Daniel Webster was the most famous lawyer of his day. In 1819, the “Godlike Daniel” stood before the U.S. Supreme Court and argued passionately for the right of Dartmouth College to govern itself, and not to be brought under the rule of the New Hampshire legislature. Webster appealed to the Constitution, arguing that New Hampshire’s actions would violate that provision that forbade states to “impair the obligations of contract." But the emotional power of his argument caught the attention of Chief Justice John Marshall, Justice Joseph Story, and in truth, captured the hearts of the country.
Richard N. Current gives us a gripping description of Daniel Webster’s defense of Dartmouth College in a 1963 American Heritage article. 
“Sir, you may destroy this little institution. It is weak. It is in your hands! I know it is one of the lesser lights in the literary horizon of the country. You may put it out. But if you do so, you must carry through your work. You must extinguish, one after another, all those great lights of science which, for more than a century, have thrown their radiance over our land. It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college, and yet, there are those who love it. …”
2
1
View Full Article
Tags: Abortion , Supreme Court , Faith , Defense , Values , Family , Obama , WHO , New Hampshire , Gay , Gay Rights , HHS , Obama Administration , Catholic , University , Catholic Church , professor , Science , charlotte , Career , children , Dartmouth
Ken Blackwell

Ken Blackwell

Ken Blackwell, a contributing editor at Townhall.com, is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council and the American Civil Rights Union and is on the board of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. He is the co-author of the new bestseller The Blueprint: Obama’s Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build an Imperial Presidency, on sale in bookstores everywhere..
 
TOWNHALL DAILY: Be the first to read Ken Blackwell's column. Sign up today and receive Townhall.com daily lineup delivered each morning to your inbox.

Breaking on TOWNHALL

Join the Debate
218 Comments So Far
Login in to Post Your Comments
« Previous123Next »
Jim69 Wrote: Oct 06, 2011 12:55 PM
What is the Catholic Church position on capital punishment and war?
Flag as Offensive
rvinsmith Wrote: Oct 11, 2011 2:07 PM
Jim:

On capital punishment --

CCC (Catechism of the Catholic Church) 2267:

Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, IF this is the ONLY possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.

If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person.
Flag as Offensive
rvinsmith Wrote: Oct 11, 2011 2:08 PM
....continued:

Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm- without definitively taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself- the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity "are very rare, if not practically non-existent" (The Catechism quotes Pope John Paul II there)
Flag as Offensive
rvinsmith Wrote: Oct 11, 2011 2:11 PM
On war:

CCC 2307:

The fifth commandment forbids the intentional destruction of human life. Because of the evils and injustices that accompany all war, the Church insistently urges everyone to prayer and to action so that the divine Goodness may free us from the ancient bondage of war.

2308:

All citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war. However, "as long as the danger of war persists and there is no international authority with the necessary competence and power, governments cannot be denied the right of lawful self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed."
Flag as Offensive
rvinsmith Wrote: Oct 11, 2011 2:14 PM
...continued:

2309:

The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time:

-the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;
-all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
-there must be serious prospects of success;
-the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weights very heavily in evaluating this condition.
Flag as Offensive
rvinsmith Wrote: Oct 11, 2011 2:16 PM
...continued:

These are the traditional elements enumerated in what is called the "just war" doctrine.

