April 3, 2009

Letters to the Editor

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Reader: The Criterion is an advocate for those who suffer because of poverty, violence and injustice in our world

In response to the letter in the March 27 issue in which the writer criticizes The Criterion for being “anti-abortion” rather than pro-life, I would point out that while Catholic canon law absolutely forbids those in public office to be enablers of abortion under penalty of excommunication, the situation is somewhat different in the cases of the death penalty and “just war.”

Unlike enablers of abortion, canon law does not specifically condemn either capital punishment or the taking of life in war, providing that certain stringent conditions are met.

Both of these can be reasonably argued from both sides by reasonable persons. Abortion cannot since it involves the taking of absolutely innocent life.

I would also point out to the letter writer that The Criterion has always been an advocate for those who suffer because of poverty, violence and injustice, at least as long as I have been on their mailing list.

- John Rathman, Indianapolis

 

Right to life must be wellspring from which all human rights flow, reader says

In response to the letter to the editor published in the March 27 issue of The Criterion, with all due respect for the writer’s concerns about an “outcry against the immoral and sinful issues of war, torture, capital punishment, and the violence of poverty, racism, sexism, immigration issues, etc.,” I would like to raise an even more important point.

Without having secured the single most important human right—upon which our country was first and foremost founded—how can we even begin to address the rest?

The right to life, from conception to natural death, must always be the wellspring from which all other human rights and social justice remedies flow.

The Criterion is a pro-life champion!

- Alice Price, Greenfield

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