Thursday, June 14, 2007

Amnesty International

It is a great pity that the work of Amnesty has become impossible for Catholics to support by its new stance on abortion. This is from Zenit today.

Amnesty International's Identity Lost : Catholics Should No Longer Support Group
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 13, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace is encouraging Catholics to withdraw support from Amnesty International since the groups no longer defends the right to life. Cardinal Renato Martino told the National Catholic Register that the recent decision by the human rights group to promote abortion "rights" is a betrayal of its identity."By pushing for the decriminalization of abortion as part of their platform, Amnesty International has disqualified itself as a defender of human rights," he said. "If AI is no longer willing to stand up for the most basic human right -- the right to life -- then the very integrity of the organization is called into question."Amnesty International was founded in 1961 by Peter Benson as a defender and promoter of the inalienable rights of the human person.Now it has joined other international organizations, such as the United Nations Children's Fund, in promoting a so-called right to abortion, at least in certain cases.

Culture of death
Cardinal Martino, who served as the Holy See's permanent observer at the United Nations, says that this change of position is part of the "pro-death" agenda in the culture."The pro-death agenda […] is cloaked in human rights language, but in reality it undermines the very human rights it portends to support," Cardinal Martino said. "Its logical conclusion is the destruction of life and all of the life-giving values that we as a human family and as a society should be grateful for. De-sensitizing the culture to the evil of abortion is part and parcel of the pro-abortion lobby."However, the 74-year-old cardinal recognized that pro-choice organizations have not succeeded in establishing an "internationally recognized human right" to abortion."I was head of the Holy See delegation to the Cairo Conference on Population and Development when that issue was settled definitively," Cardinal Martino stated. "Paragraph 8.25 of the Cairo Declaration clearly states, 'In no case should abortion be promoted as a method of family planning … and every attempt should be made to eliminate the need for abortion."The cardinal said that Amnesty International's decision means Catholics and Catholic organizations should no longer financially support the group."The very promotion of abortion opens the door to the slippery slope of evil and death, where human rights are taken away from the most innocent and vulnerable children of God," he said. "I believe that, if in fact Amnesty International persists in this course of action, individuals and Catholic organizations must withdraw their support."

9 comments:

John said...

This is very sad. Until now Amnesty was a fantastic organisation.

ali mata said...

That's really a shame

Anonymous said...

Must make sure my kids schools know...

Anonymous said...

Amnesty's support of the pro abortion lobby is indeed very regretable.As John has commented Amnesty was a fantastic organization.I still believe it is.Its record concerning Human Rights still remains far more credible than that of the R.C Chuch which continues to promote the oppression of gay people and portray them as psychologically disturbed perverts,enemies of the family etc,despite the fact that a goodly percentage of the clergy are gay !!
A case of the pot calling the kettle me thinks.

Alnwickian said...

John and David:
Amnesty has always had to tread a difficult line. I cancelled my own support for it when it refused to campaign for gay men who had been unjustly imprisoned. I believe it has now corrected that error.
Amnesty's own statement about its position on abortion is worth reading:-
http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGPOL300122007
As David says, the extreme reaction of the Cathoic bishops has to be read in the light of their own record. How many of them show 'respect compassion and sensitivity' towards gay people and avoid 'every sign of unjust discrimiantion in their regard' as they are bound to do by the 'official teaching of the Church'?
Amnesty's resports about Poland and Nigeria make disturbing reading - God-forsaken homes of the Religious Right.

Fr Michael Brown said...

David, the Catholic Church goes out of its way to say that homosexual people should be treated with respect and not discriminated against as Alnwickian points out. What the Catholic church does not accept is homosexual sexual activity.

Anonymous said...

Some of my favourite passages from the Gospels:
Judge not that you be not judged.

How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.

Fr Michael Brown said...

Sick, thank you for sharing your favourite passages. A couple of them are among my favourites too. Another of my favourites is: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Anonymous said...

I bet you find, like me, Father, that it's easy to admire and love passages of the Bible. Far harder to put them into practice consistently though, aren't they?