Robert P. George responds to Anne Rice

Novelist Anne Rice raised some eyebrows back in August when she, a recent Catholic convert, publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton and wrote, in part:

Though I deeply respect those who disagree with me, I believe, for a variety of reasons, that the Democratic Party best reflects the values I hold based on the Gospels.  Those values are most intensely expressed for me in the Gospel of Matthew, but they are expressed in all the gospels.  Those values involve feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, visiting those in prison, and above all, loving one’s neighbors and loving one’s enemies.  A great deal more could be said on this subject, but I feel that this is enough.

I want to add here that I am Pro-Life. I believe in the sanctity of the life of the unborn.   Deeply respecting those who disagree with me, I feel that if we are to find a solution to the horror of abortion, it will be through the Democratic Party. ...

Again, I believe the Democratic Party is the party that is most likely to  help Americans make a transition away from the abortion crisis that we face today.  Its values and its programs --- on a whole variety of issues --- most clearly reflect my values. Hillary Clinton is the candidate whom I most admire.

Now Robert P. George, professor at Princeton and a very fine Catholic scholar, has responded to Rice's comments. Over on First Things (ht: Catholics in the Public Square) George writes:

I am a professor of the philosophy of law at Princeton, and someone who enjoyed your fine book Out of Egypt. I have read your endorsement of Senator Clinton and your reasoning as to why you support her despite your pro-life convictions.

I am a former Democrat who left the party because it hardened its heart toward the child in the womb. In the 1990s, I had the honor of working for Governor Robert P. Casey of Pennsylvania, the last of the great national pro-life Democratic political leaders. (The governor, you may recall, was denied an opportunity to speak at the 1992 Democratic National Convention because of his pro-life advocacy.) I am the grandson of West Virginia coal miners who, together with my grandmothers, were loyal Democrats. If they were alive today, they would ache, as I ache, to know that the political party they loved has committed itself to the legal protection of the killing of the unborn.

I appreciated the soft voice with which you spoke in expressing your views, and I wish to respond in similarly soft terms. Although I believe you are deeply mistaken in what you are doing and encouraging others to do, I am certain that you are trying to do what is right. That is all any of us can do. Perhaps you are the one who is right, and I am the one who is wrong. I hope, though, that you will consider my reasons.

Read his entire letter.

Comments

[Kyl Schalk]

You are doing great work for the pro-life cause, Carl Olson. Your emphasis on the great pro-life information that the leading pro-life intellectuals give is a good example for all pro-lifers!!

[Stohn N]

"I feel that if we are to find a solution to the horror of abortion, it will be through the Democratic Party"

What's the solution the Democratic Party has to offer? Abortion on demand...

[Gail]

Thank you very much for posting this. I think there are people of good will in the Democratic party who want to end abortion, and if they can get the Democrats to acknowledge and support them, more power to them! If, on the other hand, they try their hardest to do so and become convinced of what Robert P. George argues, then they will leave the Democrats and make the anti-abortion elements of the Republicans even stronger.

Both would be a good thing. Everyone, everywhere who understands that abortion is murder needs to work to end it. The more fronts they are working on, the better.

Gail Finke

[Ed Peters]

Rice's endorsement of Hillary had all the attractiveness of a gallon of maple syrup and a pound of powedered sugar heaped on a burned piece of stale french toast. Hillary is rotten to the core, and Rice's defense of her was sickeningly sweet.