To the Editor:
Mr. James Harder of Davenport asks the question, “If the Catholic Church supports the rights of its members to vote their own conscience, why do certain clergy keep pushing the issue?” The issue is single voting against a candidate and the basic single issue is abortion. (The Catholic Messenger, Letter to the Editor, Nov. 8, headlined: “Catholics should vote their conscience.”)
The answer is easy. Abortion is the killing of a child in the womb and is definitely again the commandment “Thou shalt not kill.” Now that is an informed conscience.
A moral, informed conscience is the best rock to run a God-fearing country. One cannot and should not try to separate God from one’s life. Mr. Harder does not believe this as his last statement notes, “Abortion is a moral issue, not a political one!”
Maybe that is the problem; we are not informed in truth for our conscience, or don’t want to be and our excuse is thus to rationalize God from our life.
William Grothus
Bettendorf
