#667 - Peace & Life: Events! - June 16, 2023
Coming up Around the U.S. & the World
June 24 will be the first anniversary of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Many pro-life groups around the U.S. will be holding celebrations, a summer-time commemoration of joy in contrast to the mid-winter commemoration of mourning we’ve been doing all these years.
Actions worldwide commemorate August 6 as the first use of nuclear weapons deliberately targeting the killing of human beings in Hiroshima. August 9 was the last time so far, in Nagasaki, and we hope it remains the last time permanently. We refer to deliberate targeting because plenty of people have died since then in the manufacture and testing of these diabolical weapons. Although their deaths were due to callous disregard (and in some cases racism), rather than a deliberate decision to kill them, we mourn those untimely deaths as well.
June 29-July 1:
Fast and Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty in Washington, DC; several of us attend this annual event.
June 30 - July 2:
Our member group the American Solidary Party national convention in Plano, TX.
ASP is running Peter Sonski as its presidential nominee in 2024.
July 5-8:
Braver Angels national convention in Gettysburg, PA. Our member group Rehumanize International will be attending. It’s a group that fosters dialog across political divides, one of our specialties.
July 12-15:
Social Action Summer Institute in Atlanta, GA, sponsored by the Catholic Roundtable. We’ve attended and had highly productive tables at this annual event for several years.
August 14-18:
Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago, IL. Thousands of people attend, and we’ll have a table there.
Oct 13-15:
The National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation conference is in Atlanta, Georgia. Another group fostering dialog across political divides.
November 11, 2023:
Rehumanize International’s 2023 conference. Details yet to come, but mark your calendar.
Our Latest Blog Post
Sarah Terzo wrote recently on cases that show some shocking attitudes towards babies with Down Syndrome, sometimes leading them to be aborted and other times leading their parents to be mistreated by medical personnel miffed at them for refusing to abort. This time she focuses on how this goes on in Iceland, Australia, and Great Britain in Bigotry against Babies with Down Syndrome: International Experiences.
Quotation of the Week
Kathryn Jean Lopez
On Mike Pence and Rallying for Life (All of it)
National Review, June 12, 2023
What would it take to come together for a consistent ethic of life in the United States? . . .
We have a problem, America, if so many of our young people a) want to die and b) it’s become not entirely uncommon for one of them to take a gun and take people — and sometimes precious children — with them . . .
There’s obviously a debate to be had about justice and deterrence. But one of the things that alarmed me, as a fellow pro-lifer, about Pence’s response on the issue of executions was the possibility that it undermines his credibility as he tries to win over people. This might be one of the primary things on my heart as we approach the first anniversary of the end of Roe v. Wade.
Pro-lifers believe, as Pence talks about, that human life is our treasure . . . I understand where Pence is going with his execution point, in the tradition of just war. But we live at a time when so many people seem to believe that their lives lack value. How can another’s life have value if you don’t even think that your own does?