It is rude to cut people off, for sure. No one would debate that (I would hope!). But, the Bishop clearly has no intelligent answer for the question on the legality of abortion. He tries to bring morality into it, but the law knows not morality. The law is unconcerned with morality.
Those of us who are Pro-Choice do not believe that a woman has the right to choose because we think that abortions are a moral act. We separate morality from freedom. People need to make moral decisions for themselves. I cannot tell another person what is moral or immoral because morality is a personal thing. When I concern myself with the morality of another, I am attempting to exert power over them. This is precisely what the Bishop is attempting to do to Patrick Kennedy.
Catholics have never truly been a moral group (on the whole); just see the long list of violent atrocities that have been conducted in the name of their faith.
Matthews probably should have let the Bishop speak his viewpoint without interruption, even though the Bishop wasn’t answering the question. But he didn’t… is it insulting? Yes, perhaps, but not as insulting as it was to call out Patrick Kennedy as immoral and refusing him communion because he was speaking in support of the rights of the American people.
And now the Catholic League is saying that Matthews was insulting to the Bishop:
http://www.examiner.com/x-8947-LA-Atheism-Examiner~y2009m11d24-Catholic-League-accuses-MSNBC-Hardball-host-of-insulting-bishop
It is rude to cut people off, for sure. No one would debate that (I would hope!). But, the Bishop clearly has no intelligent answer for the question on the legality of abortion. He tries to bring morality into it, but the law knows not morality. The law is unconcerned with morality.
Those of us who are Pro-Choice do not believe that a woman has the right to choose because we think that abortions are a moral act. We separate morality from freedom. People need to make moral decisions for themselves. I cannot tell another person what is moral or immoral because morality is a personal thing. When I concern myself with the morality of another, I am attempting to exert power over them. This is precisely what the Bishop is attempting to do to Patrick Kennedy.
Catholics have never truly been a moral group (on the whole); just see the long list of violent atrocities that have been conducted in the name of their faith.
Matthews probably should have let the Bishop speak his viewpoint without interruption, even though the Bishop wasn’t answering the question. But he didn’t… is it insulting? Yes, perhaps, but not as insulting as it was to call out Patrick Kennedy as immoral and refusing him communion because he was speaking in support of the rights of the American people.