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The Elephant in the Notre Dame Auditorium
What did you think of President Obama's commencement speech Sunday at Notre Dame? How will the Notre Dame controversy change the abortion debate in America?
I've never really met anyone "Pro-Abortion," despite such epithets from graduation protesters. We all agree that an abortion signifies a mistake, though we may disagree on what the mistake was. So I applaud President Obama's advice to seek common ground in a culture with diversity of belief, and to try and understand the other side, instead of resorting to ad hominems when common ground can't be found.
Obama found common ground with, "So let us work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions. Let's reduce unintended pregnancies." As means to these ends, he urged improving adoption and pre-natal support policies. Fine, so far, but it's not enough by any rational measure.
Bowing to the Catholic Church prohibition against birth control, President Obama failed to point out the most realistic ways to reduce abortions and unintended pregnancies. Based on mounds of evidence and countless studies, we must promote comprehensive sex education for young people, and readily available contraceptives for everyone. So if finding common ground requires us to emulate President Obama and politely ignore evidential behavior studies, I don't think we're likely to get very far in reducing abortions.
If I were setting government policy to reduce abortions, I'd promote contraception on billboards and buses. I'd advertise its benefits on TV. I'd set up teen sexual health clinics in every county, and staff them with medical practitioners and wise, persuasive youth counselors. As an atheist and secular humanist, I don't set Catholic policy. But if I were seeking common ground with those who believe abortion to be a "mortal sin," I would at least suggest that they lighten up on the "venial sin" of condom use. Even many Catholics disagree with the message of the Monty Python song, "Every Sperm is Sacred."
I applaud a central observation of President Obama, which did not deal directly with abortion. He maintained that even the faithful should try to make their case based on "universal rather than parochial principles." In other words, if there are no good secular arguments to justify a proposed sectarian public policy, that policy should not become law.
During last year's political campaign, I argued that for secular Americans, lip service beats no service at all.
With that in mind, I thank the President for these common-ground words: "For if there is one law that we can be most certain of, it is the law that binds people of all faiths and no faith together. It's no coincidence that it exists in Christianity and Judaism; in Islam and Hinduism; in Buddhism and humanism. It is, of course, the Golden Rule--the call to treat one another as we wish to be treated. The call to love. To serve. To do what we can to make a difference in the lives of those with whom we share the same brief moment on this Earth."
By
Herb Silverman
|
May 18, 2009; 4:55 PM ET
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Posted by: suemetzger | June 2, 2009 9:42 AM
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Thank you Herb! You have a way of sharing the rational views many of us have.
Personal views and choices regarding sex and the human body are just that- personal. They should not be part of public policy applied to all. The sin, guilt and shame factors that religious groups apply to women’s health issues are unrealistic and should not be an issue. Laws and public funding should be directed to proven methods of safe birth control and other public health issues. The common ground needs to be good healthcare with the option to choose what is appropriate to each individual. I think it speaks volumes from both sides that the invitation was made and accepted. Notre Dame and our president showed that even with controversy there is still the desire to reach a common ground through rational means. There’s a time and place for everything, the commencement wasn’t the place or time to go into the controversial issues.
Posted by: knowpeace | May 21, 2009 10:06 AM
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Herb Silverman has said it better than I could. I like his approach to the whole question of women's rights and the minimizing of the need for abortion.
fhay
Posted by: fhay26 | May 20, 2009 6:47 PM
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I am proud to be an American in a time when Humanists, Atheists and other non-believers can voice opinions publicly, as Herb Silverman has done. I hope that President Obama's attitude and actions will give others the courage and opportunity to speak out. Only through open dialogue will the religious and non-religious communities find solutions to the problems we share.
Posted by: MyraRubinstein | May 19, 2009 9:50 PM
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Alleviating the widespread suffering of conscious individuals should be a shared objective for humanism and religion. But the Catholic Church minimizes the experience of earthly misery because the focus is on the afterlife (Hitchens' criticism of Mother Theresa comes to mind). I'm tired of politicians who politely and gently object to religious influence in a secular society.
Posted by: jessicamorgan | May 19, 2009 6:23 PM
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Yes! Herb's got it exactly right.
Obama and the Dems gain little by accommodating the intolerance and extremism represented by the Catholic Church's cynical use of the abortion debate to further its own reach of power.
I had hoped that Obama was going to take advantage of his time at Notre Dame to speak some Truth to that power, and to insist the Catholic community should perhaps first take care of the internal problems that led to its own sex scandal before pompously trumpeting whether non-Catholics should be required to recognize the rights of zygotes.
Posted by: besamo805 | May 19, 2009 5:33 PM
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I think that the invention of easily accessible, reliable contraception is the most significant discovery in my lifetime. I'm old enough to remember when it was either illegal or difficult to find contraception, and abortion was criminal. What misery those two circumstances led to for so many women forced to give birth in secret places and give their babies up at birth, and then carry a lifetime of church-inspired guilt. It happened in my own family. Some religious issues like the opposition to contraception by the Catholic Church, and the abysmal status of women by the Muslim religion, are too essential and deplorable for humane people to find common ground.
Posted by: Louise10 | May 19, 2009 7:59 AM
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As a former Catholic who is sensitive to family members' opinions regarding abortion, I very much appreciate your thoughts, Herb, and I agree with you regarding Obama's "universal" rather than "parochial" principles.
I was raised by my mother and father to respect life; thus, I still cringe at the thought of abortion, even as a middle-aged woman.
Yet I am very sensitive (as a mother) to my daughter's situation, as she is the "breadwinner" of her family, and so has to have control her body; I was fortunate, and did not have to wrestle with such matters.
We--men and women who are interested in family planning--
must respect the fact that women operate according to individual conscience, in regards to bearing children.
And yet, I think that religions are still struggling with women having authoritative positions--sadly.
Posted by: mwest04 | May 18, 2009 5:48 PM
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Those of us who live in Charleston are familiar with Herb's comments in letters to the editor and local speaking engagements. It is great to see this voice of reason get wider distribution. He is always rational and articulate with a finely honed sense of morality based on reason.