Good Question.

Sometimes a good question is the best answer. This morning I encountered a good question on the opinion page of my local newspaper--the Raleigh News & Observer. Amanda Marcotte was writing about the position on abortion taken by Richard Mourdock, a candidate for the U.S. Senate from Indiana. Mourdock publicly declared that if a woman becomes pregnant because of rape God must have approved that pregnancy and it should not be terminated. Amanda Marcotte asked "If God can ordain the rape and the pregnancy that follows, why can't he (sic) also ordain abortion?"

The answer a person gives to this question tells us more about the person than the issue. Mourdock apparently believes that God is not the Creator of all things. Or else Mourdock is confused. If God is the Creator then God is omnipotent and responsible for everything. That is what I was taught and how could it be wrong? Surely God would not allow my minister to lie to me. Unless lying doesn't matter.

Perhaps God intended for random, uncontrolled events to occur. Such as rape, pregnancy, miscarriage and abortion. Nearly half of all human conceptions end in miscarriage. If that isn't God's will I don't know what is.  Maybe we should continue to allow abortion just in case that is what God intends. After all, the Supreme Court in Roe vs. Wade could have stopped it right there. Does God not speak to the Supreme Court? Or smite them?

Some clergy, in defiance of the laws of this land, are telling their congregations to vote for candidates who say they will outlaw abortion. Their explanation for this behavior, if the ministers give one, might be that human life begins at conception and abortion is murder. If so, why isn't a drone strike on a group of suspected terrorists murder? Why, then, would clergy not also urge people to vote for candidates who support peace instead of war?

Why am I looking for logical consistency in a political campaign?