Does Socially-Approved Killing Increase Criminal Homicide?
by Rachel MacNair When killing is socially approved, does this provide a model for killing that isn’t? We offer evidence. The Homicide Rate and Executions Do executions deter murder? Since societies with executions still have murders, we know it’s not a complete deterrent. But are there fewer murders than there would be otherwise? There’s another…
Remembering Rep. Walter B. Jones, Jr.
by Patrick O’Neill It may be have been unprecedented on the U.S. political landscape — a Catholic U.S. Congressman who was invited to be the keynote speaker at both an anti-abortion rally and an anti-war rally — in the South. Yet, that’s what happened when Republican Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., an Eastern North Carolina…
How Black Panther Promotes a Consistent Life Ethic
by Andrew Hocking Andrew Hocking writes about spirituality in movies, TV, and books and frequently discusses politics from a consistent life perspective. Since its release last February, the movie Black Panther has made a tremendous impact, becoming a commercial and critical success—currently a Best Picture Oscar nominee—and also generating commentary about its social…
The Price of Violence: When Dehumanizing the Vulnerable Hurts One’s Own Causes
by Julia Smucker Last October, in one of a series of opinion pieces in Slate on how the political left should approach the U.S. Supreme Court, Christopher John Sprigman made the point that the liberalization of abortion laws that came with Roe v. Wade, without popular consensus in its favor, has proven disastrous for…
A Friendly Approach
by Richard Stith I think we should be careful to be positive and praise all the folks who support one of our key issues, while still gently encouraging them to broaden their opposition to violence. Here’s an example of how I’ve been trying to apply this approach locally. A theater here in town is putting…
Human Rights & the Right to Life: Reconsidering Conventional Human Rights Activism
by John Whitehead Respecting people’s human rights should go hand in hand with upholding the consistent life ethic. The concept of “human rights” broadly means those conditions that people can legitimately claim as necessary to living a decent human life. Life itself is one of these conditions, and many human rights documents recognize a right…
Roe Anniversary Protests, 2019
by several people who were there For a mainstream press article on our presence at the March for Life, see “What It’s Like for Secular, Liberal Pro-lifers at the March for Life” in The Atlantic. The Washington Post also included some information from our supporters in their coverage. March for Life Chicago, January 13 Richard…
Will for Life – Double Down
by Tony Masalonis and Rachel MacNair This is an updated and expanded version of an article published in Peace and Life Connections on April 25, 2014. Euthanasia and the death penalty can be connected by taking a stand against both in your personal life. Opponents of these forms of killing have developed documents that anyone…
Restellism Exposed: Abortion Opposed by Early Women Physicians
Excerpt from ProLife Feminism: Yesterday & Today. Introduction by Mary Krane Derr, condensed. Dr. Charlotte Denman Lozier (1844-1870) Charlotte Denman Lozier graduated from the homeopathic New York (City) Medical College for Women, which outraged conservatives because of its students’gender and its hygiene curriculum. As a student, Charlotte successfully protested Bellevue Hospital’s refusal of clinical…
Dickens
From A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens (1843) Early in the novel, Ebenezer Scrooge is speaking to two men who are trying to solicit a donation to the poor. When he says he’ll donate “nothing,” they ask if he wishes to remain anonymous. “I wish to be left alone,” said Scrooge. “Since you ask me…