The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basically, it is pretty much almost never justifiable to sanction the death penalty or go to war unless very rigorous conditions are met. In order for the death penalty to be justified, the danger must be so vast in keeping the offender alive that it would actually be a crime not to carry through with it since there is ready and available risk for the lives of those in society.
Flag as Offensive
rvinsmith Wrote: Oct 11, 2011 2:21 PM
Of course, as Pope John Paul II pointed out, that condition is almost non-existent in the modern world given our capabilities in this day and age. And a similar principle applies to war; it can only be a just war when meeting such careful and prudential decisions. You will notice that the weight of these teachings are based entirely on both 1) the public safety and 2) mitigating factors ensuring that death is absolutely necessary as a lesser evil than the graver evil to be prevented (i.e. not going to war or not carrying out the death penalty when not doing so means, actually, the destruction of more life and cultivation of more evil than would otherwise happen if responsible self-defense is exercised)
Flag as Offensive
Mark Trail Wrote: Oct 04, 2011 1:45 AM
It's as if all the raving banshees have roared up from hell and infested one man, who is going around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And the scariest thing is many think him to be the Messiah, and think he is doing God's work.
Flag as Offensive
larryniven Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 6:40 PM
Tagged: http://rustbeltphilosophy.blogspot.com/2011/10/yeah-why-cant-government-just-not-care.html
Flag as Offensive
Simon38 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 5:13 PM
This is sheer fantasy. All Steubenville has to do is stop sucking at the public trough. Grow up. Why should my taxes support the religious delusions of some decrepit old Hitler youth leaguer currently living in Rome?
Flag as Offensive
wolverine50 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 6:29 PM
How is Steubenville "sucking at the public trough"? Last time I checked, the parents who send their kids there pay taxes. The only way students at Steubenville get public money is through pell grants and other grants offered by the government directly to ALL students, not the school - and those grants are funded by TAX DOLLARS which the parents of those students PAY. A common misperception that many on the left make - the government's money doesn't just appear out of nowhere - it comes from taxpayers! I'm not going to thank the government for giving me a little bit of the money they've taken from me back to me. The school isn't publicy funded in any way other than these grants to students - grants they get when they go to any school.
Flag as Offensive
John Doman Wrote: Oct 06, 2011 2:40 PM
Do you have any idea of what FUS is? HAve you ever been there? Just wondering if you had any basis for calling the students there "Hitler Youth" or if you truly were the hate-filled bigoted a**wipe you seem to be.
Flag as Offensive
Alecto Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 4:03 PM
I think this is a call to civil disobedience. No president, no legislature, and no judge, let alone an unelected burearat has the right to deny free exercise in this country. If Sebelius wants to take us on, by God in heaven, let her. We can, and we must fight back. Too much of what has happened and what is happening to the Catholic church is due to the spineless cowards who make up the clergy. Time for real Catholic "action".
Flag as Offensive
acox Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 2:41 PM
Actually-- it says "The Gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church." We shall survive. It has often been noted that the more persecution the Church endures, the stronger it grows. That is the nature of God.
Flag as Offensive
Justinian Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 11:38 AM
I live in Connecticut, a very Democratic state. Our state has come under siege by the Democratically controlled state legislature when it tried (unsuccessfully) to enact a law that would have changed the way the Catholic Church is governed. Led by our bishops, we resisted it & the legislation was defeated. Last week, the bishops warned us about another challenge to freedom, this time from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services "that would require health care plans nationwide to cover contraception & sterilization as 'preventive services' for women. The mandate includes drugs that cause abortions." Strange that all these assaults on religious freedom come from Democrats who were voted into office with the help of Catholics!
Flag as Offensive
Justinian Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 11:24 AM
Thank you for exposing more truth about the Obama administration. I question how many Catholics who voted for Obama know about this outrage. We can only hope that Obama and his entire administration will be swept from office in 2012 by a landslide victory. The nation cannot afford another four years of this political aberration.
Flag as Offensive
Alecto Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 4:05 PM
No true practicing Catholic could ever have voted for Obama knowing the platform of the Democratic party which supports and wants taxpayer funding for abortion, euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research.
Flag as Offensive
Samwise24 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 11:24 AM
"The Obama administration is also the most anti-Catholic administration in American history." And yet, so many Catholics voted for the guy. I simply do not get it. I assume that they are the same gullible types who fall for all the false rhetoric about being well-intentioned and wanting to help the "oppressed." Do they not realize that Satan himself used the same smooth talk all throughout the scriptures?

