Today is Sanctity of Life Sunday in many churches. It is supposed to be a time when we pause to remember the tremendous number of babies killed (“aborted”) since the ruling in Roe v. Wade. But, it got me thinking about the broader application. All human life is sacred.
Please don’t misunderstand. We need to be concerned about protecting the lives of babies unable to speak for themselves. The numbers are staggering. Over 40 million lives ripped from the land of the living. These are the most innocent of lives, never having had any opportunity to mess up anything.
I am continually dismayed at the growing number of people in our society who make no attempt to base their beliefs, and therefore, their actions, on anything remotely objective. The argument, for instance, that I and the rest of the voters in this country have no right to tell a woman what she can or can’t do with her own body is disingenuous at best, and selfish at worst. This defense fails to answer the most important question in the debate, “When does life begin?” Once that question is objectively determined, the legal, if not moral, debate can be over.
I believe life begins at conception. It is the moment when the DNA from both parents collide to form a new, unique set of DNA. That is my answer to the question. Now, what is the pro-choice answer? There are many. A number of legal opinions depend on the “viability” of the fetus. That is, when the fetus is able to live outside the womb, it is a human life. When is viability reached? The standard answer is twenty-two weeks. But there are circumstances and medical advances that make this point in the fetal development more than a little spongy. I still want to know exactly when life begins, because if an exact moment can’t be determined, we could be killing a human being. So, at what week, day, hour, minute and second is the fetus “viable,” and therefore, a human? I have yet to hear or read any pro-choice person give me a straight answer. I, on the other hand, know exactly when life begins.
But, “It’s my body!” the pro-choice woman shouts. Is it? If she were carrying a baby in her arms, would it still be considered part of her body? If the first question is answered, and the point of the beginning of life is determined, then at that point forward, the woman is carrying another human being, and she does not have the right to take that baby’s life any more than anyone else has.
But, I have digressed. What about the rest of the human race? If that unborn baby is sacred, so is every human being. I certainly applaud all who will fight for the most basic rights of the unborn, but challenge all of those same people to extend that fight to the rest of the human race. It is so easy to think about others as less than human, especially when they have done something harmful to us or to others. It may not be quite as easy, but no less a problem, to treat others with something less than respect. And when I hear the way people talk to each other, or scream at each other, I wonder if they have any notion of the idea of sanctity of life.
Again, please don’t misunderstand (I’ve been getting a lot of that lately), I believe people who do bad things need to be counseled, rehabilitated, punished; whatever is appropriate for the circumstance under the law. But even when these actions must be taken, it should be with a heavy heart, because a sacred life, as defiled, wretched, and seemingly hopeless as it may be, has lost its holy glow.
And what about me? I struggle with some of those same challenges to see the sacred form of God in others. It is much too easy to demean them in my mind. True, I don’t treat people poorly. I try to help people when possible. I don’t call people names to demean them. But I am disturbed by the way I think about others sometimes. And what I think is as important as what I do. I am what I think. That’s quite scary to ponder.
So, this week I will change my attitude, even if it is just a little bit. I will remember that all life is sacred, and should be treated as such. Care to join me?
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