The Old Man & The Seed (McCain & Conception)

First let me rant a bit - how does Rick Warren and his evangelical church get a prime-time gig on CNN? (Here's an irreverent take on it)

How does that happen? Even if pollsters are right and 25% of the voting electorate are self-described "born again" Christians or evangelicals, how does that still warrant a prime-time gig on CNN?

Will there now be a prime-time 2-hour presidential candidate interview show for the other 75% of the voting electorate? Or even any percentage of them? If so, maybe I'll get to host a prime-time gig representing liberal, right-handed, feminist white guys.

Separation of church & state has simply become an interesting concept, and I think the CNN show was simply pandering.

Anyway, it gave us all an opportunity to hear John McCain proclaim that life begins at conception - to thunderous applause from the audience I might add. Thanks John, that really clears things up.

Although I'm sure Senator McCain doesn't think through all the implications of position statements like that - here's what it could mean for future McCain Administration policies.

For example, as Jay Bookman writes in his Atlanta Journal-Constitution blog...

"If human life begins at the moment of conception, it means that abortion must be outlawed in all instances, with no possible exception for pregnancies that result from rape or incest. By McCain’s definition, those embryos are human beings that must be protected, without regard to how they might have been created.

It also means that IUDs are not a form of birth control but murder weapons, because they operate by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus, thus starving it to death. Some prolife physicians even believe that the birth-control pill is an abortion device, because in some cases the pill can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg."

And then there's the sticky problem such a statement creates for Senator McCain himself concerning his avowed support for stem cell research. As Jay Bookman points out, if life begins at conception, then "...stem cell research into cures for Alzheimers, Parkinson’s, diabetes and other diseases is murder and must be abandoned immediately."

Well, John, what do you have to say about that?

I like absolutists like McCain, don't you. Helps clears things up.