy.I hope you, or another, can supply such a lay-readable account. It seems like the faith-based political acrimony in our country may get worse on account of the latest nomination and that will do a disservice to Christianity.
I am anxious about the upcoming supreme court justice confirmation hearings. I think the cultural wars could really heat up a lot during them. Bush seems to want to win brownie points with his base, but in doing so is continuing to be a divider, not a uniter.
So that’s why I think it is paramount to reframe these issues now so that they won’t play as big of a role in the confirmation process. I read an article at BBC where they asked people to respond to the nomination of Alito. It’s amazing how many frame the issue as about the religious right and their political power. I don’t want White USAmerican Evangelical Christianity to get associated so strongly with a conservative judicial review philosophy. And so I’m hoping that judicial scholars, like Stephen Carter, will help the general public understand the nature of these sorts of judicial philosophical controversies better.
dlw
The 31st of October, 2005 at 3:55 pm
I fail to see how any “unification” on the abortion issue is possible. I have read your proposal, but for me it comes down to the fact that either a person supports equal rights for the unborn child or opposes those rights. There is no middle ground from my perspective. I understand that my commitments to the unborn as a Catholic are a bit different than your perspective as an evangelical Protestant
I agree that this nomination will inflame the culture wars, but unlike you, I believe this is a war which Bush must either fight well and hard, or surrender totally.
I for one am glad he chose to stand and fight.
The 31st of October, 2005 at 4:11 pm
Hi Andy, I’m glad you’re still reading.
You are right that I don’t believe that we are human beings at conception and, as such, I think it is a bad idea for us to make all elective abortions illegal.
I also have greater concerns about the autonomy of Church and State. I think there are dangers in Churches trying to capture the State completely on any particular issue, as it requires way too much log-rolling on many other important issues.
I also think that cultural change happens best from the ground up, not from the top-down. I am concerned more with changing hearts than changing laws.
That is why I think there is wisdom in seeking to make 2nd and 3rd trimester elective abortions illegal and use prevention for unwanted pregnancies and earlier abortions.
For the truth of the matter is that we will never testify to the transforming power of God in our lives by fighting, but rather by dying to ourselves and becoming servants/disciples for others, pointing to Jesus as the one that has made our new life possible.
dlw
The 31st of October, 2005 at 4:16 pm
ps, if I haven’t mentioned this to you earlier, I believe that we should treat the unborn at 48 days after conception as a human being. That, or something somewhat more conservative, is the community standard that I would like to have for my community, but I don’t think there is a need for wisdom in seeking by statecraft to make the legal standards the same, or even closer, to the community standards I hold.
dlw