Devaluation of life is a cancer wherever it emerges, whether it it unborn life, lives of people living among us, or the lives of future generations who will inhabit this planet.
We must create a climate and community that values, nurtures, protects, and supports life and affirms its dignity.
How that is accomplished is often a matter of hot debate.
However, I believe that such a climate would take much of this out of the political arena and return it to a realm free of posturing and slogan-wielding.
Personally, I cringe whenever I overhear my grandson playing video games where players cheer whenever there is a "kill."
That is a systemic, societal, attitudinal problem that no policies can address because so many of us have adopted it.
I have been having that problem with television and movies for years.
This weekend, there will be two commemorative events. one will be the celebration of MLK Jr.'s life and another will be Sanctity of Life Sunday.
Many sincere Christians are torn between what they feel are competing convictions and commitments. For them, I am offering information on an alternative that embraces all life.
The Consistent Life Network - I became aware of this through looking into the life of actor, Martin Sheen, a committed Catholic.
https://www.facebook.com/ConsistentLife/ has resources and endorsements from a variety of people in the public eye.
I have put money and energy in to my small piece of this, encouraging those who choose life with the knowledge of safe and loving homes for children they feel they cannot raise.
Consistent Life Ethic offers a third way that embraces a kingdom ethic for all issues where life is in the balance:
http://www.consistentlifenetwork.org/
What is so often lacking in an atmosphere of debate are the qualities of compassion and respect. Perhaps that is because of the sectioning off of people based upon positions and labels and the rarity of actual conversation over sensitive and potentially explosive topics.
It is also because of the importance of the issues and the passions that surround them.
Also, there is a problem with overlapping ideologies. For instance, the eugenics movement, often embraced by a racist right, but also embraced by some on the left, began to advocate for population control based upon intelligence, viability, race, ethnicity, and likelihood of disability.
Those who opposed this fell to the right and to the left.
Wikipedia describes the CLE:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consistent_life_ethic
A surprising number of people find it describes their views:
"The non-profit organization Consistent Life Network, founded in 1987 as the Seamless Garment Network, promotes adherence to the ethic through education and non-violent action. Individual endorsers belonging to the Consistent Life Network organization include Father Daniel Berrigan, theologian Harvey Cox, Village Voice columnist Nat Hentoff, Father Theodore Hesburgh, actress Patricia Heaton, L'Arche founder Jean Vanier, death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean, pro-life activist Abby Johnson, author Ken Kesey, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Nobel Peace Prize laureates Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.Rachel MacNair, for ten years (1994–2004) President of Feminists for Life, a pro-life organization, is the director of the Institute for Integrated Social Analysis, the research arm of Consistent Life Network."
"In the US, several groups have promoted the "consistent ethic of life" approach, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Democrats for Life of America, and the American Solidarity Party, a Christian Democratic political organization. Groups without a religious orientation that support the ideology include Democrats for Life of America, the Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians (PLAGAL), and All Our Lives (a pro-contraception feminist group), all of which are members of the Consistent Life Network. Other secular groups supporting a consistent ethic of life position include Rehumanize International (formerly known as Life Matters Journal) and New Wave Feminists. Other prominent authors who have written in support of the consistent life ethic include Frank Pavone,James Martin, John Dear, Ron Sider, Tony Campolo, Joel Hunter, Wendell Berry,and Shane Claiborne."
For a list of endorsers, see:
http://www.consistentlifenetwork.org/endorsers
Please note this article for reference by a prominent Roman Catholic priest who has been identified as a "progressive," entitled, "Why I Am Pro-Life." -https://www.americamagazine.org/…/…/martin-why-i-am-pro-life
There is also an emerging political party that embraces these values:
https://solidarity-party.org/
https://www.facebook.com/AmericanSolidarityParty/
Brian T. Carroll , a recent ASP candidate for Congress and current presidential candidate, could speak to this as well.
If you follow this path, you will be in a very small minority and will be subject to intense criticism from some very fine people.
To further muddy the waters, read Abigail Favale, "Confessions of a Feminist Heretic."
http://churchlife.nd.edu/…/confessions-of-a-feminist-heret…/
I will let the literature speak for itself and let you make up your own mind.
