Fascinating

I did not know this, but it is gratifying to see that before it became sexy to lie and tempt people to mortal sin, old school prolifers Robbie George and Bernard Nathanson articulated what used to be known as “the normal position of Christians”:

George: “When you were promoting abortion, you were willing to lie in what you regarded as a good cause. Now that you have been converted to the cause of life, would you be willing to lie to save babies? How do those who hear your speeches and read your books and articles know that you are not lying now?”

Dr. Nathanson: “No, I wouldn’t lie, even to save babies. … You said that I was converted to the cause of life; and that’s true. But you must remember that I was converted to the cause of life only because I was converted to the cause of truth. That’s why I wouldn’t lie, even in a good cause.”

Nathanson’s approach to truth, which used to be called “a mark of a heart converted to Jesus Christ”, is now routinely described by many in the prolife community as “moral idiocy”, “Phariseeism”, “kumbaya Catholicism”, “cowardice”, “brain-dead idealism”, and “stupidity”. The conservative Catholic anti-charism of discernment has it all figured out.

Augustine, Aquinas, George, Nathanson, and the Catechism?: Old and Busted. Lies and temptation to mortal sin?: New Hotness.

Smart.

Welcome, prolifers, to the “What could it possibly hurt?” phase of the history of the prolife movement. Sooner than you would ever believe, you will be moving on to the “How were we supposed to know?” phase. When you get there, remember that you were warned multiple times and have absolutely nobody but yourself to blame. Then, man up, take responsibility for your sin, and ask for forgiveness for the ruin you helped inflict on the prolife cause in your panic and faithlessness. God will give it, of course. But just between you and me, he’d rather not have to have sins to forgive, since they hurt him and us so bad. So you might consider Plan A while there is still time, just stick with the actual teaching of the Church and not run off after stupid trendy moral shortcuts. It’s been tried a gazillion times before with a 100% failure rate.