Date Posted:14:32:31 03/22/05 Tue Author:FawnDoo Subject: Abortion - an election issue, or not?
Might well be a can of worms, but we have never shied away from that here, have we? this story reflects upon the increasing political fallout over a Roman Catholic Cardinal saying that abortion should be an election issue, and that the Catholic vote (as much as there can be said to be a single Catholic voting bloc) would not necessarily go to Labour. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this and if we could maybe open the way to debate.
I know that some of us will have our own perspectives here. From what I know of people who have posted here, some are religious, some not so, some live in areas or countries that are politically conservative and again, others not so. So what thoughts do we have here - should abortion be an election issue? Is this blurring the lines between church and state or is it one man who happens to be a Cardinal exercising his right to free speech?
I have to admit I agree with the recent statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury (never thought I would find myself typing that) that the cries of terror over this issue being opened is not the first step to what he called a "theocratical tyranny" (or that one either) but that it is a debate worth having. I don't immediately tend to join in with the cries that a Cardinal talking about an issue is immediately turning us into a state dominated by religious figures, but I am always wary of keeping religion on one side and good government on the other.
The debate would seem to have been opened - the main political parties are battling over it, Labour to say it won't be an issue, Tories to say it should be, Liberal Democrats to say...well...not much of anything, really. What do we think then?
