I was delighted to read the article in Thursday's Register by Rev. Larry Ort. He offered a unique perspective on the concept of taking the name of the Lord in vain. I especially resonated with these words from Rev. Ort:

If we Christians would deny others freedom, we take the name of the Lord in vain. When we Christians attempt to impose our will, our beliefs on others, we take the name of the Lord in vain. Any time we attempt to exercise Christianity through force, we are taking God's name in vain. Jesus never forced His ministry of love on anyone "

Rev. Ort's comments brought to my mind the Christians who are lobbying —in the name of Jesus — to enact a law that would make abortion illegal, a secular crime.

Let me state clearly that I am a Catholic; I am opposed to abortion. It is my personal belief that it is wrong, and this belief has been formed by my Catholic upbringing.

But I feel that it would be hugely arrogant of me to assert that I have the right to impose my beliefs on another person who does not agree with me, or may hold different beliefs. All my readings of the Gospel stories of Jesus indicate that Jesus was "pro-choice" in all of his dealings with people. Jesus invited people to follow him, but he never forced them to do so. He respected their free will; they were free to choose: yes or no.

Jesus allowed His followers to make poor choices and he allowed them to suffer the consequences of their poor choices. But Jesus never, never took away their free will or their right to choose.

Jesus never used coercion or intimidation or force of violence to make others do the will of his Father.

So regarding the abortion issue, it seems to me that forbidding a woman to make her choice in reproductive health care, to deny a woman the right to make her own choices regarding her own body, to suppress her free will and to do all this in the name of Jesus to me, that is taking the name of God in vain.