This op-ed piece by Deacon Keith Fournier on Building the Civilization of Love says so many things that I agree with. It's a bit liberal-leaning, but on the whole, dab on. The point is, that, while still being completely dedicated to upholding fetal rights, we have to look at other issues, but through the prism of the Culture of Life.
I so completely agree. My main angle in this blog has been that we have to transform the culture, by which I mean art and entertainment. That is how we will change hearts. But this idea applies to every aspect of life.
Here are some salient tidbits:
However, I then added the “clincher”, saying “The end of Roe is not the end of the culture of death. In fact, when the reversal comes, our task really begins. There will probably be legal struggles in every State; akin to the past horror of the horrid phenomenon of ‘slave Sates’ and ‘free States’.”
I certainly had their attention at this point, so I went on: “We are the ones who are now called to build the new culture of life and civilization of love. Anytime persons are treated as property to be used rather than gifts to be received, the culture of death has taken root. It is about more than abortion. We must dig out the roots of this evil and plant the seeds of the civilization of love to replace the culture of death. Remember, in the observation of Pope John Paul the Great, abortion is only the ‘cutting edge’ of the culture of death. We have much more to do than simply reversing Roe!”
Another good part:
The pro-life position is not “conservative” or “liberal”, or even simply “religious” – at least in the sense of a position confined to religious people. It is a defensible human rights position that can be - and increasingly is - held by many types of diverse people. A growing majority of Americans are coming to recognize that without the right to life and the freedom to be born there simply are no other rights. In fact, the very foundation of all rights is placed at risk when those without a voice become subject to death on demand under some promethean notion of freedom as the power of the strong over the weak.
Truth has an amazing power within it to bring about personal and societal change. I believe that it is doing just that on the issue of the humanity of the child in the womb. This truth is winning the hearts and minds of more and more Americans. That is because this truth is written on every human heart by the natural law that obligates us all to do justice and then binds us all together in its pursuit. In fact, one does not have to have any religious faith to recognize the truth concerning the dignity of every human life. As a Christian, I believe and proclaim that this truth is also confirmed by Revelation. However, it is a complete fallacy for the opponents of the right to life to characterize the pro-life position as “religious” in order to try to undermine it.
Science is now, clearly, a pro-life ally as well. It always has been. But recent advances have unmasked the lies of the opponents of the right to life and their efforts to say otherwise. Sonograms are now showing us a film of our first neighbors in their first home, within their mother. With the introduction of “baby’s first picture” we can all watch these children smile, play, feel pain and grow. These images are becoming more and more prevalent and are even showing up on television commercials. A sure sign, in a consumerist culture, that this technology is having an effect. Only a deceived person can see that child in the womb as anything other than just that, a child.
Increasingly, medical science is providing ways of operating “in utero” to help these children at this stage of life. Psychologists are speaking of communication between parents and their child in the womb- and encouraging it. Music is being played to children in the womb. All of these advances have “humanized” the child in the womb to an increasing number of people who once bought the lie of those who promoted abortion as “choice”. The efforts to paint the child as a “cluster of cells” or to use other dehumanizing phrases to hide the perfidy of abortion are now failing. Both science and technology confirm what our conscience told us all along, the child in the first home of the whole human race is our neighbor.
Basically, Americans are becoming less bigoted towards the unborn child. What the pro-aborts propose about the unborn child is often sheer bigotry--- beliefs based on prejudice and not education.
This is the part I really like:
However, we have another challenge as well; we need to re-educate even some within the pro-life community. Too many pro-life people have become so used to “opposing” abortion that they do not know how to propose the culture of life. The truth about the dignity of life is a positive position. We are on the side of the truth. Yet, too much of the rhetoric of some pro-life people is often framed in terms of opposition. Sometimes this flows from a persecuted minority or “victim” approach that has become too prevalent.
Lasting movements for societal change are rarely built around negative language. Oh, of course they oppose what is wrong, but they also propose another way. Our task as a people committed to life is not simply about opposition but also about conversion. We need to present a new way, the way of life, to replace the culture of death. Additionally, as important as changing the make up of the Supreme Court is, we will not succeed in our long term mission simply through using political efforts. People’s hearts and minds need to be changed. This mission is both a spiritual and a rhetorical task. We need to pray - and we need to be in the public square, persuading people of the truth concerning the dignity of every life by using all of what has been discussed in this article.
We need to engage and not outrage. Let me explain what I mean. Every morning I receive charged pro-life mailings from someone who sends them out to anyone who will receive them. I know how “bad” things are. I have already read most of what he sends me. Frankly, I have grown so tired of these mailings that this morning I almost added him to my blocked senders list. Now think about that. I am pro-life. It makes me wonder what kind of effect my sincere friend is having beyond the choir that he is singing to!
While it's true that pro-lifers are persecuted, at some point, we have to stop whining (especially in Canada). We don't have any excuses. We have the internet to get our message out. We have freedoms. We can vote pro-life. But we don't.
Really, what this should be about is a struggle for fetal rights. We should phase out that phrase "abortion debate" and call it "the fetal rights" debate, but people want to know what we are for, and people respond positively to supporting the underdog.
I think the fetal rights movement needs more beauty. Sure, we have to continue showing the ugliness of abortion, but we can't win on that alone. A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. And all that.
I hope pro-lifers reading this pass this on. It's a really important message.
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