CONSCIENCE AND DISSENT This fallacy is obvious because no officeholder would support legislation protecting everyone else’s life, but permitting his or her own life to be taken at the will of another. Any politician, not just Catholic politicians, who wills that the unborn be excluded from the protection of the law therefore commits a grave injustice. No one willing to commit such injustices should be entrusted with public authority. Some would say that Catholics who conscientiously disagree with the Catholic’s teaching on the sanctity of life may, in good conscience, support legal abortion and/or pro-abortion Catholic politicians. This position misunderstands the nature of conscience and the role of "authoritative teaching" in Christian life. Although we must all follow our consciences, the task of conscience is not to create moral truth but to perceive it. It is quite possible for an individual to perceive the moral reality of a particular situation erroneously. Such a person may be sincere, but he or she is sincerely wrong. The Church’s moral teaching provides specific standards for the formation of the Christian conscience. Many of these arise from and express requirements of human nature itself. That is the case and the standard against direct abortion. The standards taught by the Church in this area are not mere optional proposals. They state what is necessary for Christian life. For a Catholic to refuse, knowingly and willingly, to form his or her conscience in accord with these authoritative standards is to withhold part of his or her heart, mind and soul from union with Christ and his Church. Such people exclude themselves, in important respects, from Christian life and the Catholic community, and excommunicate themselves under Canon laws 751 and 1364, as explained by Pope Benedict in his visit to Brazil in May of 2007. This has always been the teaching of the Catholic Church, and the laws against killing innocent humans by abortion and other methods of killing are beginning to be enforced on those who are persistently obstinate in promoting such grave evils, and are called to publicly repent and return to their self claimed Catholic faith. For non- Catholic citizens, they should know and acknowledge that our human rights and laws have their origin and value from Judeo-Christian faiths that our Founding Fathers proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…" The first and most valuable right is the "Right to Life," without which other rights are meaningless. Cliff Zarsky JD, President of Corpus Christi Right to Life, Inc. May 2008. Please see web site—Corpuschristirighttolife.com
The political debate about abortion has produced much foggy thinking about the possibilities of conscientious dissent from the Catholic Church’s teaching on the dignity of all human life. It is all too common for Catholic politicians to say they are "personally opposed" to abortion but will nevertheless vote to permit it, and even fund it, out of respect for the consciences of those who hold different views. This kind of "respect" for another’s conscience should never require abandoning one’s own. Conscientious opposition to abortion, rooted in an understanding of the sanctity of human life, may not be sacrificed to the mistaken consciences of those who would unjustly take the life of an unborn baby.
Conscience and Dissent