#446 Around the Web, Human Rights - February 1, 2019
In the Media: Catholics and the Consistent Life Ethic Bishop John Stowe is episcopal president of Pax Christi USA, one of our member groups. He wrote an Op-Ed in the Lexington Herald Leader, January 23, 2019. He points out that the “pro-life movement got its start among peace activists who saw their opposition to abortion as a natural extension of opposition to all forms of violence.” His main thesis is how pro-lifers would be more effective if they also opposed other violence. Michael Sean Winters takes it from the other direction – that those advocating other social justice issues would be more effective by applying their nonviolence principles to unborn children, in “Liberal Catholics have work to do to support consistent ethic of life.”
In the Media: Death Penalty, Euthanasia & War
The American Conservative published “Why Conservatives Should Oppose the Death Penalty,” sub-title: “The state is not God, and capital punishment is not infallible.” The article also discusses racist aspects of executions. Charles Camosy’s “When the State Kills” appears in Church Life Journal, January 10, 2019. The Guardian has a lengthy piece by Christopher de Bellaigue called “Death on demand: has euthanasia gone too far?” The fact that the piece is from The Guardian, which might generally be sympathetic to euthanasia (and the author clearly has some sympathies in that direction) makes the critical points that much more impressive. On war, are we in any way headed in the right direction? We always look for signs of hope, so it was interesting to see a commentary on this from Ross Douthat, conservative columnist for the New York Times.
About Our Quotations
People occasionally question why we quoted someone they feel is questionable somehow, and the answer is simple: we like the quotation. We focus on what’s said and don’t vet who said it. This is in line with our cheerful acceptance of all human beings, and our desire to encourage people when they say things we like. We bring this up because sometimes people think we’ve endorsed everything in an entire article because we pulled a quotation from it. In one case, someone only wanted to quote from consistent-lifers and assumed a person being quoted was one because of appearing in our publication. We’re not that narrowly defined. We take insight where we find it.
Latest CLN Blog Post John Whitehead reflects on how self-proclaimed human rights advocates have gone astray in Human Rights & the Right to Life: Reconsidering Conventional Human Rights Activism.
Quotation of the Week Michael Gerson, conservative columnist The Trumpification of the pro-life movement exacts a price The Washington Post, January 21, 2019 If you believe that a fetus is a member of the human family from its first moment . . . then opposition to abortion is inherently a social justice issue. It is the defense of the weak and voiceless against violence . . . To be consistent, of course, you would need to care equally for the lives of women in crisis. And for the health and welfare of children after birth . . . Defending human dignity at every stage of human development is not a commitment currently embodied in either political party, nor in either conservatism or liberalism. People who hold this view should be against Roe v. Wade and against the separation of children from their parents at the border. They should be opposed to the dehumanization of unborn children and the dehumanization of refugees and migrants. The legitimacy of pro-life sentiment is demonstrated by its consistency.
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