Chicago Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin began her June 17 screed against pro-lifers by quoting from Jesus’ “judge not lest ye be judged” speech in Matthew 7:1-5.
Marin was ticked that the American Life League publicly called Catholic Church leadership into account for handing pseudo-Catholic US Sen. Dick Durbin his communion wafer on Sunday after he voted against the partial birth abortion ban the Friday before… and the Unborn Victims of Violence Act the Friday before that… etc., etc., etc. ALL took out a full-page ad in the June 16 Sun-Times.
Fellow CWA-er Mary Lynn Ferkaluk has submitted a great rebuttal to Marin’s piece, which follows.
Related:
“How the most misquoted Bible verse is destroying America,” 6-20-05
[Photo is of Carol Marin from the Chicago Sun-Times website.]

Letter to Carol Marin of the Chicago Sun-Times
by Mary Lynn Ferkaluk
Hickory Hills, IL
In “Abortion foes should look within,” you criticized the American Life League’s ad in the June 16 Sun-Times, which states: “Senator Durbin, you CAN’T be Catholic and pro-abortion.”
You responded, “I don’t know anyone, not anyone, who is PRO-abortion. Abortion is always a tragedy. But then, so are rape and incest.”
Carol, you can’t be that naive. Dozens of national and global organizations exist solely – and profit from – ensuring that abortion remains legal and available 24/7/365.
Rape and incest are tragedies, but because one’s father is a sex offender is no reason to kill him or her.
You continued, “But worse than the liberty taken with the language is the willingness on the part of the American Life League to take it upon themselves to decide if Durbin is, in fact, ‘Catholic’ or entitled to receive communion.” And, “Exactly what kind of true believers are so bereft of humility, charity or self-doubt that they can presume to look into someone else’s soul?”
If I were to take a journalist’s position at the Sun-Times under false pretenses, and were eventually caught for lying about my education and published works, would Marin consider the newspaper “bereft of humility, charity or self-doubt” for calling me into account? Of course not. In fact, Sun-Times reporters and columnists alike publicly condemned one Jayson Blair.
This is righteous judgment. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ was speaking against unrighteous, hypocritical judgment.
The Bible states one can and must judge other Christians by their actions, behavior and what comes out of their mouths in order to correct them and return them to fellowship. Our justice system is based on this principle.
Of course “true believers” cannot and do not judge another’s soul, but are called to judge another’s actions. Durbin’s pro-abortion votes are public actions that require public correction. A person who legalizes, accommodates and simplifies the murder of the innocent is subject to be judged by others who truly know The Lord, and we can say with confidence that abortion/murder is the eclipsing line that God Himself drew thousands of years ago in the book of Genesis when He instituted the death penalty.
Later, you stated, “For some reason, abortion has become the defining issue of American politics, eclipsing many other wrenching issues that speak to the human condition. Senator Durbin said Thursday from Washington, “‘It is interesting where they draw the line. Some who are so certain about abortion have nothing to say on the issue of the death penalty or helping the poor. They think those votes don’t count. They think there is only one issue that drives Catholics.'”
Murder is and should be the primary issue that drives not only Catholics, but non-Catholic Christians, “Jews, Muslims, atheists and agnostics among us” as well. Anyone who condones the murder of the innocent is not likely to care much about “other wrenching issues that speak to the human condition.” A survey of history reveals the millions slaughtered by Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and others. Pol Pot did not help the poor left after millions of their countrymen were murdered. Stalin did not hesitate imposing the death penalty on enemies of the state.
Durbin said “…Some who are so certain about abortion have nothing to say on the issue of the death penalty or helping the poor…” He is wrong. Anybody against abortion would have plenty to argue on those other issues.
Studying the whole Bible (not cherry picking the verses that tickle the ears) shows that God loves justice, and He himself handed down the responsibility of capital punishment to the government, which, by the way, was never rescinded by Christ nor any of the Apostles in the New Testament Church.
There is a difference between the capital killing of convicted murderers and the murder of innocent babies through abortion. The original Hebrew uses two different words to describe two different ways to end a life.
In response to your and Dick Durbin’s misunderstanding of God, God’s character, and the Bible, I would say that people who are not followers of Christ, (as their actions, behavior and rhetoric show) who quote scripture and attempt to apply it inappropriately to retrofit their non-Biblical positions are offensive to God. “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain” does not just apply to pairing the name of God with a four-letter word, but also to call on Him or invoke scripture unrighteously when you aren’t reconciled to Him by Christ’s death and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
True Christians can tell the difference between a real believer and a pretender. Is that a splinter in your eye? Hold still while I remove it.