Denver Newsroom, Apr 20, 2020 / 06:05 pm (CNA).- Chris Arnade is the author and photographer of “Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America.”
His book is a look at how many Americans – in rural and urban communities across the country- live. Chris got to know people who often lack a voice in American public life, and his work aims to give them a voice, and a face. He talked with CNA about his book, his faith, and “Back Row America.”
Below is an excerpt, edited and condensed, from CNA’s interview with Arnade. The entire conversation can be heard here.
Chris, what is “Back Row America?”
“Back Row America” describes, in my simple framework, American communities that don’t necessarily define themselves by their resumes or their education.
It’s the part of America that has traditionally gone from high school to, to a job, a lifelong job that gave them the stability to build a family and then attend church regularly and stay in their community. That isn’t a red state or blue state thing. That’s true all across the country.
It’s African-American communities in northern cities, it’s working class rural communities in places like Iowa and Nebraska.
It’s in contrast to what I think is the much more powerful group of people, which I would call, using the classroom analogy, “the front row.”
The elites, if you will, who have spent their career or chasing building a resume, going to all the right institutions and ultimately ending up probably in a few handful of neighborhoods across the United States.
They generally have very large influences in academics, the media and politics and the business world. And I think so much of how we think about America is defined by the front row, when in fact the bulk of Americans would probably find themselves to be more familiar with the back row.
How did you get to know “Back Row America?”
While working on Wall Street in finance, I spent time walking in neighborhoods across New York City. Those walks became a way to meet people I might otherwise never meet. Eventually, I quit my job and spent three and a half or four years in one neighborhood in particular, the poorest neighborhood in New York called Hunts Point in the Bronx.
It was a wonderful neighborhood, I was immediately drawn in by the strong sense of community. At an artistic level as a photographer and it was just simply a great place to photograph because it faces the south, it has good light.
And then it just drew me in.
I spent time with a group of, to use a derogatory term because there’s no other terms, of homeless addicts, who lived in cars or lived in abandoned buildings, under bridges and spent their time making their money by either being a prostitute or stealing things or begging. And many used that money to buy heroin.
And they became the community that taught me for three and a half years.
And then from there I went in my car across the United States, I’ve put roughly about 400 000 miles over four years, just driving all the, around the United States, visiting places that people would tell me not to go to.
Visiting as much of the United States as I could, the parts that I call “back row America” that are not in the news in any other way other than negative. Towns that have lost their industry, inner cities that have never had industry, all sorts of places.
What I try to do in my book is both show what is common in this condition, but that there are variations, so to speak, on the theme and how people reflect their frustration and attempt to find dignity in different ways.
What were the things that you had found in Hunts Point and wanted to look for in other places?
One theme of my book is that the most salient and the biggest division in America right now is the educational divide. We all talk about class divide. We all talk about the racial divide. But I think the education divide is as important, if not stronger currently.
And that division is not just about how we vote, but it’s about how we view the world, and how we think about what is valuable in this world, and how we think about what gives us meaning. So, at a very deep level, what’s our philosophy? And what is our worldview?
And then that, if you are in the back, and that the front row controls things now. They generally are the “in” group. They define stuff. And it’s the back row who is the one who is suffering from the decisions made by the front row, who have a very narrow worldview that they can’t seem to think beyond.
If they do think beyond it, it usually means they either want to study the back row as sort of a scientific specimen or they want to pity them and save them without questioning their worldview.
And people know when they’re being laughed at. The front row isn’t directly laughing at people. But there is this sense of, again, when they view the back row, it’s often viewed as people who are wounded, to be pitied and helped, as opposed to people to be listened to as equals.
Your book talks about some values that exist more clearly in the back row, a sense of place, a sense of obligation to the family, and people, and connectedness. Even a different sense of what matters in life; what it’s for.
Yeah. I mean, I always use the example of the young woman I met in a McDonald’s in East L.A. And, if you read the book, you’ll know that I spent a lot of time in McDonald’s.
Because a lot of people who don’t have a lot of money spend a lot of time in McDonald’s because it has free wifi, and inexpensive food, and cheap.
So, I would see this young woman at McDonald’ss. I would be there each night to type up my notes and she was there because… I had seen her all over the country, variations of her, she was there to use the free wifi because she didn’t have wifi at home. She or her family was too poor.
