A Historical Success Story: Duels

Posted on March 8, 2016 By

by Rachel MacNair   Within Consistent Life we’ve had long discussions about which issues to include when brevity is needed, and we often expand to related issues when writing at length. But there’s one form of socially-approved killing we’ve never seriously contemplated adding to the list: duels. This is of course because they aren’t socially…

Women with Disabilities Speak

Posted on February 16, 2016 By

(compiled by Rachel MacNair)  Alison Davis wrote in a classic article for the journal Disability and Society: Feminists, though accustomed to fighting for the emancipation of women, are failing to address this incongruous situation, and the double discrimination faced by women with disabilities.  This is partly due to the fact that they regard abortion as an unequivocal “right.”…

Should Abortions be Illegal?

Posted on February 3, 2016 By

by Bill Samuel     In 2014, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports, 84,041 rapes were reported in the United States. It is well known that many rapes are not reported, so the actual incidence of rape is greater than that. Rape is a felony in every jurisdiction in the United States, and has…

Guns and Abortion: Extremists Resemble One Another

Posted on January 14, 2016 By

by Carol Crossed, Consistent Life Board member At his press conference about gun control, President Obama was clear and uncomplicated: The Constitution protects the right to bear arms. But some restraints on our freedom are necessary to protect innocent people. This should carry weight with Republicans since this is the same argument they make to…

De-funding Planned Parenthood?

Posted on January 7, 2016 By

by Rachel MacNair The concept of the U.S. federal government removing all federal taxpayer dollars from going to Planned Parenthood has been a hot legislative topic recently. It seems to be set aside for now, but is bound to come up again and again. What is there to say from a consistent-life view? First, withdrawing…

Difference This Time: Pro-Life Heroism

Posted on December 9, 2015 By

by Rachel MacNair With the lethal shooting at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs of November 27, 2015, we in Consistent Life first waited to hear if it were in fact connected to abortion. Once the news was that the shooter had rambled about “baby parts,” then recent news about undercover videos involving those…

The Adventures of Prolifers for Survival — Scorned by Mobilization for Survival

Posted on December 1, 2015 By

by Carol Crossed           Mobilization for Survival Mobilization For Survival (MFS) began in the 1970s and was a diverse network of peace organizations, principally to address nuclear concerns. Groups were encouraged to join by paying a modest membership fee and agreeing to four principles:      1. Disarming countries of nuclear weapons;…

Suffering and Injustice Concern Us All

Posted on November 11, 2015 By

by Vasu Murti Do you feel like you’re being forced to practice Quakerism, because the government does not allow you to own a slave? Did the Quakers impose their morality on the rest of American society when slavery was abolished, or was it social and moral progress for all mankind? Animal rights should not be…

Violence Bolstered by Professional Contradictions

Posted on October 22, 2015 By

by Rachel M. MacNair, Ph.D. Director of CL’s research arm, The Institute for Integrated Social Analysis         I’d like to regale you with my adventures in what ought to be a stuffy professional organization but is actually a prime field for countering the push for some kinds of violence. In his classic…

The Consistent Life Consensus in Ancient Christianity

Posted on October 1, 2015 By

by Rob Arner, CL Board member Adjunct Professor of Religion at Reformed Episcopal Seminary and Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA Mennonite   When measured against the standard of the ancient Christian church, contemporary American and European Christianity is in a moral mess. When it comes to what have been called the “life issues,” Christians are no…