#648 - Peace & Life: Rethinking Life / Girls Deserve Better / Boycotts - February 10, 2023
Shane Claiborne’s New Book
by Shane Claiborne, a CLN endorser
This is new (publication date: 02.07.23) and we haven’t read it yet, but here’s an excerpt from the blurb: “Drawing on Scripture, church history, and his own story, Shane Claiborne explores how a passion for social justice issues surrounding life and death-- such as war, gun ownership, the death penalty, racial injustice, abortion, poverty, and the environment – intersects with our faith as we advocate for life in its totality . . . We need a new movement that stands up for life--without exceptions. This moving and incredibly timely book creates a larger framework for thinking about God's love and our faith as we embrace a consistent ethic that values human life from womb to tomb.”
More from Feminists for Life
To go with its Women Deserve Better campaign, member group Feminists for Life has launched a program for the younger set: Girls Deserve Better. See Instagram memes here, and a video series about sex trafficking by Joyce McCauley-Benner (see one here).
They’ll soon release a new chapter for their First Wave Feminist History Course, dedicated to Frederick Douglass. As he celebrated his birthday on Valentine's Day, that’s when they’ll be premiering it – so coming up next week.
There are also several new Women Deserve Better articles with practical tips.
Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)
FCNL, the U.S. Quaker lobbying group, was founded in 1943 – in the middle of World War II - when pacifists felt a dire need to lobby. Because their research tends to be excellent, we’ve recommended them on issues dealing with peace, economic justice, etc. While not a consistent-life group, they had no position on abortion and euthanasia because the Religious Society of Friends (also known as Quakers), as their wording goes, is “not in unity” on those issues.
Unfortunately, FCNL has now asked for reconsideration of this due to the Dobbs decision. The email asking Friends for input defined the issue as “reproductive health.” This means they’ve already taken a side. This is reminiscent of what happened with Amnesty International. Hopefully, Quaker process and the fact that Friends are still not in unity will prevail. But we know that normal rules often don’t apply with abortion.
If you’re a Quaker or have Quaker friends, our member group Friends Witness for a Pro-life Peace Testimony (FWPPT) has a website that serves as a resource to help the discussion. All ideas on responding (or if you want to join FWPPT) can be sent to clerk@prolifequakers.org.
Reminder on Boycotts / Withdrawal of Purchasing
Inasmuch as you can, please direct purchases away from Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid as long as they’re still pursuing carrying the abortion pills in their pharmacies.
Our Latest Blog Post
In one of our commentaries on literature, John Whitehead offers Comprehending Horror through Animation: The Art of the Anti-War Animated Movie.
Reminder: we pride ourselves on our wide diversity of authors. If you have a post you’ve written or would like to write, please let us know – here are the submission guidelines. We offer $50 for each accepted post.
Quotation of the Week
Christopher Derrick
Bombs and Babies: Three Baffling Questions
New Oxford Review, Sept. 1981, p. 3.
Apart from politics, war also tends to destroy everything that conservatives would wish to "conserve" at the social, cultural, moral, and religious levels. For the present cultural breakdown of the West, two World Wars are very considerably responsible . . . Their own values ought to make conservatives into near-pacifists.