Friday, April 7, 2006

Righteous Indignation

Or N. Rose in Tikkun interviews William Sloane Coffin
Tikkun: Having raised the issue of "compassionate conservatism" as it relates to women and children, what are your thoughts on the current round of abortion debates?

WSC: This is a complicated question because there is morality on both sides. We must understand that while science can help us with biological and other factual definitions, questions of when life begins and ends are moral mysteries, and as such cannot be proven or disproven. ...


He talks as if the existence of doubtful cases disproves the existence of clear cases.
An important question is this: How in a democratic society can you call a crime that which many people do not even consider a sin? It might be emotionally satisfying, but hardly morally satisfying.

It would seem to follow that, in his view of democracy, if there are people who do not believe in sin, nothing could be made a crime.

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