I have been watching the controversy at the University of Notre Dame unfold this week with great interest. What I have seen is the invasion of opportunists, the diatribes of liberals and both the sadness and joy of college graduates. What has been missing, however, is a legitimate debate on America’s most divisive issue. It is an issue so divisive that friends, colleagues, and associates keep it far from everyday discourse. Yet, it is an issue that defines who we are as a culture.
The Opportunists
Randall Terry and Alan Keyes seem to have used this occasion as an opportunity to make themselves and the issue of abortion relevant again. They have paraded signs, many hurtful and grotesque in nature before camera, have been intentionally arrested, and have spewed harsh, aggressive language when interviewed.
The Extreme Left
The extreme left would have us believe that only fundamentalists are pro-life. They suggest that only uneducated, closed-minded, simple-minded individuals could possibly want to ruin a woman’s life with an unwanted pregnancy. This group actually rules by intimidation. They intimidate by implying that if you don’t hold their perspective you are of an inferior intellectual class. With these, tactics, they move the argument away from abortion and instead, define the argument in terms of the Catholic faith’s future and try to intimidate more Catholics by convincing them that standing up to abortion puts them in the same camp as Protestant fundamentalists , which seem to be the scourge of the left and the fourth estate.
College Graduates
This group looks pretty much like you would expect them to look. College students have typically have been liberal, so it is not a huge surprise that most Notre Dame students are enthusiastic about the President’s appearance at graduation. I think it likely that a growing majority of students select Notre Dame due to its prestige rather than its religious philosophy. Weak priests, bishops, and cardinals have for decades softened the thunder of the church’s views, though the church’s views haven’t changed. Sadly, there are students who chose Notre Dame because of its Catholic heritage. These students hold their church’s beliefs and grieved that there conscience forbids them from participating with friends in celebrating their graduation.
The Issue
The real issue is not whether the President speaks at Notre Dame or of they grant him an honorary doctorate. The real issue is life. If those who insult religion by invoking science need only to apply science to the issue of abortion and they would abhor abortion as much as those on the side of life. 3-d and 4-d sonogram imagery make it vividly clear that life begins at conception. I wonder what would happen to the rate of abortions in the united States if every man and woman considering an abortion watched the 3-d or 4-d sonogram of their unborn child. When we, as Americans, choose to end those lives, we collectively commit murder, and we commit it hundreds of thousands of times every year. We can cloud the issue by focusing on preventing “unwanted pregnancies”, but we only deceive ourselves and lighten our conscience. At the end of the day, as long as abortion remains legal, we as Americans bear the collective guilt of murder.
To be honest, I don’t have a personal, vested interest in the President’s appearance at Notre Dame. I am neither alumni nor a Catholic. I do have a vested interested in the issue of abortion and if the President’s appearance opens the dialogue, then I will engage in that dialogue.
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