Pepperdine professor Douglas Kmiec and actor/activist Martin Sheen discuss the professor’s new book: “Can a Catholic Support Him? Asking the Big Question About Barack Obama.”
By Lisa Kestenbaum / Special to The Malibu Times
A diverse group of Malibu citizens gathered in the intimate space of Diesel, A Bookstore at the Cross Creek Plaza on Sunday afternoon. The air was warm and the topic of conversation: Can a Catholic support a pro-choice presidential candidate?
Pepperdine University School of Law professor Douglas W. Kmiec, author of “Can a Catholic Support Him? Asking the Big Question About Barack Obama,” and actor Martin Sheen, who wrote the book’s foreword, led an engaged audience in a dialogue about politics, religion and the schism between the two.
A devout Catholic, Kmiec also has a notable political resume, having served as head of the Office of Legal Counsel for both the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. But this “lifelong Republican” -as described by Sheen-faced an internal conflict regarding the upcoming presidential election. Looking for a candidate to identify with, Kmiec was drawn to Sen. Obama’s candid and humble demeanor. Recalling a speech given by Obama during the Call to Renewal Conference in 2006, Kmiec stated that the senator “kept hitting one homerun after another, and all I could think was, ‘why aren’t I with this guy?'”
Kmiec officially endorsed Obama, inspired by the senator’s opinion that “we are not a country of red states and blue states, but we’re the United States.” He also participated in a presidential election debate several weeks ago with Pepperdine School of Public Policy professor Robert Kaufman, with Kmiec in support of Obama, and Kaufman of Sen. John McCain.
“This is a strange election with huge social significance,” Kmiec noted. “Sen. Obama has opened his mind to the public-there is no ‘on the record or off the record.’ That sense of openness is the exact opposite of the past eight years.”
Kmiec and his endorsement soon made national news when he was denied communion at a mass in Westlake Village for supporting a pro-choice candidate.
The professor described that particular mass, noting that the priest (whose name Kmiec has chosen to conceal) told him he had made a grave mistake in endorsing Obama. Kmiec remembers the initial embarrassment and confusion of the incident, followed by determination to find a common ground between religion and politics.
“There is more than one way to be pro-life,” he said, referring to part of his book’s message about the value of human life. Kmiec decided to write the book as “a journey of faith” and as a challenge to those who create an unnecessary breach between the Catholic Church and the Democratic Party.
Sheen validated Kmiec’s goal, reading an excerpt from the foreword and adding, “Professor Kmiec and I came together through our faith to try and reach out to all Catholics, whether Democrat or Republican, that are unable to visualize Obama as a positive force for our government.”
A self-described “radical Irish Catholic Democrat,” Sheen stressed the importance of the book in today’s political atmosphere.
The discussion included a question and answer portion, during which Paul Contino, Pepperdine professor of Great Books_Editor, Christianity and Literature and associate director of the university’s Center for Faith and Learning, explained that while he will vote for Obama, he will do so with “some agony of heart.” Some audience members nodded in agreement while others sighed audibly.
Kmiec acknowledged that neither candidate can offer the ultimate solution to the abortion debate, but that, “Senator Obama, as a true leader, has taken us from black and white to shades of gray-and that’s what life is.”
Despite the polarization of the topic, Kmiec and Sheen, who were both thoughtful and eloquent, diffused any potential dissension. As a powerful conclusion to the event, Sheen recited a poem by Rabindranath Tagore entitled “Let My Country Awake,” followed by Kmiec signing copies of his book.