Falwell Questions Grounds for Evangelical Support of 'Pro-Choice' Candidate
by Allie Martin and Jody Brown
October 18, 2004
(AgapePress) - The founder of the Moral Majority says Christians need to vote their convictions and should not blindly support any political party.During the final presidential debate last week, Senator John Kerry spoke about his faith. And throughout the last four year, President George W. Bush has made no attempt to hide his faith in Christ. But Christian activist Dr. Jerry Falwell says there are stark contrasts between the two presidential candidates when it comes to faith.
Speaking on Fox News, Falwell said he did not know how an evangelical Christian could support the Massachusetts senator.
"I don't know how anybody who takes the Bible seriously and who professes a new birth experience with Chris ... could vote for John Kerry when he's pro-choice, is not for the Federal Marriage Amendment, [and] is not willing to stand up for those basic, fundamental faith and family issues," Falwell stated.
And although Kerry has said he believes life begins at conception, Falwell is convinced the senator is not the candidate for family values. For example, Falwell sees a distinct contradiction in Kerry's stand on abortion -- and offered how he would have countered Kerry on that issue during the debate.
"I would have said, 'If you believe life begins at conception, then you would believe that's not a fetal tissue, that's a human baby inside the mother -- and you therefore would believe, obviously, that taking that human life is murder,'" said the Liberty University president.
Lest anyone accuse him of just supporting the Republican Party, Falwell said he has voted for Democrats in the past who based their policies on scripture. But he does not believe Kerry would use God's Word to develop his policies. "I don't believe John Kerry for one second," Falwell said. "He's pro-abortion, he's anti-family."
Falwell Not Alone
Evidently, Dr. Falwell is not the only religious figure who is taking issue with Kerry on the issue of abortion and faith. A Los Angeles-based Canon Law expert announced on Friday he has received a boost from the Vatican in his case for heresy against the Democratic candidate because of his support of the right to abortion.
Marc Balestrieri, who filed the formal case against Kerry in July, says he has received a written response prompted by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, affirming that Catholic politicians who persist in supporting the right to abortion are "automatically excommunicated."
According to Balestrieri, the response says "if a Catholic publicly and obstinately supports the civil right to abortion, knowing that the Church teaches officially against that legislation, he or she commits that heresy envisioned by Can. 751 of the Code. Provided that the presumptions of knowledge of the law and penalty (Can. 15, § 2) and imputability (Can. 1321, § 3) are not rebutted in the external forum, one is automatically excommunicated according to Can. 1364, § 1."
Balestrieri calls the response "significant" because it "represents the first time in modern history since Roe v. Wade in 1973 that such a clear reply is given to the Catholic faithful."
The Canon Law expert has filed similar "denunciations and complaints" against four other pro-abortion Catholic politicians: Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, and former New York governor Mario Cuomo. The four have been chosen, he says, because of their "consistent, extensive, and public pro-abortion records."
