dehumanization
Worthiness Concept Threatens Equality
by Ms. Boomer-ang In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, animals take over a farm and paint on a wall “an unalterable law by which all animals” there “must live forever.” This law was a list of commandments, one of which was: “all animals are equal.” But eventually the only commandment remaining read: “All animals are equal,…
Hospital’s Attitude Adds to Couple’s Heartbreak
by Sarah Terzo Lindsey and April Woods lost their daughter Remy to a miscarriage in the second trimester. Remy was diagnosed in utero with 45x/46xy, a rare disorder that can cause severe disabilities. April and Lindsey refused abortion. April recalls a conversation with the doctors: At one point I asked “What’s worst-case scenario here” because…
To Know a Person is to Recognize a Human
by Julia Smucker Methodist theologian Stanley Hauerwas once wrote, “My Uncle Charlie is not much of a person but he is still my Uncle Charlie.” This striking sentence introduced his argument on the limits of “personhood” language in medical contexts. Yet it also captures the power of having known a human being as a person,…
Book Review: “Resisting Throwaway Culture”
by Mary Lou Bennett Resisting Throwaway Culture: How a Consistent Life Ethic Can United a Fractured People, by Charles C. Camosy. Anyone living in the United States today is acutely aware of the pain and decay that permeate society as a result of contemporary moral issues. With such awareness, feelings of sadness, despair, and disbelief…