Please thank Joel

Hello All,
This was printed recently, and it has come to my attention that because this man stood up for pro-life Catholics in particular, saying that Catholic bashing was ok, but all other bashing was not, he has recieved quite a bashing of his own. He's Episcopalian. I'd like to have as many people thank him as possible.
Thank you, Joel!


Seattle Post-Intelligencer
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/379962_Joel22.html

Supporters of assisted suicide bait Catholics

Monday, September 22, 2008
Last updated 12:14 a.m. PT

By JOEL CONNELLY
P-I COLUMNIST

IN AN AMERICA where any remark hinting of prejudice can force its maker into endless mea culpas, the mocking of a world religious leader ought to invite political suicide.

But one religion, the Catholic Church, seems to be exempt -- at least by some advocates of Initiative 1000, which would legalize physician-assisted suicide.

Pope Benedict XVI took an anti-euthanasia message to Lourdes last week, saying, "A society unable to accept its suffering members and incapable of helping to share their suffering is a cruel and inhumane society."

"Dignity never abandons the sick person," he declared, adding that people must accept death at "the hour chosen by God."

The communications director for I-1000 promptly sent political bloggers a memo titled "Pope Keeps God on Schedule, Auto-Dial." It read:

"The Pope does not go into detail about God's appointment book, although many doctors note that God is, in fact, kept waiting past the chosen hour (rather like we are kept waiting at the doctor's office) due to medical interventions that artificially extend life (but do not end suffering). Perhaps God is running late."

She was doubtless trying to be snarky. But the note demeans fundamental questions raised in the pope's speech, which will face Washington voters when they fill out their ballots.

The protection of life, by law, is a basic principle of democratic societies. Central to our definition of its value is the prohibition against killing innocent people. What circumstances, if any, merit loosening that prohibition? What does that say to (and about) a society?

While it doesn't carry the full stench of bigotry, I-1000 campaigners are dispensing noxious stuff, at least to a chosen few of the secular faithful.

And the "Catholic card" has been played, astutely, in a way reminiscent of the misdirection plays that Lou Holtz perfected coaching at Notre Dame. The goal: Create confusion as to who has the ball.

The pro-1000 campaign sent out a release last month making a big deal that Catholic dioceses and archdioceses had donated $132,650 in the previous eight days to the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide.

The initiative's amen corner -- at least as represented by two radio stations I listened to -- reported that the Catholic Church was "pouring money" into the anti-I-1000 campaign.

As Franklin D. Roosevelt used to say in his campaigns, let's look at the facts.

The Coalition Against Assisted Suicide had raised $508,952 as of Friday. Of that total, $221,414 had come from Catholic dioceses, parishes, health organizations and the Knights of Columbus. Add $500 from the retired Archbishop of Detroit.

By contrast, just one wealthy donor, former Gov. Booth Gardner, has given $170,000 to the Yes on 1000 Committee.

Oregon Death with Dignity gave $300,000 to seed the pro-1000 campaign. Various Compassion & Choices groups, mainly headquartered in Denver, have donated $265,000.

Other out-of-state donors have included the Hemlock Society and Euthanasia Research.

All told, the Yes on 1000 Committee has raised $1.906 million. It is a Goliath to opponents' David.

"The five out-of-state dioceses and archdioceses who are currently funding the campaign against I-1000 have been plagued with lawsuits and allegations of child abuse," reads the pro-I-1000 release.

The statement is a direct appeal to overt and/or latent anti-Catholicism. The abuse cases are being settled. Money has not been taken from settlements to fight assisted suicide.

In fact, let's turn the argument on its ear.

The Catholic Church supports Washington's largest private health care system. It provides the state's largest private education system. It underwrites our largest private hospice.

Non-Catholic parents send their kids to inner-city parochial grammar schools because they get an education in values. The church provides hospice care to dying patients who cannot pay, or when insurance runs out.

As well, the church has been accused of trying to "force" its values on other people.

Catholics are at most 13 percent of the population in this "unchurched" state.

In the current campaign, said Sister Sharon Park of the Washington State Catholic Conference, "the church is mostly working within the church. Our duty is to educate our people."

Existing state law prohibits assisted suicide. Isn't it accurate, then, to say that Gardner, Compassion & Choices, the Hemlock Society and Euthanasia Research are trying to impose THEIR values on the rest of us?

"Catholic baiting is the anti-Semitism of the liberals," Yale professor Peter Viereck famously opined.

Sadly, there seems to be some truth in the statement. Racism has vanished from the nation's political vocabulary. Sexism is isolated to a few boorish right-wing pundits. Homophobia is clearly on the way out.

Anti-Catholicism survives: It lives despite the church's defense of immigrants, opposition to the death penalty, and giant peace marches that have wound through Seattle streets to St. James Cathedral.

We all have values. It is flat-out wrong to demean the values of a particular faith or exclude them from the public square.

Wasn't the civil rights movement a case of religious values moving and improving a nation?

P-I columnist Joel Connelly can be reached at 206-448-8160 or joelconnelly@seattlepi.com. Follow politics on the P-I's blog at blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics.

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