Climate Change and the Consistent Life Ethic: An Opportunity to Connect Issues
by John Whitehead Climate change and how to counter it has been much in the news over the past few weeks, with these topics being raised in the United Nations and in the streets. Harm to our shared environment should concern all of us and should especially concern advocates of the consistent life ethic. We…
Prevention of Child Abuse
by Rachel M. MacNair, Ph.D. Excerpts of Chapter 13 in Peace Psychology Perspectives on Abortion. References are turned into links. Abuse of children is among the most horrific forms of violence and is depressingly widespread world-wide. Therefore, it is important to know whether the impact of abortion on its prevalence is helpful, harmful,…
Pro-Life Voting Strategy: A Problem without an Answer
A reminder: The Consistent Life Network doesn’t necessarily endorse everything said in its blog, since we encourage individual writers to express a variety of views. This is especially so when analyzing elections. by John Whitehead With a new electoral season looming before Americans, we’ll no doubt soon hear the latest round of a long-running…
Win-Lose is a Mirage
by Bill Samuel, Consistent Life Network Board member As I was taking a morning nature walk, I was thinking of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s insight in Braiding Sweetgrass of people loving the land and the land loving us back. The reciprocity is vital regardless of whether you are comfortable with using the emotional term “love” to…
Peace & Life Referendums
by Rachel MacNair For updated information starting January 6, 2020, see this constantly-updated website: Peace and Life Referendums The original post was published September 3, 2019, and revisions were added until January 6, when the website took over the function A reminder: The Consistent Life Network doesn’t necessarily endorse everything said in its blog,…
A War on the People: A Review of One Child Nation
by John Whitehead Draconian Measures To curb population growth and supposedly promote national prosperity, China’s ruling Communist Party in 1979 launched an effort to ensure most Chinese parents would have only one child. For roughly the next 36 years the authorities would enforce this One-Child Policy through measures that included intense propaganda, forced sterilizations and…
Abortion and Violence Against Pregnant Women
by Martha Shuping, M.D. This is based on a handout Dr. Shuping made for widespread use; she sent it to us and we adapted it with her approval. Martha Shuping is a psychiatrist, and wrote several chapters of the book Peace Psychology Perspectives on Abortion, edited by Rachel MacNair. Intimate Partner Violence Intimate…
What Does It Mean to Be Inconsistent?
by Julia Smucker CLN President John Whitehead recently put a question to fellow consistent-lifers: does it necessarily make sense to call people “inconsistent” for not fully adhering to the consistent life ethic (CLE)? After all, the reasons people give for approving of some forms of killing and disapproving of others often follow their own…
“Everybody Else in the World Was Dead”: Hiroshima’s Legacy
(compiled by John Whitehead) The American atomic bombing of Hiroshima was 74 years ago today, August 6th. To mark the anniversary, we share stories from bombing survivors, in Japanese hibakusha (“bomb-affected people”). Hibakusha Stories Dr. Michihiko Hachiya was at home that morning, which was “still, warm, and beautiful. Shimmering leaves, reflecting sunlight from a cloudless…
Activists, Beware: Burnout is a Very Real Danger
by Rachel MacNair Part 2 of 2 posts responding to Ward Ricker’s essay, “Prolife – Not.” Here’s Part 1. Ward Ricker’s main point is: haven’t pro-lifers been ineffective because we’ve sent mixed messages? Mainly, we’re proclaiming an abortion to be the murder of an innocent child, and yet our behavior shows we’re not taking…