I'm still angry with Notre Dame for allowing him to speak there. Then again, the radical Left already fully infiltrated many of these so-called Catholic institutions long ago.
Flag as Offensive
Simon38 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 5:16 PM
I think it was because Obama was going to make them play without black wide receivers if they didn't allow him to speak. More government interference.
Flag as Offensive
Richard19 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 7:48 AM
obamma and his gay occult communist thugs will be swept out of power, even if they have to be surgically removed. To have given them any rights at all, as we can see now, was a big mistake. That's why for centuries everywhere these monstrous arrogant weirdos have been banned from public influence. They will never give up either; it's their purpose to destroy.
Flag as Offensive
Simon38 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 5:18 PM
Well, it can't get any funnier than "gay occult communist thugs" so I guess I will move on. But I do like "swept out of power, even if they have to be surgically removed." Don't words have meanings for these folks?
Flag as Offensive
WestTexan Wrote: Oct 02, 2011 9:50 PM
There is no such thing as "gay rights", there is no right to behave in an abominable way. Chai Feldblum is an example of why tenure should be abolished everywhere. She is a Nazi.
Flag as Offensive
ArtF. Wrote: Oct 02, 2011 1:20 AM
Actually, Obama is anti-Christian, not just anti-Catholic. I certainly have more empathy for Franciscan university than I ever will have for Georgetown university, after all, Georgetown knowingly hired an activist homosexual. Unfortunately, the Catholic church is weak and getting weaker by the moment, as they are still hiding pedophile and homosexual priests. The Pope has as little authority as the Queen of England, a mere figure head that costs Catholics a whole lot of wasted money. In all propriety, all actual Catholic schools should just shut their doors and throw the students out, at least until 2013, then they will be free to resume their faith.
Flag as Offensive
Mark442 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 8:05 AM
I agree that obama is anti Christian but I strongly disagree that the Catholic church is weak and getting weaker by the minute. The church I attend is huge and getting bigger. We have Catholics from the Middle East, Africa, South America and Asia. It's the coolest thing I have ever seen, I have been
Catholic my entire life, 52 years. I am witnessing this strengthening of faith in the people of the church as the government tries to push us aside the more committed we become. No! We're not weak. We are the world's first Christian religion and obama isn't going to put an end to 2000 years of Christian faith. Catholics have faced much larger adversaries than little old barak.
He is a little man of little faith therefore he is of little...
Flag as Offensive
Mark442 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 8:06 AM
significance.
Flag as Offensive
Justinian Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 11:27 AM
I agree with your remarks. My parish has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past two or three years. We have Catholics from many different ethnic backgrounds, all hungry for God and for religious and moral truth. We are far from weak, but growing stronger all the time. I suspect this is a movement of the Holy Spirit, i.e., as the Church becomes more of a target of secular forces (including the Obama Administration and other like minded Democrats), her faith grows stronger to resist these assaults. The Church always gets stronger and grows during periods of persecution, in the past and in our own time too.
Flag as Offensive
Greg1084 Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 10:52 PM
So much for liberals being liberal. Dictators in drag is what they are.
Flag as Offensive
James Butler Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 10:46 PM
More evidence that this admin's war against God, country, honor , duty, and religion extends way beyond Israel and the Jews.... Surely St. Francis and many other Catholic, Christian Universities are as viscously targeted for fine and courts...
It is obvious we are watching the great push against God, and Judeo-Chrisitnas religion...

Geee, biblically speaking, I wonder who is gonna win this one... Bless us oh Lord....
Flag as Offensive
william704 Wrote: Oct 02, 2011 12:30 PM
well just wait for the LYING MUSLIM IN THE WHITE HOUSE to take full sharia law to those gays, abortionists etc, so beloved by the administration. they're just taking names and addresses for later when the LYING MUSLIM IN THE WHITE HOUSE takes all of them and buries them to the neck and stones them as per sharia law.adios rosie,kd lang, barney frank and good riddance.
Flag as Offensive
Sorceress Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 7:51 PM
What First Amendment?
Flag as Offensive
Marie150 Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 6:56 PM
Impeach OBAMA now!
Flag as Offensive
Marie150 Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 6:55 PM
Hopefully the people of Steubenville will stand up to OBAMA and his maniacs.
Flag as Offensive
Carol 130 Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 7:28 PM
Or they can close down the maternity unit.
Flag as Offensive
Marie150 Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 6:48 PM
Students using student loans are not an example of government funding. The students will pay back the loans with interest.

OBAMA has taken over all student loans.

Was this just to take away a students freedom of religion?

Was this a plot to destroy Christian education?

Evil, evil and more evil.

