'Well, let me put my cards on the table straightaway (I have two cards as it happens). The first is that I am a religious nut job. I’m Catholic and a convert to boot. But whether you believe it or not, my religion isn’t the cause of my concern. For one thing, most Catholics were hostile to the Dorries amendment (which they see as a measly sop and a tactical mistake). For another, you don’t have to be Catholic, or even Christian, to think it odd to adopt a completely cavalier attitude towards the unborn. I thought this long before I considered the Church, and considered the Church because of it.'Very much where I come from; here's something I wrote five years before becoming a Catholic.
Did you know that Germany's abortion rate is half as high as ours in Britain? I didn't, despite having lived in Germany for five years - it's not something that's shouted from the rooftops and it's not a result of the country being full of swivel-eyed Catholic fanatics. Just under half the population is nominally Catholic, and the prevailing brand of Catholicism is decidedly liberal.
So, to echo Mary's question, if there was an entirely non-coercive way of nudging Britain in the direction of Germany, who could possibly object, and why? Well, of course we have seen that all kinds of people object vehemently. Choice is no longer the real issue. It's about abortion as a good in itself, a badge of liberation from the interfering killjoy in the sky.
No comments:
Post a Comment