Dr. Francis Beckwith, Visiting Fellow at ND, On the Obama Invite

Dr. Beckwith is a pretty famous convert and former President of the Evangelical Theological Society. I wonder if the ND administration has considered the potential ecumenical backlash from our pro-life Protestant brethren over such a scandalous event. Considering the deaf ear turned to the bishops thus far, I'm guessing no.

Here's the nutshell version of Dr. Beckwith's views as provided by First Things:

Why then would the University of Notre Dame bestow an honorary doctorate of laws on someone who for his entire public life has enthusiastically fought for a segment of the human population, the unborn, to remain permanently outside the protections of the law? Not only that, he has also demanded that our legal regime require that his fellow citizens, including Catholics, underwrite the destruction of these prenatal human beings. And not only that, he is right now preparing to remove by executive order protections that were put in place so that pro-life physicians, nurses, medical students, and others in the health care field may not be forced to participate in abortions or be discriminated against for refusing to do so or even harboring such beliefs.

This is an excellent question. The answer is quite clear:

Unless the university does not believe that the Church’s understanding of the moral law is true and knowable, it can no more in good conscience award an honorary doctorate of laws to a lawyer who rejects the humanity of the proper subjects of law than it could in good conscience award an honorary doctorate in science to a geocentric astronomer who rejects the deliverances of the discipline he claims to practice.

I'm uncertain of what other logical rationale could serve as the foundation for such an honor.

Anybody? Anybody?

Bueller?