Anne Rice, author of many vampire novels and most recently, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt (which I read and enjoyed), has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president--despite Rice's strongly prolife views.

"My commitment and my vote . . . must reflect my deepest Christian convictions; and for me these convictions are based on the teachings of Christ in the Four Gospels . . . [which include] 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," Rice writes on her website. "I feel that if we are to find a solution to the horror of abortion, it will be through the Democratic Party. I am a Christian; I am a Democrat. . . . I support Hillary Clinton for President of the United States."

Princeton Professor Robert George, whose book Embryo Chuck discusses today on BreakPoint, responds to Rice's open letter at First Things. He says, in part:

I am a former Democrat who left the party because it hardened its heart toward the child in the womb. . . . The child in the womb either is or is not a human being--a member of the human family. If he or she is, then he or she is entitled as a matter of basic justice to the protection of laws. . . . For a voter or public official to seek to deny the unborn elementary legal protections against killing that we favor for ourselves and others we regard as worthy is a gross and appalling injustice. There is no way around this...Yet today the unborn are denied any legal protection and are slaughtered (there really is no other word for what is going on) at the rate of more than one million per year in our country. . . .

It is true that law cannot prevent all abortions; but unless the law recognizes the humanity and rights of the child in the womb we cannot begin doing what you and I wish to do--namely, end the horror of abortion. . . . Mother Teresa of Calcutta . . . made the point that we cannot fight credibly against other social and moral evils, including poverty and violence, while we tolerate mass killing by abortion.

You have endorsed a candidate and a political party that believes that abortion, far from being an injustice, is a fundamental right. . . . They have even sought to protect the grisliest of methods of abortion--the "dilation and intact extraction" procedure. In this, they are promoting the greatest injustice and abuse of human rights to be found in our country today. . . . We should certainly not be tying ourselves to those who see it as no injustice at all.

I believe Anne Rice is sincere in her beliefs--also that she is tragically mistaken. (And I imagine that Feminists for Life, whose website is recommended on Rice's own, would be shrieking "NO!!!!!" at Rice's endorsement of the most radically pro-abortion candidate this country has ever seen.)

Because I believe Ms. Rice is sincere about wanting to support political candidates who most echo the teachings of Scripture, I want to ask her a question: Shouldn't the life of a politician who, Ms. Rice believes, promotes a compassionate, biblical view of the world, echo Christ's own characteristics? In other words, I'd like Ms. Rice to imagine she were writing the story of Hillary Clinton's life. Would her life story reflect in some substantial way the story she told in Christ the Lord, or would it be a story of greed, avarice, deceit, a lust for power, and an abiding hatred for all who oppose her?

I also want to point out, as many have before, that Christ's teachings in the Sermon on the Mount are directed, not at government bureaucrats, but at the Church. Caring for the poor and feeding the hungry are things the Church does well; governments almost invariably do them badly, often making serious social  problems even worse.

Comments

[Diane Singer]

Excellent post, Anne!

[Theron Keller]

This verse comes screaming to my mind:

Isaiah 5:20

Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.