Group says civility call would silence pro-life, pro-family movements

Published: 2008-01-22

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Responding to the call last November by a group of Catholics for greater civility in American political debate, another group said some messages must never be silenced for the sake of civility. "Though not all of its signers intend it, we believe the effect of the 'Call for Civility' would be to silence the pro-life and pro-family movements," said a Jan. 21 statement signed by nearly 100 Catholic leaders. "We oppose this effort root and branch." Calling civility "not the highest -- or the only -- civic virtue," the signers of what they called "A Catholic Response to the 'Call for Civility'" said justice is a greater virtue and that some are asking for civility only because of the abortion issue. "The lack of public civility comes not from pro-lifers but from those Catholic politicians who support the right to kill innocent life in the womb and those who support defining man-woman marriage out of existence," the statement said. "But some want to treat these politicians differently because they agree with them on important but purely prudential questions like health care and the minimum wage."

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