The situation at the University of Notre Dame is getting quite a bit of publicity and controversy. The Harvard Law Professor refused to accept the time- honored Laetare prize this year because President Obama would be on hand to accept an honorary degree from the Catholic University. Quite a few bloggers have weighed in on this predicament and the professor’s refusal has become the least of the concerns.
I am going to try to ascertain what is intrinsically wrong with the whole situation in her refusal and the Officials of Notre Dame handling of the ordeal:
· First of all the professor indicated she would be thrilled to receive the honourable token
· Then she was told that Obama would be delivering the commencement speech and receiving an honorary degree which is a thoughtful gesture
· She writes to the Reverend Jenkins and lambastes him and pulls out of the engagement and refuses the prize
· The bishops and Catholics all deride Reverend Jenkins for having made such an error in judgement
· She claims that anyone who is pro-choice is adamantly against the Catholic beliefs and should not attend Notre Dame’s commencement
· However she forgets quite conveniently that she worked and sat with and agreed with former President George W. Bush who used various abortion tactics and wordings in his speeches
· She also sat with him and agreed with him when he said that torture methods had to be used when dealing with the terrorists or any other persons to gain information
· How religiously correct can that be?
· Now everyone is challenging what abortion is, why or why not it should take place and who makes that decision?
· The rest of the bloggers of the Chronicle.com website are discussing why football and wrestling matches are more torture than having a bucket of water poured into your mouth and face and causing a drowning effect
· Then there are the group who protect the foetus but couldn’t care less about the children who are molested by the priests who have control over them.
So you make up your own mind. When education and free thought become entangled with a stern and strict religion, what is there to sacrifice?