Recent Comments

About believing in communitarian values but being pro-abortion. It takes some real mental gymnastics to resolve this cognitive dissonance, as if the unborn are not part of God's community. As a psychologist, I think pro-abortion folks have to indulge in a lot of denial about the humanity of the unborn. Wish we could invent a time machine and ask the mom and dad to spend a day say two years hence with their child now in the womb. Watch them play, tuck them into bed at night. Think there would be ANY abortion then?

I think John Gehring is focusing on (and deliberately confusing) Catholic teachings vs. doctrines and dogma--and thus setting up an equivocation and a red herring to criticize Rick Santorum as holding views not in the mainstream with the Church. For instance, he (Mr. Santorum) might disagree with the Pope on whether global warming is anthropogenic or natural, but that is not a disagreement on a fundamental teaching or doctrine of the Church, nor would it put Mr. Santorum in danger of being an inauthentic Catholic. If he didn't believe in the Trinity, then that is another matter altogether. But I think John Gehring's tactic is to say that because Mr. Santorum doesn't carry the water for the majority of liberal causes and supposed solutions of the moment that he, Gehring, does, then Santorum's not a good Catholic and is outside the mainstream. Nice try, John, but the rhetorical technique is quite hackneyed, and makes your point that much more shallow.