Strange Bedfellows
While we don't always agree, it is so nice to have a disparate group of people behind the solid agenda of promoting science that helps people, or at least does no harm. Feminists for Life does great work with their "Women Deserve Better" slogan and their intentional effort at getting to the underlying issues of why some women chose abortions and attacking those issues as opposed to attacking the women themselves. Democrats for Life does a great job of reminding everyone that this should not be a partisan issues - everyone can and should be for life, for promoting the dignity and value of all humans.
With arguments that abortion is violent, pacificists join the cause. With arguments of exploitation, liberal feminists add their voices. With arguments of genoicide, gender-selection, disability-discrimination, and eugenics, civil rights, human rights, and disability-rights activists take an active role. Philosophers point out the incongruities of arbitrarily deciding life starts now but not then, simply depending on your politics without considering scientific definitions of life as well as the fact that life doesn't change its essence dependent on location (in a petri dish, within a womb, or outside the womb). Ethicists and religious-thinkers add depth by bringing in big-picture thinking on the good of humanity, the fulness and destiny of all people in relation to the Creator, the duties and responsabilities of us as humans, altruistic principles like self-denial, restraint, and sacrifice. Scientists do the work of gathering all the fundamental facts - showing how basic many of these questions are - this is how we determine what is alive and what is not, what is human and what is not, what this is developing to be, when it will develop, what it is capable of doing and becoming, and so on. Politicians and their aids work to put all the pieces together and craft laws that allow the most scientific freedom possible to explore and research cures and expand our understanding while yet not infringing on anyone's rights or over-riding the confines of humanity and ethics.
And there are many others who play a part in this puzzle - all trying to fit the pieces together so that this life of ours makes sense. It is strange but heartening to see so many different people agreeing on a few fundamental things while perhaps disagreeing on a single larger worldview.
With arguments that abortion is violent, pacificists join the cause. With arguments of exploitation, liberal feminists add their voices. With arguments of genoicide, gender-selection, disability-discrimination, and eugenics, civil rights, human rights, and disability-rights activists take an active role. Philosophers point out the incongruities of arbitrarily deciding life starts now but not then, simply depending on your politics without considering scientific definitions of life as well as the fact that life doesn't change its essence dependent on location (in a petri dish, within a womb, or outside the womb). Ethicists and religious-thinkers add depth by bringing in big-picture thinking on the good of humanity, the fulness and destiny of all people in relation to the Creator, the duties and responsabilities of us as humans, altruistic principles like self-denial, restraint, and sacrifice. Scientists do the work of gathering all the fundamental facts - showing how basic many of these questions are - this is how we determine what is alive and what is not, what is human and what is not, what this is developing to be, when it will develop, what it is capable of doing and becoming, and so on. Politicians and their aids work to put all the pieces together and craft laws that allow the most scientific freedom possible to explore and research cures and expand our understanding while yet not infringing on anyone's rights or over-riding the confines of humanity and ethics.
And there are many others who play a part in this puzzle - all trying to fit the pieces together so that this life of ours makes sense. It is strange but heartening to see so many different people agreeing on a few fundamental things while perhaps disagreeing on a single larger worldview.
posted by Speaking of Life... at 8:00 PM
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