A Shred of Conscience
by Abbot Joseph
I’m sure you are aware by now that the Supreme Court just handed down a decision upholding the ban on “partial-birth abortion.” State or federal courts can no longer challenge this law on constitutional grounds (those challenges manifested a travesty of justice anyway, not to mention a culpable blindness to the savagery of this crime). Now this barbaric method of murder is finally illegal in all 50 states. This is certainly a good thing, for it indicates a least a shred of conscience among the Justices—the five whose votes upheld the ban, anyway—and perhaps has slightly forestalled the falling of deserved wrath upon our country. But we’re a long way from saying that the leaders of this country really do have a conscience about the life and death of the most vulnerable members of our society.
First of all, the court was quick to assure the shrieking baby-killers that this decision does not affect a woman’s “right” to have an abortion. They just have to find another way to kill the child. The court also seemed to pride itself on drawing a clear line between abortion and infanticide. But this line-drawing still misses (by a mile) the point that ought to be self-evident, the unborn white elephant in the room that everyone chooses to ignore: both abortion and infanticide are acts of murdering an innocent and defenseless human being. Why do they not see this? Are there dollar signs blocking their vision? Are power and position to be gained by brandishing the scalpel of “reproductive freedom”? Is it a sign that our debased morals have at last been recognized as the norm for “evolved” humanity? Or is it just one more fiendish way to lash out at Christianity in general, and the Catholic Church in particular—which is the main obstacle to their hegemony of lies, the last croaking moral voice, the last hand that dares attempt to rip the masks off their sneering faces?
While we can breathe just a little easier with the court’s decision, tentatively hopeful that our country’s leaders have not sold out 100% to satan, it is still going to be business as usual in this country’s Retroactive Fertility Control Centers, or whatever euphemism they may wish to use as a rag to wipe the blood off their hands. What we can perhaps hope for is that this decision will awaken the wavering courage of those who may have become discouraged in their efforts to fight the beast. Now there’s a chink in the armor, perhaps a green light for future pro-life advances. It is becoming known that the majority of people in this country do not support abortion, but the well-greased machinery of NARAL, PP, and other engines of death manage, with heavily-funded media campaigns and deceitful rhetoric and political clout, to make it look like those who believe in the right to life of human beings in utero are the lunatic fringe that stands in the way of freedom, enlightenment, and the American Way. And too many people uncritically buy their propaganda. Perhaps we are approaching the time of the fulfillment of the prophecy attributed to St Anthony the Great: “A time will come when the whole world will go mad. And to anyone who is not mad they will say: ‘You are mad, for you are not like us.’”
You may think that this is too pessimistic, and that we should be rejoicing in a pro-life victory. Well, let us rejoice—a little. Let us rejoice for the shred of conscience we’ve seen in some of the court justices. But I wonder how many actual lives will be saved by this ruling. Abortions, even late-term ones, will go on unhindered, though perhaps a bit inconvenienced by this slight tightening of the belt.
Really, it is only going to be conscience, awakened by the Holy Spirit and fed by pro-life information, that is going to make a real difference. We are seeing in some places a growing number of doctors who refuse to perform abortions on the ground of conscience. They are sick of the slaughter, the bags of body parts, the sub-human mentality it takes to destroy tiny babies for money. (These days, you could probably obtain an abortion for about 30 pieces of silver.) It would be quite a happy irony to see abortion fully legal but never performed because no one has any longer the heartless will to do it.
So let us pray and not give up. We’ll not be personally judged because the mighty go on killing, but we will be judged on whether or not we stood up for the little ones, became a voice for the voiceless, prayed for them and their parents and the political leaders, remembering that each human being has an eternal destiny in the plan of God. Pray that this country’s conscience fully returns: “Repair what is shattered, for it sways” (Ps 59/60); “Awake, and strengthen what remains” (Rev. 3:2).
Abbot Joseph is the Abbot of Mt Tabor Monastery (officially called Holy Transfiguration Monastery) in Redwood Valley, California.
Permission is granted to copy or quote from his posts for use elsewhere under two conditions: you don't alter the text and you acknowledge the source.