So, she would come in every night with her Game Boy and her computer, and charge both of them, and play on the internet, or do homework, or mostly just play her Game Boy, or her Switch, or whatever she had.
And so, eventually she got curious about me and asked and said, “You’re from New York City.” I told her I was from New York City.
She said she would love to go there. And I said, “Well, you’re college age.”
She said, “Well, I’m going to college here at East L.A. Community College. And I need to stay here because I’m my mother’s translator.”
Her mother was a Mexican-American immigrant. And, like a lot of immigrants, the oldest child is the one who speaks both languages and is necessary to fill out forms, navigate the country.
So, she was making a decision that I think we as a broader culture should applaud. She was staying there for her family.
But I think we look at people’s decisions in what I would call a “resume arms race.” Everybody has to be building a resume. And, in that process, which is a very narrow way of thinking about success, it’s all about getting credentialed so you can make more money.
It’s a very, very material definition of success.
For people who don’t value that, who don’t want the value of that very narrow framework, you have to give up the non-material forms of meaning like place, family, and faith, because those are considered to be in opposition to this arms race of building the best resume. And so, I think it’s particularly an elitist view.
Being materialistic is very much an elitist view of the world because one of the things we’re all gifted at birth is these values and these meanings that don’t require a resume to have, like family, like place, and like faith. You don’t need a resume into the church. You don’t need a resume to find beauty in your local community or to be a member of your family.
Chris, could you talk about faith in the back row?
I came into this project an atheist. I certainly wasn’t a nasty atheist. I was very always respectful of other people’s faiths and views. But, in the back of my mind, I would have laughed at somebody who was religious, or at least thought maybe they should learn a little. And then, certainly by the end of the project, I wouldn’t call myself religious, but I do go to church.
In the project I spent a lot of time in McDonald’s because that’s where the people I was learning from spent time. And likewise with churches, I spent a lot of time in churches because that’s where the people I spent time with went.
I went to every denomination. I tried to try to go to the denominations that were most reflective of the community I was in. I tried to go to the churches that I guess, I think, theologically would probably be considered in the back row.
Places that had improvised spaces. So, there was one that was a former… I think it was a former Kentucky Fried Chicken, had been turned into a church. Another was an old gas station that had been turned into a church. Another was an old furniture store in a strip mall. Another was someone’s house.
I came away personally moved by the experience… this was a very important part of people’s lives. It was just wrong of me at many levels to dismiss it as nothing more than just a silly way of living, but also, at a personal level, I came away realizing that there was a lot there that I didn’t appreciate.
What is important when churches minister to back row America?
I mean, I think from a purely pragmatic standpoint, I think the most important thing about the church is that they get people they’re preaching to.
You go into a nonprofit in these communities or you go into these secular institutions, and they’re not made up of people from the community. They’re often outsiders who are well-intentioned. There’s nothing wrong with that, being an outsider who’s well-intentioned, but with a few exceptions, most of them haven’t gone through a rough life, haven’t experienced a lot.
You go in the churches, and it’s their people. It’s their community. They get them, at not just at an intellectual level but a lived reality level.
Also, that faith is a way to live that gives people guidance. Answers that give people a structure.
The first level of academica getting religion is pragmatic. They’ll simply view it as something that’s useful. I think the second level, which is much deeper and much more real, is to see it as something that isn’t just useful but also so powerful and true. My own intellectual journey was getting beyond the first level of, “Oh, it’s just a useful thing,” a scientific solution, like, “Oh, these poor people have religion. That’s good for them because it’s useful,” and moving on to the next, which is to see a religious worldview as equally valid to how I think about things.
—
I think to a large degree that the Catholic Church has done a pretty good job of understanding the people it serves.
I often went to Catholic churches as well, because I consider myself Catholic, and when traveling, I would like to go to different churches, and I think one of the things that did frustrate me is I can walk into a church and within half a minute tell you how wealthy the neighborhood around me is. You can just see by the amount of donations given. I mean, the donation differences are just staggering. You get some churches that collect $7,000 a week and others that collect $35 a week.
