#462 New Book, John Oliver - May 24, 2019
Announcing New Book: Resisting Throwaway Culture Charles Camosy has just published a book: Resisting Throwaway Culture: How a Consistent Life Ethic Can Unite a Fractured People. From this review in Crux: “This is a book about hope in the midst of a polarized culture. Camosy begins with a hopeful starting point in the midst of a crumbling US political culture: two of every three Americans constitute an ‘exhausted majority’ who reject right/left polarization and are open to alternative viewpoints. Especially at this time of realignment, we have been given a unique moment to put aside the frothy, angsty political debates and think harder about our deepest values.”
Latest CLN Blog Post: John Oliver’s Inconsistency
John Oliver is a comedian with a show on HBO that has lengthy segments focusing on serious topics, laced with humor (and swearing). He recently had an excellent piece on how inhumane lethal injections are when used in executions. But he included a short line about how this is different from using drugs for assisted suicide. Jacqueline H. Abernathy (pictured) doesn’t buy the distinction, and explains why in “What’s Cruel for the Incarcerated is Cruel for the Terminally Ill: The Connection between Lethal Injection and Assisted Suicide.”
CLN Peace Vigil June 8th We'll be holding the next of our quarterly “Vigils to End the Nuclear Danger” on Saturday, June 8th, on the roadway in the front of the White House. Our witness is meant to raise awareness of nuclear weapons’ threat and of the recent United Nations treaty banning these weapons. Co-sponsors include the Franciscan Action Network and member groups the American Solidarity Party, Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore, and Rehumanize International. For more information, check out our Facebook event page or contact us at info@consistent-life.org
John Whitehead at a previous protest
Around the Web
CLN supporter Mary Liepold offers an essay that deals with the life issues and how we can sadly divide up into "us" and "them" groups: “Standing on the Side of Love.”
Our member group Secular Prolife on May 22 published: “We asked, you answered: why did you convert from being pro-choice to pro-life?” They report that many people became pro-life because of their own pregnancy experiences, and offer comments taken from over 200 people who answered the question.
Conservative columnist Michael Gerson echoes many of our thoughts on the election divide in “The Missing Option in U.S. Politics.”
Quotation of the Week Charles Camosy In “Theologian: A consistent life ethic is the solution to a throwaway culture” by Christopher White Crux, May 16, 2019 [Pope] Francis has been distinctive, however, in using the language of “throwaway culture” in place of a “culture of death” - and I think this does a better job of naming the fundamental problem those of us who are pro-life are trying to address. Instead of addressing an imagined culture that is obsessed with killing and death, I think we do better to address a real culture so consumed with its own autonomy and consumerism that it cannot or will not see that the most vulnerable are being discarded in the process. Naming the problem more precisely also helps pro-lifers see more effective solutions.
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