Senator Obama and the Wall of the Womb

Senator Obama calls for walls of division to fall but fails to hear the cry of an entire class of persons behind another wall, children in their mother's womb.

CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - The Senator from Illinois, the presumptive nominee for the Presidency of a newly rejuvenated Democratic Party, approached the podium in Germany with the sun illuminating the silhouette of his face.

The crowd was already predisposed to giving an exuberant response to this young, dynamic voice for "change" from the United States of America.

The scene was literally like something out of central casting. By some estimates, 200,000 had gathered.

The cameras panned over a virtual sea of humanity, representing every race, and revealing the pent up hopes of a new generation for a new kind of leader.

As has been the case throughout his campaign, this crowd was filled with the youth who have responded enthusiastically to this candidate.

I could not help but think of the juxtaposition of World events of the last two weeks.

Just a few days ago, over 400,000 young men and women and many others gathered at the other end of the world to hear another voice, the voice of the successor of Peter, Pope Benedict XVI, at World Youth day in Sydney, Australia.

As Editor of Catholic Online, I covered that historic gathering and posted the extraordinary homilies and allocutions of Pope Benedict XVI. Yet, very little secular media attention followed those historic events.

There, at World Youth day in Sydney, Australia, a message of true change and hope was proclaimed. However the message proclaimed there told the young people that the path to real, lasting change and authentic peace required the grace of God and conversion.

In Germany, the Senator spoke in his characteristic and extraordinarily gifted rhetorical style. His speech was inspiring and the crowds were moved.

Oh, I know, I have received hate mail from folks who think I am encouraging his candidacy because I acknowledge the facts, this is a talented man who can really speak.

And, he comes along at a time when an entire generation of young men and women are ready to be challenged to rise above the mundane and give their lives to a higher purpose.The question is, where will he lead them?

Finally, we have a generation who is awakening from the sleep of materialism, instrumentalism and nihilism and being challenged, as was my own, to build another way, a new and better way.

Obama's speech was also well delivered.

It was laced with optimism and proclaimed hopes for a better world. It was also filled with references to tearing down "walls" of division among us.They do need to fall.

Obviously, this metaphor was a direct effort to play off of the inspired words of another great Political orator, Ronald Reagan, who, against the advice of his "handlers" called on then President Mikael Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall".In so doing he changed the course of history.

Team Obama knew that this was their global moment. They are also gifted. They understand, unlike the rival team, that we human beings communicate through symbols. This was a triptych opportunity to them; John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and now, their candidate Barack Obama.

Of course, the other two names were already Presidents when their words wooed the German crowds. This man is a candidate who, even though he said he was there "not as a candidate but as a citizen", was there as a candidate. He is, after all, only a first term United States Senator.He was able to attract the crowd precisely because he is a candidate for the Presidency.

His story is a wonderful example of the promise of America. He legitimately spoke of his humble background and, we all must admit that his is a wonderful American story.

I will go further, the entire speech should become a part of rhetoric and politics and history classes for decades to come. We publish it today in our Friday edition for our readers.It is worth reading.

However, we also publish, once again, the inspired final homily of the Vicar of Christ, Pope Benedict XVI who spoke to the assembled crowd of hundreds of thousands in Sydney.He spoke with true wisdom and moral authority.

Senator Obama does not acknowledge that an entire class of persons, children in the first home of the human race their mother's womb, are our neighbors. He speaks of inalienable rights, but fails to include these children in the first among them, the right to life.

He also does not include these little persons in his claims to care about the poor and his concern for the immigrants. Yet, they are, in the words of a great treasure of our age, the late "Mother" now "Blessed" Teresa of Calcutta, the "poorest of the poor".

These little boys and girls are being evicted from their first home, the womb,every day by the thousands. No, they are actually being killed, burned, and dismembered, in a war being waged upon the womb complete with surgical strikes and chemical weapons. And, he supports it all, calling this evil a "right".

Frankly, I can not stand idly by and let this man go unchallenged.

I am deeply disappointed that the US Presidential race has turned out the way that it has. I am pro-life, pro-poor, pro-marriage and pro-peace. I am also a man without a home in American Politics.

However, I will not vote for anyone who fails to recognize the humanity of the child in the womb and who supports the continued execution of these children, hiding the evil under the lie of the abortion culture that it is a "choice".

Such a man does not have a consistent claim to be an advocate of human rights. He fails to recognize that these rights apply to all men and women at every age and every stage.He can talk all he wants about tearing down walls but his messge is hollow until he respects the wall of the womb, the sanctuary of all humanity.

How I wish that Senator Barack Obama would come to see the implications of his Christian faith on this fundamental truth. While I pray that he does, I must say a few important things in closing.

Barack Obama is a talented orator and one of the most politically gifted candidates of my lifetime. Much of what he had to say in Berlin, I, and many others, agree with and welcome.

However, until he comes to admit what I believe he actually knows is the truth, that our obligations in solidarity bind us to support all human persons, at every age and stage, throughout the entire spectrum of the great gift of life, I will not ever support his candidacy.

I prefer instead the older man, the humble one, the Vicar of Christ who travelled to Sydney and preached the only message which can truly assist the whole world in tearing down the walls of hostility which divide us, Benedict the Beneficent.

He knows that the wall of the womb is a sanctuary and he calls us all to protect those who are found within its shelter against those who want to kill them. He speaks truth to those who fail to defend against this form of terrorism, the kind being committed against children in the womb and protected by positive law.

The Apostle Paul, with whom Barack Obama is quite familiar, wrote these words to the Christians in the City of Ephesus about the One who alone can tear down walls, Jesus Christ:

"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh, abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile both with God, in one body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it.

He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.

Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit."

Pope Benedict understands that St. Paul speaks of the new humanity, the Church. The fundamental solution to ending the divisions which exists between us will require authentic conversion and not lofty rhetoric. Thank God we have great religious leaders in our day, like Pope Benedict, telling us all the truth.

We also need great civil leaders as well, to serve the State and the common good.

However, they must be men and women who are not selective in whose voice they will hear. They must not exclude from their definition of the poor innocent children in the womb. Until Senator Obama hears the cry of the children behind the wall of the womb, I will never consider giving him my support.

His claim to speak with moral authority is undermined by his unabashed support of the so called "right" to abortion. Senator Obama, how about that wall, the wall of flesh, the one which protects the next generation? It used to be the safest place on earth.Now,it has become a battlefield in a new campaign of terror.

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