I think some outreach between [rich and poor Catholics] would be helpful. I think… and certainly, the people in the wealthier congregations and parishes having a little more understanding of their privilege and how the experience of being a Catholic might be different if you’re in El Paso, for instance.
Do you have expectations for how things might change for the back row as a result of where we are right now, in terms of the pandemic and the resulting economic collapse? I’ve hoped it will lead to a greater sense of solidarity among people.
I’m probably about as cynical as I’ve ever been about it right now. I hate to try to throw water on your fire, but I mean, I’m looking at how the pandemic’s playing out, and it’s becoming a disease of the poor. All the solutions we proposed, as much as I agree with them, are pretty comfortable for the wealthy and pretty uncomfortable for the poor.
Sheltering in place, I think the word “place” covers a lot of ground there that we tend not to think about, but I certainly hope at a philosophical level that we come out of this, that people who can shelter in a nice place maybe understand that that’s a privilege and that it’s much easier for them to do that — come out of this with a greater awareness of how hard this is for a lot of people.
What can people do?
I mean, that’s the problem is, with a pandemic, there’s not much we can do right now other than recognize privilege and hopes going forward that we take that into account when we think about judging other people for not doing what we’re doing, or scolding them for taking walks outside, or wanting to go to church in some capacity when the pandemic eases going to some sort of limited service.
I think we need to get back to being social again, probably before the credentialed experts tell us is a good time. I respect people enough to believe that they can make their own choices and see what’s right.
I think, in the longer term though, one of my biggest frustrations with my book, and I think a lot of readers’ frustrations is I don’t offer solutions, because I’m not sure I know them.
I don’t know how you get people en masse to start saying, okay we need to value things differently. I think, one person at a time. If somebody in a comfortable suburb recognizes that their parish or their congregation is well off and others aren’t, I mean that’s the first step. Make a personal decision about how you think you can best address that.
I think it’s important to treat people, everybody you meet, with respect, and again not pity them. I think many people look at those who are in the back row as people who need to be saved or changed, and maybe the best thing to do is just listen to them and give them the dignity of actually treating them like an equal.
That means sometimes not liking them. You don’t have to like everybody. When people ask “What can I do with the homeless person?” And I say like, “Have a conversation with them. Treat them like a normal person. If you don’t like them, you don’t like them.”
Chris, if you don’t mind my asking, having gone through this experience, what do you pray for and what do you encourage other people to pray for?
What I pray for changes. I still hear from a lot of people who I wrote about in the book, who have my phone number and text me all the time. I pray for them, and for my family.
I guess, my greatest hope from this whole thing is that the reader comes away with an understanding that, in very rare instances, almost everybody who reads this book is going to have more privilege than the people in the book. And so, a little perspective. When it comes down to it, it’s the old phrase, “Before you judge somebody, walk a mile in their shoes.” I pray that message gets into people, that they can see that they themselves probably have a lot better than they realize.
And before you judge somebody, again, know what they’ve gone through.
This was an edited excerpt from a longer conversation between Chris Arnade and CNA. The entire conversation can be heard here.
[…]
An issue not addressed by the survey is contraception. Perhaps because they know the result already anyway. The vast majority of US Catholics do not disapprove of contraception. The Bishops typically sidestep this issue as they know how most people feel.
If 60% of Catholics view the horror of abortion favorably, I would put their favorability to contraception north of 90%.
Hard to grasp that Asians now outnumber by twice the black population. Although there continues to appear a quickly increasing presence of Asians in the media, in government. Hispanics remain the largest second to Whiteys. With the purposeful influx of migrating Hispanics including recent waves of Chinese, the Administration’s plan to overwhelm the electorate to Blue is going well. Also what needs to be accounted for is the ratio of births considered Catholics and the vast number continuing to decline practice that gives the overall figure for Catholics a starkly different value.
All is well on the Eastern Front in Rome the Pontiff’s laissez faire doctrine of amiable non demanding Catholicism washes away any thought of guilt among the apostate nominals. His Holiness can’t be faulted for a process that long preceded his pontificate, rather he deserves acclaim from Leftists and liberal Catholics for giving the movement his blessing.
It would be remiss if His Holiness is not recognized for contributing two crackerjack ideas to smooth the process, FS and the blessing of those in disordered relationships, plus DI and the eternal holiness of everyone.
Whiteys? Really?!
Thank you. I thought I was the only one…
Oh, here is a third…
Add me to the list. “Whiteys” is not acceptable.
Mrs Whitlock, although I’ve been called worse, I’m proud of being a Whitey. Guess my attempt at nuanced humor didn’t work.
The Pew research shows that there truly is no ‘Catholic’ church in the USA except for a small remnant who faithfully attend Mass and despise the murder of Holy Innocents in the womb. Much of this may be laid at the feet of our feeble ecclesiastical who only give mild lip service to this execrable Holocaust.
Second to Whiteys?You don’t sound like a real priest to me.
“Pew says, is that Catholics’ opinions about abortion tend to align more with their political leanings than with the teachings of their Church.” That statement is most concerning. I don’t understand how an individual would believe in a political party more strongly than they do their own church, as in The Church. This is a personal failure on so many levels.
Another way to look at it is that people who embrace Church teaching on her “not negotiable” doctrines have a home in only one major party, i.e., that’s why they are there and not the other way around.
Absolutely, Mr. Leonardi. I personally wish there was an alternate political party we could support. I’ve never really felt at home in the GOP, but it is what it is.
There is a party….it is called the American solidarity party….it’s platform id’s based on catholic social life especially pro life and pro family…..look it up
Thank you Ronald. Perhaps one day we’ll have a better choice of political party to affiliate with but I think it’s going to take some time to get momentum.
Whatever hope for reversing what is undeniable Catholic nihilism among willfully dumb Catholics from having been led by two intelligent popes for 35 years, has been obliterated by a Pope who says such childishly stupid things regarding Catholic morality like “The Church must no longer be a Church of No.”
“…. Catholics (28%) say they attend Mass weekly or more often … Protestants say they attend weekly service 40%.” I will argue that both Catholics and Protestant numbers are overwhelmingly too high. When it comes to self-reporting, we delude ourselves with how much TV we watch, how much we give to charity, how many calories we consume, and how often we attend church. I don’t recall the exact numbers, but there was a study done in a smallish NE Ohio town. They interviewed people on how often they attended religious services but then they counted cars in church parking lots on Sunday. Not even close. If you need to go somewhere and want to avoid traffic, go on Sunday morning.
I don’t like abortion, but I don’t make it a single issue when I vote. I do vote 100% Democrat. MAGA Protestants hate the Catholic Church and would like to ban us from the US if they could. There’s just too much of a divide between us for me to dance with the protestants. I’m also a pro-labor union Catholic and was a leader in my Federal employee union. I won’t vote for a fascist totalitarian just because that person opposes abortion. I prefer to live in freedom and to not impose my religious beliefs on anyone else.
“MAGA Protestants hate the Catholic Church and would like to ban us from the US if they could.”
I know quite a few such “MAGA Protestants,” and none of them hold a view remotely like this.
However, it’s quite clear that those who worship at the Altar of Abortion, Contraception, Homosexuality, and Transgenderism do indeed hate the Catholic Church and would happily destroy her if they could.
So, just saying…
Carl, do you forget that God gave people free will (re: abortion, contraception, homosexuality, transgender, etc. etc. etc.)? Why are you trying to take away people’s God-given right of free will?
You don’t have to agree with them, but it is not your God-given right to control other people or take away their own God-given rights.
I don’t understand why “live and let live” is the most difficult concept for Catholics to grasp. Just because you see something or someone is doing something you personally don’t like, that does not mean you get to boss them around or control their choices. You would not like it if anyone did that to you. Why do you think it is your place to do it to others?
Please explain to me why you think it is your place to control people. I want to understand.
Micha, don’t you think taking away an innocent life is about control?
True God gave each the gift of free will to chose between good and evil, the good to follow Him in obedience to His Way, His Life and His Truth or the evi, to sin, to go their own way from God. Yes, you are totally free to chose but remember choices have consequences intended and unintended in the here and now as well as the then and forever. The best we can hope and prat for you is to chose wisely every so wisely. Your soul is a terrible thing to lose. It is not the Catholics who shall judge you in the end but God. The best that the Catholic community can do is rebuke your sinful choices in the here and now with sufficient time for you and other to return to God. Good luck with your choices.
This is not worth replying to, but…. The absence of any standards or morality in a society , which is the basis of civilization, results in chaos. It can be argued the world was a happier safer place a few generations ago, when most people went to church and lived their lives according to moral principles. The spread of the early Catholic church was in large part responsible for a civilizing effect on the Roman empire, especially in terms of personal behaviors and what was acceptable ( a hard no on adultery, infanticide, wife beating, etc). Secularists like yourself would love to eradicate religion. How well has that worked out in places like China, Russia, Cuba, North Korea,and much of the Middle East?? Why, it would appear that their people have no rights at all, and their leaders not only tell them what to do, but have he power of life and death over them. Women in the Middle East are especially disposable. But we are starting to see here the result of less religion: the rapid increase of violent crimes, random physical attacks on mostly women by strangers, antisemitism, flash mob thefts,transgender surgeries on children,a rise in drug related deaths,serial casual sexual partners and broken families, abortions through the 9th month, and on and on. How are these good things again? People are making their choices, right?? So that should be great. These are all things opposed by the church for good reason. Many of these behaviors (adultery lets say), impact others such as the adulterer’s spouse and children. “Live and let live” or as some of us will say “anything goes”, has a major impact on society all around us. What we do in almost any action DOES affect others, for good or ill. For us to choose Good, as God would have us, we need a framework of knowledge and rules to help us understand how to behave. Which is why the juvenile perspective of “why cant I just do what I want?” does not work. It is the death of civilization, and the epitome of selfishness.Further, a quick reading of the Bible indicates that in addition to free will, God does favor some rules. Ten Commandments and all of that.
Its not about control of another person graced by God with free will. It about admonishing another who is placing their soul in jeopardy of damnation. It is what is termed a spiritual work of mercy. If the admonishing “pinches” perhaps it should be taken ever more seriously.
“It about admonishing another who is placing their soul in jeopardy of damnation.” Why do you believe it is your place to admonish anyone who doesn’t believe what you believe? They are exercising their God-given right to free will and you are 100% encroaching upon that.
Usn’t it up to God to do the “pinching” and for YOU to mind your own business?
Some people don’t want to be converted. Some people don’t want to share in or practice your religion. Some people have their own set of beliefs.
So why do you feel like it is your place to force your beliefs on others? That is you attempting to control others and denying their right to free will.
Hypocrisy is not and will never be ok.
Your whole question seems to center on the topic of sexuality. That smacks of wanting to justify doing any sexual activity you wish. Is adultery OK? Is Pedophilia? What about incest? What about bestiality? And if you think bestiality DOESN’T ever happen I will suggest you see some of the horrifying literature sent to me by animal rights groups. To address other topics, is stealing ok? Is murder? Are lines only drawn where they are convenient for YOU?? What about the ways your behavior impacts others? And what we do ALWAYS impacts others, even if unintended. Again, a society as a whole needs established rules and limitations and for much of civilization that has been derived from religious belief. These rules echo back to rules which GOD has handed us for a reason, to prevent injury to ourselves and others.Believers accept the idea that God created us, supports our every breath,and loves us, and thus we owe him worship, love and obedience in return.This is really not that hard to figure out.There are of course people who think this path is not for them.As you suggest, free will allows them to reject God and God’s laws, as they wish. Such folk usually do not believe in heaven or hell or an after-life. The real issue is, what if they are wrong?? An eternity separated from the God of all goodness seems like a really bad choice.
“Live and let live…”
Tell that to the pro-abortionists. They don’t want to let unborn babies live.
Even a ten-year-old can grasp that concept.
Did you learn you sense of moral logic from Charles Manson?
Those who practice contraception hate the Church? Nonsense.
I never met a contraceptivite with sufficient honorability to learn a thing about Catholic moral theology while not ridiculing it.
If you chose to abstain from contraception, fine and dandy. Just do not try to prevent others from employing contraception. It might be wise to stay out of married couples bedrooms.
Sometimes Mr. Baker those folks are not informed. Even just from a health & environment angle, many people have come to realize the risks of hormonal contraceptives.
One of my children taught NFP & consulted healthcare professionals. Some of the women who came to learn about NFP were not Catholic nor even people who believed in God. But learning about how miraculously we are made by our Creator can lead some people to Faith.
Women have turned their gift of natural fertility over to pharmaceutical companies to control & regulate.
I believe this as well. Good to see someone point it out.
John Paul II said a society that does not protect its most vulnerable cannot survive.
As an Evangelical Protestant for 47 years until I converted to Catholicism (and I attended Evangelical Protestant in which some of the best writers and pastors in the U.S. grew up; e.g., John Ortberg), I disagree with you that MAGA Protestants hate Catholics. First, I think the numbers of “MAGA” anything are greatly exaggerated. Also, I see nothing wrong with think and praying, “Make America Great Again.” But my main reason for disagreeing with your comment is that in the 47 years that I was a Protestant, I saw so much support and love for Catholics. Many of the missionaries I knew (and still know) work alongside of Catholics, especially in medical settings, in their country of ministry. Many Protestants first became aware of the evils of abortion when they worked and attended protest rallies and prayer meetings alongside of Catholics–and they also learned to respect, love, and even admire the Catholic dedication to ending abortion! Finally, great authors like Chuck Colson (R.I.P.), along with Father Richard Neuhaus (R.I.P.) started Evangelicals and Catholics Together, and there are other Protestants who have become involved with Catholics in various groups. Go talk to Protestants, please.
As a Catholic,I have traveled in largely Protestant circles in some personal and family affairs. I have never encountered an anti-Catholic person face to face. Maybe because in much of the country Catholics are so numerous. However in reading things online which allow public comment, I have run across more than a few comments by Protestants who must be on the fringe and say things like Catholics are not really Christians, or they say false things about Mary. I would NOT say these people are the majority of Protestants at all.
Nor have I EVER heard Protestant MAGA supporters attack Catholics. For that matter, they want to live and let live and I dont hear them attacking anyone, regardless of religion. I have voted Trump twice and will do so again, even if I have to write him in on the ballot.
I hope our Jewish brethren, who largely vote democrat, have had their eyes opened by the Biden administration’s attempts to undermine the Israeli war effort of late. Its time for them to support the Republicans.
Well I was raised Catholic and I’ve come to learn the teaching is All wrong! You are supposed to confess to God,not man! Jesus is the One and Only mediator not Mary! And it doesn’t matter if you go to church because our bodies are the church! Our mouths are supposed to shout how great Our God is and Our hearts are to be like Jesus and be kind to Each and every soul! Not judging and dividing because of race, religion or a political preference! But Catholics know this right? 🤔
Here is a little Bible 101: John 20:23 “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” And for extra credit read James 5:16 Gabriel, in all seriousness and love, I pray you sit in on a good RCIA program and reconsider The Church.
Gabriel, if you were to pray for me you would be a mediator yourself.
🙂
If Jesus is the one and only mediator, why didn’t he simply come to earth without Mary??
Our bodies are the church ONLy because the Church has the Body of Christ with which she may transform us INTO Christ’s body THROUGH Christ’s body which was made IN the power of the Holy Spirit, WITH MARY’s agreeing to be God’s intermediary and partner and helpmate in His Incarnation.
You would be better be served if you could serve God with your mouth closed until He helps you open it again in the Reconciliation Room. After that at your next Mass you could open your mind and your mouth to beg of Him to mediate your membership into Christ’s body. Then you could be made intelligent, good and beautiful by and through and with Him made through Mary and the Holy Spirit. READ SCRIPTURE silently. There you’ll find your friend, your faith and your Catholic Church again.
Jesus performed his first public miracle at Cana at the request of His mother. And as he was suffering on the cross he took the time to put his mother in the care of John the Apostle with his dying breath. Its very sad that Protestants feel so threatened that they feel the need to disparage our Lord’s mother.
Thank you to Ron (above) for quoting John 20:23— Jesus speaking to the Apostles: ” Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them and whose sins you retain they are retained.” Well, you could not have sins either forgiven or retained unless you TOLD them to the Apostles, correct?? Funny how Protestants like to skip over passages which do not fit their narrative. You can and should ask God to forgive you for sins ( hence the Act of Contrition). But Jesus gave us a process He wished us to follow.For Catholics that is Confession.
“I don’t like abortion, but I don’t make it a single issue when I vote. I do vote 100% Democrat”.
