Security Moms and Faithful Catholics: Deciding The Election of 2004

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By: Deacon Keith A. Fournier
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First, let me give my readers all the careful qualifiers. I am writing as a private citizen, not as a representative of any group that I founded or whom I represent.

Let me be also clear. I opposed the "pre-emptive" war in Iraq. I do not believe there can ever be justification for a "pre-emptive" war under the clear teaching of the so-called "Just War" analysis. Preemption is never self-defense. I still maintain, as a faithful Catholic Christian, there was no "just" war in Iraq, under any stretch of any "just war" analysis.

Also, I, like many, eagerly await these Presidential debates. I must admit, I wish we had a pro-life, pro-family, pro-family, pro-poor and pro-peace candidate. We do not. So, what do we do? We follow a hierarchy of values, inform our participation and we vote!

Frankly, I am relieved. I now believe that President George Bush will win re-election. Why? Because of two groups that very few pollsters or "experts" fully understand, the so called "security moms" and the "faithful Catholics"

For any who might be interested, let me explain why this will happen.

First, John Kerry is a disaster on the fundamental human rights issue of our age, the inviolable right to life and the freedom to be born. There has been a "pre-emptive" war in America for decades. It has been waged against the children in the first home of the whole human race, our first neighbors in the first home of the entire human race, their mother's womb. The weapons used against these innocent victims have been chemical weapons and "surgical strikes". This evil has been "sanctioned" by a Supreme Court completely out of control.

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This position, the one that supports the right to life and the freedom to be born, is NOT a "single issue". Rather, it is the fundamental human rights issue of our age and forms a lens through which many people view how a candidate really thinks and how they will govern. Without the right to life, there are no other rights. In fact, the entire hierarchy of rights is thrown into question. Without the freedom to be born, there are no other freedoms. There is a hierarchy of values under which we must approach this election and it should inform our approach to deciding this, the most important election of my fifty years on this earth and in this body.

Let's be honest. We are now in Iraq, and no one in their right mind believes we can leave the freedom loving Iraqis to the militant terrorists, the "Jihadists", who have seized the moment and set up their evil revolution within Iraq. They are the personification of evil and do not represent the heart of Islam. They will continue to cut off heads and claim to be religious while doing it! They are evil men and women who are blinded by evil.

I am a Christian. I say, bring on the altars, like in the old image of Elijah and the Prophets of Baal. My God, the God who came among us in Jesus Christ is the true God and He will prevail. However, I am also a realist. The emergence of Islam as a dominant force in the contemporary secularized west is due, at least in substantial part, to the weakness of the Christian witness in our age. There is such a thing as truth. God has revealed that truth in Jesus Christ. I am not worried; the true God will take care of Himself.

I have also been very vocal in opposing the initial foray into Iraq. I have also opposed both major parties in many of their positions. However, now I must become even more vocal. It is time to band together around the man who most expresses a concern for the children who have no voice, because their cry is hidden behind the wall of flesh, the first home of the whole human race. This man has also opened the doors to the Church, indeed religious institutions, in their vital mission to care for the poor and needy. This man is also a Christian, an evangelical Protestant, who is at least trying to be faithful even if he does not have the full social teaching of the Catholic Church.

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That is not the case with Senator Kerry, partly because some Catholics who have advised him, have also failed to explain it all to him. Let me speak to the Democratic candidate. John Kerry, I am a Catholic. However, you break my heart. How I long for a faithful Catholic candidate! You are not one. You have sold your birthright for a bowl of porridge. You are unfaithful to the truth about life as taught infallibly by your Church and it is time for someone to call you to task. Get right with God. Your concern for the Iraqis and all who have died as a result of this Iraqi action rings hollow precisely because you fail to hear the cry of the poor in the first home of their mother's womb.

Now, as to the so called "security wives", I also understand. There is no doubt that a small band of deluded, evil men and women, who hide behind a claim to a feigned "religious" adherence, hate us all. They are cutting the heads off of innocent men and women. They are not unlike those who crush the skulls of children in the womb and call it a "right". I am with these "security wives". I have more confidence in George Bush to stand up against the bullying of these new "Islamic fascists" then I do John Kerry.

However, here is the heart of why I will vote against John Kerry between the two candidates who can win. Only one hears the cry of the innocent unborn and has promised to appoint men and women to the Supreme Court who will stop the slaughter. The other, even though he has raised truly vital issues, has also changed his position repeatedly on the Iraq war and makes me wonder about his sincere opposition. In short, I now believe that he is using Iraq to get elected. How can we trust someone who fails to hear our own children in the womb?

President Bush, get us out of Iraq. President Bush, stop the killing of our own children in the womb.

Senator Kerry, go to confession. Get it straight. Oppose both wars.

America, vote for the only candidate who has appealed to faithful Catholics and security moms because he appears to be the one who can move us toward a true culture of life, a civilization of love and world of peace.

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Deacon Keith Fournier is a married Roman Catholic Deacon of the Diocese of Richmond, who also serves the Melkite Greek Catholic Church with approval. He is a human rights lawyer and a graduate of the John Paul II Institute of the Lateran University, Franciscan University of Steubenville and the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Law. He is the founder and Thomas More Fellow of the Common Good Movement. The author of seven books, he recently wrote "The Prayer of Mary: Living the Surrendered Life" .