This is exactly what I was talking about in my summary of Charles Curran's analysis of the shift in the U.S. Catholic bishops' position on abortion in the past 40 years: Michael Sean Winters writes yesterday,
Mr. [John] Bohener is admirably pro-life - although the rest of his policy positions are less admirable.
And I repeat: there is no such animal. One cannot espouse positions antithetical to the values of life in every other respect, and still be "admirably pro-life" simply because one opposes abortion. As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing pro-life at all about John Boehner or anything for which Mr. Boehner stands.
The term "admirably pro-life" is an oxymoron, when applied to neo-conservative politicians who oppose health care for everyone, promote discrimination against women and gays and lesbians, target immigrants, and actively defend a socio-economic system that robs the poor and makes those who are already wealthy obscenely wealthy.
The U.S. Catholic bishops have made a colossally stupid and downright immoral misstep in building their entire body of moral teaching at this point in history around men like John Boehner--or Deal Hudson, Erik Prince, Newt Gingrich, and Randall Terry. The values of life and respect for life are hardly the first things that leap to mind for most of us who observe who such men are, what they stand for, and what they're promoting.
And as we look at the behavior of the bishops themselves, and their chosen alliance with these political operatives . . . .
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