Wednesday, November 26, 2014

The Pro Life Inquisition

Is on display.  Torture is bad.  Got it.  I was shocked at how many conservatives jumped on board that bandwagon.  I understood.  It was clear that many were more concerned with scoring points against Bush than protecting America, and I think in desperation and fear many embraced what they never would have embraced.  But desperation and fear make bad reasons for embracing moral stances.

The A-Bombs were bad.  Got it.  I don't know another way, given the knowledge we now have that suggests Japan's post-war take on events wasn't always the most accurate.  Apart from pacifism and 'just let'm die', don't know what we could have done.  But I've never imagined it was a wonderful thing to cheer about.

War is bad.  Of course.  Who wants war?  Though some of the bygone attitudes surrounding war: sacrifice, honor, loyalty, duty (words seldom used in modern discourse) are quite good.  And again, pacifism or war?

The death penalty is bad.  In that I wish there were no crimes that deserved it, yeah.  And I like mercy over execution.  But historically the Church has understood the need to protect the innocent in a fallen world.  Now that the Church is wanting to change, I can understand the debate.

Some, however, can't. So we have a reminder why the Catholic Church has the dubious distinction of being the only major world religion with its own official Inquisition.  As one who has been accused by the author of the piece of wanting to increase human slaughter, simply because I question the Church's reasoning for suddenly wishing to abolish the death penalty, I can understand a little better how some of those moments in Church history took place.

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