#348 Refugees, Shane Claiborne - February 17, 2017
Refugees: Left/Right Agreement Peace Perspective An excerpt from “Refugees: Seeing Flight as a Non-violent Option,” by Erica Chenoweth and Hakim Young: “refugees are generally people who, in the context of truly dislocating violence, made a life-altering, non-violent choice to act for themselves in a way that cast them and their families into uncertain futures. Once they arrive, on average the threat of violence against the refugee is much greater than the threat of violence by the refugee. Shunning them, detaining them as if they were criminals, or deporting them to war-torn environments sends a message that non-violent choices are punished — and that submitting to victimization or turning to violence are the only choices left.” Pro-life Perspective The Washington Examiner is a conservative publication that offered a commentary by C. C. Pecknold, “Why America Depends on the Abortion and Refugee Debates”: “The executive order was immediately criticized, soberly and seriously by conservatives, and with unreserved outrage by progressives. Many Americans responded to both the plight of the unborn and the refugee in similar fashion. Almost everyone believed . . . [in] the dignity of the human person, and the family. That is, both sides appealed to the justice owed to the human person, and both sides appealed to mercy, and to charity, those especially Christian ideas that resonate through the ages.”
Comment: Pro-Lifers Didn’t Start Just Now A reader sends in this comment: “I noticed in the February 10 issue, the ‘I'm Pro-life and also Pro-Refugee’ piece was highlighted. While I appreciate the writer's maturing views, as a pro-lifer, I must say I found both it and the comments -- particularly those highlighted by the NYT -- distressing. The editorial makes it sound as though pro-lifers have only just now started caring about other social justice issues -- and this solicited comments of a ‘Well, it's about time’ variety. I think the message needs to be more in this vein: The Lazy Slander of the Pro-Life Cause."
Pro-life Reasoning Opposing the Death Penalty
Montana state representative Adam Hertz gave this reason for introducing legislation to abolish the death penalty in that state: “I cannot in good conscience claim to be pro-life and support a system that takes innocent life at the heavy hand of a government in an imperfect justice system.” Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, a group that connects pro-life advocacy to opposition to capital punishment (along with other reasons), reports success in more “state-based conservatives” questioning the death penalty.
Another CL Mention in the Press The Catholic Sentinel included CL Board member Lisa Stiller’s comments in “Jubilation, grief and even some pro-life outreach at Women's March.”
Latest CL Blog
CL Endorser Shane Claiborne, prominent evangelical activist and author of many books, has written a blog piece about widening the circle of life issues. He includes some of the story of his being with Mother Teresa in India.
Quotation of the Week Aimee Murphy I’m an anti-abortion feminist. I’ll walk at the Women’s March, whether organizers like it or not. The Washington Post, January 18, 2017 Pro-life feminists come from all walks of life, span many racial and socioeconomic backgrounds, and include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, Muslims, atheists and Christians. We share one commonality beneath all our diversity: We uphold the life and dignity of each and every human being. As such, we stand for equality, nondiscrimination and nonviolence. Living nonviolence means that we oppose abortion, because it is the intentional killing of the smallest members of our human family.
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