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18 Aug 2008 05:32 pm

When An Embryo Becomes A Human Person, Ctd.

Hemingway revises:

...my point was that just because only God can say with certainty where sentient life begins, it doesn't mean the president gets to opt out of staking a moral position on the matter that will determine policy. Think of it this way: in a perfect world, only God would decide who lives or dies. And yet, the President still has to frequently decide to send soldiers out to certain death in service of national security and the greater good. Are such decisions above the Commander-In-Chief's "pay grade"?

Well, no, because he is directly responsible for the lives of the men and women he commands. But an embryo inside another person's womb requires a more indirect answer, no? And the existential question of when an embryo gets "human rights" cannot be answered without knowing when an embryo or zygote becomes a human person. And on that question, even the Vatican is silent. There is a life issue here and a liberty issue here, and I think it's perfectly possible for a presidential candidate to leave unanswerable existential questions to the Almighty and focus on practical policy questions which he can address. And Obama did.

He is not running for theologian-in-chief, however much the Christianists want to make this election about faith, and who most reflects their version of it.

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