I don't want to talk about the destiny of Sebelius.
Flag as Offensive
jg12 Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 8:40 PM
It might be an act of charity to talk directly to Sebelius about her destiny. She seems unaware of the possibilities.
Flag as Offensive
Anonymous1849 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 8:06 AM
Something tells me the wouldn't listen, esp. if she's already going after Christian institutions. Maybe tell her...but as Jesus said, "If you go to them, and they won't accept you, wipe the dust from your shoes, and walk away." You did what you could do. If she never cracks a bible, then it's no ones fault but her own, sadly.
Flag as Offensive
Anonymous1849 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 8:05 AM
He's trying to put EVERYTHING under the executive branch...and once it's done, whoever is behind this community organizer will come out of the shadows, and take power. Something tells me he will be like another Mao....the one they all seem to idolize. Mao on the WH Christmas tree....czars singing his praises....giving China's highest military generals tours of our military installations, even those harboring our most sensitive nuclear information. Then O leaves town with half the WH in tow, and we have Chinese missiles flying over our country! Of course our gov't lies, and tells us it's airplane tail smoke. But former generals came out, and said, "Those are NO airplane tails...they're from a Chinese sub!"
Flag as Offensive
Marie150 Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 6:44 PM
We would be better off to impeach OBAMA today! He has gone too far. Fast and Furious will do it.
Flag as Offensive
Anonymous1849 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 8:07 AM
Can't impeach while you have a democratic-controlled senate. You'd never get the 2/3 votes needed to impeach.
Flag as Offensive
Ken6565 Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 6:28 PM
What Obama's doing to Roman Catholic schools isn't just anti-Catholic. It's anti-Christian. What they have been trying to do to Belmont and to Franciscan-Steubenville is just as much an attack on all the Concordias (the Lutheran university system), and on other Lutheran, Reformed and other Protestant colleges and universities. It appears that the Obama administration has concluded that the Roman Catholic church is not only the largest church to hold to its historic confessions (the papal bulls and decretals, the councils, and the officially approved catechisms), but the most likely to try to compromise and thereby open the door for attacks on smaller bodies.

Traditional Protestants should see that they're next.
Flag as Offensive
Kristine43 Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 11:15 PM

@ Ken,
You are so correct that this attack on Franciscan-Steubbenville is anti-Christian. Also that Protestants should realize that they are also targets.



Flag as Offensive
Anonymous1849 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 8:11 AM
Paul the apostle said there would be MANY anti-CHRISTS in the last days. So there won't be just one Antichrist...but MANY. And we see this with the ACLU who say, "You can keep the manger scenes...but just take baby JESUS out of the cradle!" They really just can't even stand to look at a plaster piece of artwork that portrays Jesus. It's like anathema to them. There's a much bigger battle going on here than Sebellius going against Christianity. It was foretold, and Israel is surrounded. Jesus' words coming to light. Read Matthew's gospel...it's all there in RED...Jesus said, "Watch!" Well...we can ALL see it now...at one time on satellite tv!
Flag as Offensive
C. R.3 Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 6:28 PM
Yep, part of the Obama plan to take control of us in any situation and everywhere! Several Catholic hospitals and organizations will close down and this means millions will be without service via hospitals, educational institutions, etc. And that is the way it should be. We cannot and must not be forced into that in which we do have not belief. Obama needs to go along with his czars and friends and puppeteer(s). This is OUR country and not his and we want our America back and running on the Constitution and OUR Bill of Rights. Obviously, Obama is ill-educated and knows only what he is told to do. Can't think, can't talk, and obviously knows nothing of value!
Flag as Offensive
Anonymous1849 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 8:16 AM
Personally, he and his czars remind me of Pol Pot and Cambodia from the 70's. He hasn't had people killed, but the night's still young. Pretty soon we'll be totally dependent on outside countries for food... no water for our vegetables in California or Washington state; dependent for our oil (which is used for many things in our economy, not just cars); at his mercy for much-needed surgeries; money (banks); Why, we won't be able to buy or sell....(hmmm...where have I heard that before? Not being able to buy or sell?) Israel is surrounded... the re-rising of the 7th nation that fell...(Ottoman Empire)...and is going to be the 8th nation. The Antichrist will attempt to change the laws (sharia) & times (Muslim calendar to remove bc/ad)
Flag as Offensive
Jim3901 Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 6:01 PM
There is a fundamental difference between going to war and forcing Catholics to finance the murder of human beings pre-birth.

