RE: Church excommunicates a girl for aborting her twins but lets her rapist go free
May 28, 2012 at 12:18 pm
I have to take some issue with your interpretations, Aiza. The first is a quibble: the little girl wasn't excommunicated. The news sources I've read all indicate that the Vatican doesn't excommunicate minors. It was her mother and the doctors who were excommunicated.
Secondly, you've said yourself that the excommunication isn't permanent, "all" the mother and the doctors of this child have to do is repent of their deeds and they'll be forgiven. I'll be the first to admit that this doesn't sound so bad on its face. Indeed, the idea that we can screw up and be forgiven as long as we're truly sorry is, I think, the source of a lot of the appeal of Christianity.
But in order for repentance to work, the sinner (to use the vocabulary of the Catholic Church) has to be truly sorry. It's not enough to go to confession and say your Hail Marys. You have to mean it. Again, that sounds reasonable. We wouldn't want to tell a serial killer, "You're forgiven, the slate is wiped clean!" only for him/her to take that as a license to go out and kill some more people.
Let's apply that logic to this particular case. In order for the mother and doctors to be welcomed back into the Catholic Church and have this mortal sin wiped clean from their souls -- a sin that, according to the Catholic Church, will send them to Hell if they aren't sorry for it -- they have to be truly sorry for permitting or participating in this abortion. This was an abortion performed upon a nine-year-old girl in order to (according to Fox News of all places!) save her life.
The Catholic Church is asking doctors to be truly sorry for doing their jobs and preserving the life of one of their patients.
The Catholic Church is asking a mother to be truly sorry for saving the life of her child.
At the very least, the Catholic Church is asking that these doctors and this mother deny their common humanity and every decent and moral feeling they possess in order to uphold a rule that (IMHO) shouldn't exist in the first place. But I would say -- especially in the case of the mother -- that the Catholic Church is asking the impossible.
Essentially, the Catholic Church has condemned these people to hell for doing an act most sane and reasonable people would see as a positive moral good, no questions asked: saving the life of a child. And the Catholic Church claims to work for a just and loving God.
Secondly, you've said yourself that the excommunication isn't permanent, "all" the mother and the doctors of this child have to do is repent of their deeds and they'll be forgiven. I'll be the first to admit that this doesn't sound so bad on its face. Indeed, the idea that we can screw up and be forgiven as long as we're truly sorry is, I think, the source of a lot of the appeal of Christianity.
But in order for repentance to work, the sinner (to use the vocabulary of the Catholic Church) has to be truly sorry. It's not enough to go to confession and say your Hail Marys. You have to mean it. Again, that sounds reasonable. We wouldn't want to tell a serial killer, "You're forgiven, the slate is wiped clean!" only for him/her to take that as a license to go out and kill some more people.
Let's apply that logic to this particular case. In order for the mother and doctors to be welcomed back into the Catholic Church and have this mortal sin wiped clean from their souls -- a sin that, according to the Catholic Church, will send them to Hell if they aren't sorry for it -- they have to be truly sorry for permitting or participating in this abortion. This was an abortion performed upon a nine-year-old girl in order to (according to Fox News of all places!) save her life.
The Catholic Church is asking doctors to be truly sorry for doing their jobs and preserving the life of one of their patients.
The Catholic Church is asking a mother to be truly sorry for saving the life of her child.
At the very least, the Catholic Church is asking that these doctors and this mother deny their common humanity and every decent and moral feeling they possess in order to uphold a rule that (IMHO) shouldn't exist in the first place. But I would say -- especially in the case of the mother -- that the Catholic Church is asking the impossible.
Essentially, the Catholic Church has condemned these people to hell for doing an act most sane and reasonable people would see as a positive moral good, no questions asked: saving the life of a child. And the Catholic Church claims to work for a just and loving God.
"But the gods plainly do exist," said a priest.
"It Is Not Evident," [said Dorfl].
A bolt of lightning lanced through the clouds and hit Dorfl's helmet. There was a sheet of flame and then a trickling noise. Dorfl's molten armor formed puddles around his white-hot feet.
"I Don't Call That Much Of An Argument," said Dorfl calmly, from somewhere in the clouds of smoke.
-- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay
"It Is Not Evident," [said Dorfl].
A bolt of lightning lanced through the clouds and hit Dorfl's helmet. There was a sheet of flame and then a trickling noise. Dorfl's molten armor formed puddles around his white-hot feet.
"I Don't Call That Much Of An Argument," said Dorfl calmly, from somewhere in the clouds of smoke.
-- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay
