40 Days For Foetus
A View Of What's To Come?
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Women's Bodies--Women's Rights
- Catholics for Choice
At CFC, we strive to be an expression of Catholicism as it is lived by ordinary people. We are part of the great majority of the faithful in the Catholic church who disagrees with the dictates of the Vatican. . . - NARAL
We are made up of pro-choice women and men across the United States. Together, we protect a woman's right to choose. - Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood Federation of America is the nation's leading sexual and reproductive health care provider and advocate
A Broken Continium?
On September 21st, the Catholic Church proclaimed a 40-day "Fast for Life". In my opinion, though, calling it a "Fast for The Fetus" would be more appropriate.
The Church's opposition to abortion and most other artificial means of birth control is well-known. This is shared with many, if not most, Christian faiths. The reasons could be as diverse as trying to uphold the command to "go forth and multiply", to an effort to control women through controlling their bodies--a la Handmaids Tale.
But where is the concern for other forms of life. While we humans were, if you believe, directed to be stewards of the earth, the Christian faith has, to me, been almost silent on issues of environmental sustainability. I can never remember a priest or deacon preaching on this, on how we need to turn away from a culture based so much on consumption, towards one that is responsible to God's creation.
I recently did a Hub on the topic of social justice, and this too is an area where, to me, the Christian Faith is weak. Jesus not only ate and ministered to the poor and forgotten of his day, he also spoke out against the wealthy and powerful. The New Testament is full of passages where those with wealth are condemned, not so much for their wealth, but for their greed. Where we the "pro-lifers" when the Children's Health Insurance Program was to be cut? Why is there no outcry when social programs are cut to spare corporate subsidies and tax breaks for the wealthy. "You cannot serve two masters", the Bible says.
If too many Christians aren't worshipping Mammon, or money, then they're also worshipping an avatar of the gods of war. While the Catholic Church does have a "just war" doctrine, rarely do you hear military actions being subjected to it. Now there are some pacifist traditions in Christianity; Quakers, Mennonites, and the Church of The Brethren, among them. But I don't think I have ever heard any homilies reminding us of how one who lives by the sword shall die by it.
I guess a lot of this has to do with my broad view of a continium. To me a truly "pro-life" faith would support the dignity of all life, in all places. I still think too often Rep. Barney Frank(D-MA) has it right when he said:
To a pro-lifer, life beings at conception--and ends at birth.
