John the Baptist was the Antechrist

[flwyd]

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the pro-life Catholic Church spends a lot more energy opposing abortion than opposing the death penalty. In every place of worship, and around many believers necks, sits a sculpture of an ancient device for killing a prisoner in public.



(I've heard that Catholic organizations have started taking stands against the death penalty, war, and other politically-charged death situations. I applaud this direction and hope the world's largest organization takes a more public and active role in these campaigns.)

Comments

[hattrickflyer.livejournal.com]

It's an easy slippery-slope justification, really. I can logically defend the death penalty, and war, but not abortion.

That said, it's also hypocritical and the devil is in the details. Personally I'm against all three but I do acknowledge the need for defensive war. "Turn the other cheek" does not mean "be a combination of Neville Chamberlain and Vidkun Quisling".

[clarsa.livejournal.com]

Not to be cliche, but you don't need to defend abortion as it is extremely unlikely you'll ever need one.

My point is not so much that abortion is or is not justifiable as that it is a medical decision; not a political one. War tends to be a little more random in its target, and I would hope the death penalty is never considered unless it is anticipated leaving the person alive would have a profound impact on the rest of society.

As for defensive war, allowing another person to injure you or others who might rely on you can be just as much a support of violence as the act of aggression itself. It's at least collusion by inaction.

I've never been clear on the wearing of crosses, apart from the fact that the "wheel of the year" cross precedes Christianity and represents something quite different, and the Christian empirical movement adopted and "repurposed" a lot of pagan stuff.