SUPREME COURT: ABORTION RULING PUTS WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN LIMBO. Last month’s 5-4 decision upholding a ban on partial birth abortion ensured that the composition of the court will be an issue in the coming election. The awkward fact is that all five justices in the majority are Catholic. Stem cell research draws similar religious opposition from the Catholic Church and fundamentalists. It’s based on the magical belief that a soul is assigned to the zygote at conception. The zygote is certainly alive, with its own unique DNA, but that’s true of a bacterium. Based on a Genesis passage in which God breathes life into Adam, Jews and liberal Christians usually argue that the soul arrives when the newborn draws its first breath. However, there is not shred of evidence that a “soul” even exists, and it certainly has no place in science or law.
LIMBO: MAYBE THE COURT SHOULD HAVE CHECKED WITH THE VATICAN. Ironically, just a week after the Court rendered its decision protecting the fetus from late-term abortion, a 30-member International Theological Commission appointed by the Vatican abolished limbo. Limbo was where babies who died before being baptized were sent, including aborted fetuses. Because they were saddled with original sin, they couldn’t go to heaven. But now the panel has decided that because God is merciful, he’s going to let them into heaven anyway. It’s not clear what new information they have. Pope Benedict XVI agrees. While still a Cardinal he wrote a report saying limbo was “only a theological hypothesis.” Isn’t that all any of it is, Benny?