Anne Rice on the Democratic Party And Abortion

This post is a response to an article written by my sister in Christ, Anne Rice, which is posted on her website.

Ms. Rice has recently returned to her Catholic faith and even written a book from the child Jesus’ perspective. Further, she has clearly committed to growing in her faith and writing edifying literature for Christians and others.

I want to tell Ms. Rice how grateful I am for her love of our Lord and encourage her in her desire to grow closer to him.

She writes in this article that she is supporting Hillary Clinton in the 2008 presidential election. Why?

Though I deeply respect those who disagree with me, I believe, for a variety of reasons, that the Democratic Party best reflects the values I hold based on the Gospels. Those values are most intensely expressed for me in the Gospel of Matthew, but they are expressed in all the gospels. Those values involve feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, visiting those in prison, and above all, loving one’s neighbors and loving one’s enemies. A great deal more could be said on this subject, but I feel that this is enough.

If I could summarize, I would say she feels that the Democrats believe in solving social justice issues strongly, as Jesus commands in the Gospels.

Though I believe that the Democrats want to solve these social justice issues, unfortunately their party’s ideology is at its heart contradictory to the nature of the human person as made in the image of God, which results in policies, laws, and regulations that hurt people rather than truly help them.

Further, the acts of mercy she describes from Matthew chapter 25 are most often performed by faithful Christians. I am most familiar with faithful Catholics in particular feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting those in prison. The St. Vincent de Paul society, as an example, does these acts regularly all over the world. They do them regardless of whether a Democrat or Republican is sitting in the President’s seat.

The Republicans recognize that faith-based groups like St. Vincent de Paul society and Catholic Relief Services meet and love the people right where their need is, personally, and so the Republicans, led by President Bush, have supported these organizations. The Democrats virulently oppose enabling these groups to help the poor with federal aid, even though they do the best job of it.

Why do the Democrats oppose this good? Because they have an inherent distrust in their party’s ideology of God and religion, especially Christianity. The separation of Church and State is the cry heard over and over again, though that concept has been twisted in recent decades by the ACLU and other Democratic-supporting groups.

Do the Democrats, by and large, love their neighbors and even their enemies? One of their main enemies is President George Bush. How do I know? Easy, my Democratic friends speak harshly of him, insulting and often unfairly criticizing him at every turn. They never have anything positive or constructive to say of him. Many of them have bumper stickers that have the W with a red X through it–you’ve all seen them, and some have even worse bumper stickers.

They usually attack President Bush as a person, ad hominem, rather than his policies, and they label him as the most evil person. Are the terrorists evil? No, you will not hear that from them. Rather it is George Bush who is evil and has caused all the problems in the Middle East.

Why do I bring this up? Because Ms. Rice claims that the Democrats love their enemies. In my experience, almost all Democrats I know do not love their enemy, George Bush.

Now I also struggle to love my enemies. It is hard, and I sometimes fail. It is easier to vilify someone, to think that they are calculating and malicious in their intent. Nonetheless, if a Democrat were to be elected in 2008, I resolve to always honor them as the lawful President of our great nation and to respectfully disagree with their policies and positions, rather than attacking them as persons, which is never a loving thing to do.

Ms. Rice continues:

I want to add here that I am Pro-Life. I believe in the sanctity of the life of the unborn. Deeply respecting those who disagree with me, I feel that if we are to find a solution to the horror of abortion, it will be through the Democratic Party.

I have heard many anti-abortion statements made by people who are not Democrats, but many of these statements do not strike me as constructive or convincing. I feel we can stop the horror of abortion. But I do not feel it can be done by rolling back Roe vs. Wade, or packing the Supreme Court with judges committed to doing this. As a student of history, I do not think that Americans will give up the legal right to abortion. Should Roe vs Wade be rolled back, Americans will pass other laws to support abortion, or they will find ways to have abortions using new legal and medical terms.

Firstly, the “right” to end your child’s life is not a right at all. Secondly, I also believe we can stop the horror of abortion, but the Democrats’ ideology does not want that; rather, they want to support abortion in every form, including the horrific partial birth abortion, that both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama ardently support.

As a student of history, I know that abortion for any reason has only been legal throughout the nation for a mere 35 years of our history. The Justices who changed the settled law of the land in Roe vs. Wade did so with the worst of judicial reasoning, as even Democrats have conceded.

I am so excited about Ms. Rice and her reconversion to Christ; also, we are all on our journey to the Father, at varying stages. Her beliefs on this matter may change over time; I know mine have. And mine may change again. We are constantly seeking the truth, and this is a vital quality to growth in our formation as human beings, made in the image of the Holy Trinity.

You cannot love your neighbor by killing him, and yet that is what abortion does. Abortion is a doctrine of the Democratic party, one that is not to be violated without severe censure and condemnation by other Democrats.

As a nation, we cannot overcome the other social ills that we have so long as we sanction and even federally fund the murdering of defenseless babies, the newest and smallest Americans. All our rights begin with the right to life, the right to live, and are contingent on it.