More articles by Abbot Joseph
by Abbot Joseph
I’m sure you are aware by now that the Supreme Court just handed down a decision upholding the ban on “partial-birth abortion.” State or federal courts can no longer challenge this law on constitutional grounds (those challenges manifested a travesty of justice anyway, not to mention a culpable blindness to the savagery of this crime). Now this barbaric method of murder is finally illegal in all 50 states. This is certainly a good thing, for it indicates a least a shred of conscience among the Justices—the five whose votes upheld the ban, anyway—and perhaps has slightly forestalled the falling of deserved wrath upon our country. But we’re a long way from saying that the leaders of this country really do have a conscience about the life and death of the most vulnerable members of our society.
First of all, the court was quick to assure the shrieking baby-killers that this decision does not affect a woman’s “right” to have an abortion. They just have to find another way to kill the child. The court also seemed to pride itself on drawing a clear line between abortion and infanticide. But this line-drawing still misses (by a mile) the point that ought to be self-evident, the unborn white elephant in the room that everyone chooses to ignore: both abortion and infanticide are acts of murdering an innocent and defenseless human being. Why do they not see this? Are there dollar signs blocking their vision? Are power and position to be gained by brandishing the scalpel of “reproductive freedom”? Is it a sign that our debased morals have at last been recognized as the norm for “evolved” humanity? Or is it just one more fiendish way to lash out at Christianity in general, and the Catholic Church in particular—which is the main obstacle to their hegemony of lies, the last croaking moral voice, the last hand that dares attempt to rip the masks off their sneering faces?
While we can breathe just a little easier with the court’s decision, tentatively hopeful that our country’s leaders have not sold out 100% to satan, it is still going to be business as usual in this country’s Retroactive Fertility Control Centers, or whatever euphemism they may wish to use as a rag to wipe the blood off their hands. What we can perhaps hope for is that this decision will awaken the wavering courage of those who may have become discouraged in their efforts to fight the beast. Now there’s a chink in the armor, perhaps a green light for future pro-life advances. It is becoming known that the majority of people in this country do not support abortion, but the well-greased machinery of NARAL, PP, and other engines of death manage, with heavily-funded media campaigns and deceitful rhetoric and political clout, to make it look like those who believe in the right to life of human beings in utero are the lunatic fringe that stands in the way of freedom, enlightenment, and the American Way. And too many people uncritically buy their propaganda. Perhaps we are approaching the time of the fulfillment of the prophecy attributed to St Anthony the Great: “A time will come when the whole world will go mad. And to anyone who is not mad they will say: ‘You are mad, for you are not like us.’”
You may think that this is too pessimistic, and that we should be rejoicing in a pro-life victory. Well, let us rejoice—a little. Let us rejoice for the shred of conscience we’ve seen in some of the court justices. But I wonder how many actual lives will be saved by this ruling. Abortions, even late-term ones, will go on unhindered, though perhaps a bit inconvenienced by this slight tightening of the belt.
Really, it is only going to be conscience, awakened by the Holy Spirit and fed by pro-life information, that is going to make a real difference. We are seeing in some places a growing number of doctors who refuse to perform abortions on the ground of conscience. They are sick of the slaughter, the bags of body parts, the sub-human mentality it takes to destroy tiny babies for money. (These days, you could probably obtain an abortion for about 30 pieces of silver.) It would be quite a happy irony to see abortion fully legal but never performed because no one has any longer the heartless will to do it.
So let us pray and not give up. We’ll not be personally judged because the mighty go on killing, but we will be judged on whether or not we stood up for the little ones, became a voice for the voiceless, prayed for them and their parents and the political leaders, remembering that each human being has an eternal destiny in the plan of God. Pray that this country’s conscience fully returns: “Repair what is shattered, for it sways” (Ps 59/60); “Awake, and strengthen what remains” (Rev. 3:2).
Abbot Joseph is the Abbot of Mt Tabor Monastery (officially called Holy Transfiguration Monastery) in Redwood Valley, California.
Permission is granted to copy or quote from his posts for use elsewhere under two conditions: you don't alter the text and you acknowledge the source.
More articles by Abbot Joseph
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