The constitution grants the Federal government the power to wage war. It does not grant a woman the right to kill her child even if conceived at a time she now finds inconvenient.

It is not her body she is destroying it is her baby.
Flag as Offensive
Anonymous1849 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 8:18 AM
And those same people put Scott Peterson in jail for killing his baby before it was born. He got TWO murder raps! And they actually called it a "baby" in the trial, and not a "fetus"....if you ask me, they call it one thing one time, and another thing if it suits their causes.
Flag as Offensive
lilly18 Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 5:58 PM
A suggestion: so far today about fifty times I have seen the suggestion on TH that people in need should turn not to the government but to the church. How about Catholic colleges denied federal funds do the same thing? We are a nation of laws. The law says "either obey the law or go without federal funding". OK fine. According to TH, the church is a bottomless pit of money. Surely the church will be delighted to take up the slack when the feds bow out of funding Catholic schools. As a Protestant taxpayer I am no more interested in funding Catholic education than you anti-contraception folks are in paying for rubbers. And BTW, what suddenly happened to your argument that you want the government out of everything?
Flag as Offensive
Marie150 Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 6:46 PM
Students using student loans from the government.

Are you suggesting students should not be allowed to choose where they go to school with loans that they will pay back.

This is not government funding.
Flag as Offensive
Anonymous1849 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 8:24 AM
Under the new healthcare bill there won't be any such thing as a loan NOT from the gov't for schooling. You won't be able to get a private loan for school anymore. It's in the bill Nancy Pelosi said we'd have to read to actually find out what was in it. Well, surprise! Surprise!
Flag as Offensive
Anonymous1849 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 8:24 AM
Under the new healthcare bill there won't be any such thing as a loan NOT from the gov't for schooling. You won't be able to get a private loan for school anymore. It's in the bill Nancy Pelosi said we'd have to read to actually find out what was in it. Well, surprise! Surprise!
Flag as Offensive
Davole Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 7:38 PM
lilly -

Where and when have any TH columnists or bloggers stated that "the church is a bottomless pit of money?"

Also, since a hypothetical bottomless pit cannot be filled with anything, whether money or anything else, your "bottomless pit of money" is a ridiculous impossibility.

Now it would probably be worthwile for you to stretch one of those rubbers over your head and shoulders and then exit stage left.

And finally to use another one of those rubbers to completely erase your tracks.
Flag as Offensive
Anonymous1849 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 8:25 AM
Wow...really weird visual....
Flag as Offensive
Anonymous1849 Wrote: Oct 03, 2011 8:23 AM
I agree Lilly....I believe subsidizing ANYTHING -- a college...a company, should be done away with. Let them stand or fall on their own merit. Put in a flat tax, and let even churches...both pro-test-ant (true pronunciation...as Martin Luther & those in his cause were "protesting" the Catholic church which he previously belonged to)...and Catholic churches pay their share of taxes so that everyone has a horse in the race. No tax exemptions...period! Jesus said to pay to Caesar what is Caesar's! He said it in the context of paying your taxes! Pay taxes, quit letting the gov't hold you hostage, and then you won't have to do what they say to do.
Flag as Offensive
Charlie267 Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 4:17 PM
Not the role of govt to help poor folks. This is the land of opportunity, if you cant make it hit the church up for help. That is the role of church--helping others. It is not the role of govt to take money from citizens and give it to poor people for college tuition. I dont support the idea of the govt helping ANYONE, thats why I give regularly to my local church.
Flag as Offensive
Marie150 Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 6:52 PM
And the government should have absolutely nothing to do with student loans.
Flag as Offensive
O'Pinyon Wrote: Oct 01, 2011 1:26 PM
Traitorbill says:
"Every time the administration does something promoting abortion and gay marriage, they assure us that there will be religious exemptions. Then they show their true intentions. In their minds, they know not only what is best for us, but also what our religious beliefs should be. They're out of control."

You are right. The only control they are under is that of the "gay" lobby.
Larry Sinclair's story sheds light on that priority.
Flag as Offensive
« Previous123Next »
New comments on this article - click to refresh