So why are you voting for Democrats who 100% LIKE abortion, often up until the moment of birth?
I’m a pro-life MAGA Catholic (yes, we exist) and let me just say that Joe Biden using the Catholic Faith as cover for his stance on abortion is despicable.
Christ is Risen, everyone. ☦️
Pro-life Catholic Democrats need to realize that the single most important social justice issue today is opposition to abortion, and that is upheld currently by the Republican party. When a nation ends the killing of its unborn, other social issues will be easier to address because people will no longer be viewed as objects.
Females (not women only) ages 9 to 50+, are raped, have life threatening pregnancies, live in dire poverty, etc. aren’t their lives of any value? Life is not so clear and simple as anti abortionists view it. It’s complicated and compassion and understanding are vital components for understanding how this is a life and death issue for the females and medical personnel involved.
Rape victims represent an exceedingly tiny percentage of pregnancies. And a clear majority of Americans, even pro-lifers, are generally supportive of a woman having access to abortion in the event of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother, propaganda from the left notwithstanding. Even in RED states which are trying to tighten up availability of abortion, a woman would still have a few months to make a decision. Pregnancy is NOT a disease to be eradicated. It is a normal bodily function. Women who “can’t ” become pregnant for whatever reason should think a little harder before they jump into bed with someone. There are too many repeaters at abortion clinics, and too many who push into the second and third trimester to do it. What the left wants is the most extreme abortion availability in all states at all times. Some of us would advocate for the exercise of more responsibility.
So why are pro-aborts so completely devoid of compassion and understanding? Why are pro-aborts completely, without a single exception, unwilling to operate a crisis pregancy center that provides aid and support to women seeking to save their child in difficult circumtances such as those thousands operated by pro-lifers, people whom pro-aborts, operating from a lack of compassion and understanding, with adolescent insistence call “anti-abortion?”
Jean, yes any girl or woman past puberty can become a mother. That’s just the way our biology works.
We don’t punish children for the crimes of their fathers. Feticide is not a treatment for sexual assault and is just a secondary violation of the mother.
Life itself may be complicated but Catholic moral teaching about the innocent child in the womb is pretty clear. I’d really recommend learning more about that and why every life has value, no matter what the circumstances are behind our conception.
Nice propaganda piece. There is no such thing as being “anti abortion.” People who oppose the destruction of life because it’s inconvenient are pro life. There are no “life and death issues.” That’s just histrionic emotional reasoning.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to conduct these surveys with distinctions between Catholics who are Catholic and Catholics who are anti-Catholic bigots.
Fact 10. Catholics in the US are not very good Catholics!
Some of the commentors to your articles refer to homosexual acts as homosexuality. That usage is confusing and misleading. Homosexuality is not sinful, it is a heavy cross, it is an unwilled condition. Homosexual acts are sinful, the condition of homosexuality is not.
This article leaves out the most important fact;
No one with an I.Q. over 100 would ever be catholic.
Mr. Harper sets out to prove he is both a troll and a simpleton. Mission accomplished.
At geni.com we find a broad list of famous historical geniuses and their estimated IQs. A quick scan for known Catholics among them gives this roll call:
At the “bottom” are Masaccio, Bernini, Thomas A. Kempis, Columbus and de Tocqueville all at 140. Meister Eckhart 145. Gutenberg 150. Titian, Savonarola, and John Kennedy 155. Tertullian and Bottichelli 160. Cardinal Richelieu, Boccaccio, Mendel, Chaucer, Marconi and Mazzini 165. Thomas Aquinas, Origen, Pierre Curie, William of Ockham, Spengler, Rochefoucauld, and Coulomb all 170. Pasteur, Paracelsus, Campanella and Thomas More 175. Alberti, Brunelleschi, Duhem, Nicholas de Cusa, Augustine, Marie Curie, Michelangelo, Wolsey, Napoleon, Roger Bacon, Lavoisier, Teilhard de Chardin, Alexander Pope, Montaigne, Bossuet, Hugo, Beethoven all 180. Erasmus and Pascal 185. John Neumann 190. Descartes and Galileo 195…and some guy named Leonardo de Vinci at 200.
I was in a hurry, but don’t recall seeing either David Harper or myself on the list.