Every American has the legal right to propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution for any reason they want. Every American has the legal right to oppose any amendment to the U.S. Constitution for any reason they want. By its very nature, any amendment that is adopted is “constitutional.”
Recently in reference to constitutional amendments banning abortion and gay marriage, presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said:
I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it is a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And that is what we need to do, is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.
Huckabee has a legal right to argue for amendments banning abortion and gay marriage using whatever arguments make sense to him, just as other Americans have the right to argue against these amendments using whatever arguments make sense to them.
However, granted that wide consensus is needed to move a proposal through the process for amending the Constitution, pro-lifers need to use arguments that make sense to most Americans, not just to the religiously devout.
I have always felt that the use of religious language in opposing abortion can be counterproductive. Politically, it speaks only to those who already believe abortion is wrong on religious grounds. It does not gain any additional supporters. In addition, using religious language in opposing abortion allows pro-choice advocates to argue that, if it is a matter of religious belief, then it is not something in which the government should be involved.
The traditional position of the Catholic Church against abortion was never based on faith or Scripture or theology. Nothing in our faith, in Scripture or in theology tells us when human life begins. The Catholic argument against abortion has traditionally been based on reason, on philosophical arguments going back at least to the Greeks. More recently the Catholic argument has been based on authority ("the pope and bishops say so") and tradition ("the church has always taught"). The last two arguments carry no weight outside the Catholic community.
In order for the pro-lifers to win, they need to go beyond religious arguments to philosophical arguments. In other words, they have to convince people that, at some point, the fetus is a human person with rights. Abortion has to be argued as a human rights issue not a religious issue.
Pro-lifers also need to recognize that as long as there are more than a million abortions a year in the United States, the law will not change. As a result, pro-lifers must support social and economic programs that help reduce the number of abortions. As long as the pro-life activists support politicians who hate tax increases more than they hate abortions, the pro-life movement will fail.
Please e-mail On Faith if you'd like to receive an email notification when On Faith sends out a new question.
Email Me | Del.icio.us | Digg | Facebook
