It is very difficult to imagine what one isn’t! But I am going to try just for a few moments.
Act I – The Atheist
I am an atheist and in the coming election I want to vote for what is best for Canada. I’m not emotionally attached to any of the three parties so, in practice, I am reduced to looking at the candidates who are standing in my riding.
Enter the pro lifers
Some pro-life group has brought the abortion issue to my notice. I never really thought much about it before but according to this leaflet over one million Canadian babies have been killed by abortion in a dozen years. Good God! (sorry I forgot, there is no god).
Sheer Economics
From the point of view of sheer economics this cannot be good for any country. One million less people in a country means one million less breakfasts, lunches and dinners every day – with loss of employment for all the people who produce them. It must mean thousands of teachers out of employment, ten million less pairs of shoes, socks, shirts, dresses, pants, etc., over the years. It probably means half a million less cars purchased and serviced not to speak of bicycles, books and ice creams.
A Vanishing Population
The leaflet also reminds me that in order to barely replace its population in a nation much have at the very least a reproduction rate of 2.2 children per married couple. In Canada the present reproduction rate is something like 1.4 children per couple. This means that as the older there will not be enough young people in the work force to support them. Somehow it doesn’t appear to be a very sound economical system! I shall have to find out the positions of the candidates in my riding before I cast my vote and I certainly shall not vote for a pro abortionist. (Curtain).
Act II – The Christian
I’m a Christian but not a Catholic. I firmly believe in God and also in Jesus Christ. But my Church has been wishy washy on the abortion issue. The leaders have not taken a firm stand and given leadership to their flocks. Only the Roman Catholics and the Pentecostal Assemblies have spoken out and told their people what abortion really means – the killing of human being.
To thy own self be true.
If this is correct-and science seems to have proved it beyond doubt – how can I claim to be a follower of Christ and support a candidate who is going to vote in Parliament for abortion on demand? I know I can attend my Church and look like a “good Christian” (I wonder what that means?). But if I have neither the courage nor the Christian principles to oppose those who want more than one million babies killed during the next twelve years, can I call myself a Christian? I know the answer to that question! (Curtain).
Act III – The Roman Catholic
I’m a Catholic – not as good as I should be perhaps. I attend Mass, and receive Holy Communion and abide by the teaching of the Church. Should my religion influence the way I vote? From a mere political point of view it should not, but suppose there is a moral issue – what then? Abortion certainly is a moral issue! Since the Second century the Church has always condemned abortion as the killing of a potential or an actual human being. Of course in those days they knew nothing about genetics. But now science teaches that the “fetus” is a human being from the moment of conception. So, abortion at any stage much mean the killing of a human being.
Recent Statement of the Church
In recent time the Vatican Council, the Popes, the Bishops and the New Code of Canon Law have condemned abortion in terms which are crystal clear. The present Pope has said that Catholic lawmakers must take a stand against laws which favour abortion.
Who Has Changed?
The pro abortionists – “pro choice” is an euphemistic term for “pro abortion” – say that this is a “Catholic issues.” But up to about forty years ago the law of every country forbade abortion. It is only within the past fifteen years that Canada had made it legal to kill the unborn. So, who has changed? The Church or Society? This is a rhetorical question.
The Future.
In twenty years from now society will make it legal to perhaps smother grandparents who have become expensive and inconvenient or to poison disobedient and “unwanted” children or to pierce the hears of alcoholic husbands (or wives) or, in general, to get rid of anybody who does not measure up to a certain “quality of life” decided by a committee set up by the state. It all sounds ridiculous but it isn’t! We are doing all these things to the “unborn” – and they would not have been tolerated forty years ago. So how do we know we won’t be doing the same to the “born” thirty years from now?
How Shall I Vote as a Catholic?
I have come to a decision. I cannot vote for a pro abortion candidate. If I did so I would have to stop going to Mass and leave the Church – or stop facing myself in the mirror every morning!
