There is quite a dust up among some conservatives. See A Public Fight
Lopez has responded here and Ramesh Ponnuru has further responded here
I do not agree with Danielle Crittenden conclusion she has some important things to say. Also I do think fellow conservatives should exhibit a little more civility when responding to her.
She mentions:
And that is how I arrived at my final conclusion:
"I fear our side is becoming like the leftists we used to mock. We refuse to recognize the American president as our president. And we reduce our politics to a single issue, showing no tolerance or desire for engagement with our opponents, including those who dissent within our own ranks.
In the coming four years, all conservatives will have cause to oppose and fight the Obama administration on many, many fronts. But let's not imitate the past eight years of political opposition. We are better than that. And we should—we must—be willing to share a platform with our elected President."You can keep trying to insist the Glendon/Notre Dame debate is a private fight. But whether you like it or not, it’s a public fight as well.
Let me say that is a danger that must be avoided!! The problem is there is no engagement here. Also many leading Catholic opposing the Obama visit have been quite open that there are venues and opportunities for the President to speak at Catholic Universities. For example please note there was hardly no opposition to President Obama appearing at Georgetown for an economic talk.
I see her point, but I have to disagree on it for this particular case. This is not a matter of politics ... this is a matter of religious obedience. The bishops have forbidden the honoring of people who go against the teachings of the Church on those matters, and they've also forbidden giving them a platform. Now that does not mean that Pres. Obama is not welcome to come to debates at Catholic universities ... what it means is that he should not be giving a commencement address and he should not be receiving an honorary degree. Even with all this, it might've been okay if Glendon had accept the Laetare medal if they hadn't started using her as some kind of shield showing how orthodox they actually were.
ReplyDelete:)
Joe