DISCLAIMER: In the article to follow, understand that I hold "prolife" to be a moral position, not a political one (for this reason, this article is posted under "misc" rather than "politics". I would have posted under "religion", but those articles are usually consigned to a slow and painful JU death). I have grave concerns about overlegislating moral views on a public that does not necessarily share them.
I am unapologetically, unequivocably, and unchangeably prolife. A prolife view, to me, means the following:
*Anti abortion
*Anti War
*Anti death Penalty
*Anti poverty
With the understanding of that definition, I will address my view more thoroughly.
First, as a Christian, I believe all life is sacred, and human life especially so. We are unique among creation in that we are the only creation not simply spoken into creation, but bearing the very breath of God himself. No life, even that of an animal, should, in my opinion, be taken unless in some way its death is to serve a greater purpose (ie, food, clothing that isn't easily or practically attainable by other means).
Now, to the individual issues:
*Abortion: I believe life begins at conception, and, as a Christian, can cite Bible verses to support my position. One inherent problem is those Bible verses aren't widely accepted outside judeo-Christian circles. This is the area that's hardest in the area of legislation, as every limitation, every loophole that is given to try to minimize abortion has great potential for exploitation. The one area in which I am absolutely opposed on this issue, however, is when federal funds are involved. The practice of abortion is morally reprehensible to many within this country, and that revulsion is not limited to the Christian community. I will refer back to my views on this in the final section
*War: war is the willing, wanton destruction of human life and is, as such, reprehensible. Sadly, however, it is in an imperfect world sometimes necessary. I feel that it is never better than the lesser of two evils, and it should not be set upon lightly.
*Death Penalty: From a scriptural standpoint, the authority is certainly given to the government to put an individual to death. But I find it wholly ironic when Christians who repeatedly defer to the argument that we live in an age of grace would lean heavily on the Old Testament in their justification of governmental executions. Though the death penalty is usually less barbaric than the crimes the executed committed, we must also remember (as with the situation of the inmates at Gitmo), that we need to sometimes rise above our base and banal instincts. Giving moral justifications for killing of any kind once again gives a loophole that people will exploit to justify their own actions; and thus, we create a climate of destruction (I have no doubt that Kleibold and Harris felt that the students they killed at Columbine were justly executed).
*Poverty: This is one of the positions on prolife that generates the most controversy. I have heard opponents scoff "well NOBODY is pro poverty", which is, I believe, entirely wrong. Businesses that refuse to pay a living wage, that cheat their employees out of wages earned for any reason, and discriminate between ANY two people doing equivalent jobs, with equivalent experience, etc, in regards to pay, benefits, what have you, are SOLIDLY pro poverty, as are stores that inflate prices in poorer sections of a community and reduce them in the more affluent sections, or increase them in rural areas as well. A pro poverty position is an anti life position, as poverty is one of the greatest contributors to death in this country. Greater incidents of mental illness (often organic and attributed to a poor diet), greater infant mortality, greater instances of heart disease and environmentally acquired illnesses all go hand in hand with poverty in this country. This ties back to the abortion issue in that, the opponents of abortion do not make the same protest over the conditions of the poor that lead a woman into a feeling of helplessness, and often into the feeling that abortion is the best thing she can do for her child.
Those who read me regularly know I am not a "bleeding heart". Far from it. But I DO believe that some very real, very important, moral issues are raised through our culture's inconsistent on the value and content of life, and I believe it's time for more individuals to step up and address the hard issues with hard questions and equally hard solutions.
signing off,
Gideon MacLeish