Saturday, January 12, 2013

Seamless Garment

My wonderfully wise wife just now shared this video with me.

If this video makes you think that it's dreadful to try to steal the thunder of the gun control movement to make a statement about abortion, then I invite you to consider that 48 million human persons have lost their lives to induced abortion in the U.S. alone since 1970. This is fourfold as many brutalized innocents as the number of Africans subjected to the Middle Passage, and eightfold as many as the number of Jews murdered in the Shoah).

If this video makes you think, "Right on, abortion is the real issue, not guns," then I invite you to consider that that there are over 30,000 gun deaths annually in the United States, making guns one of the ten leading causes of American death. Every one of these victims (even those engaged in criminality) of gun violence is as much a cherished child of the Father as any unborn innocent. Thus, both common-sense and less obvious measures, none of which involve undue inconvenience to hunters, target shooters, and those seeking personal and home defense, ought to be taken.

A culture of life really ought to be a seamless garment. Whichever of these two issues (abortion, guns) strikes you as the "real" life issue, I ask you to consider whether a consistent ethic of respect for every human life would join them together.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for the post. I don't doubt the president's sincerity in that speech, and therefore hold out hope for his conversion regarding abortion.

    The seamless garment repelled me for a long time, since I accepted the standard right-wing cafeteria Catholic positions on guns and capital punishment. But it is right, as the Church is always right, and although it's somewhat painful for me to say it, our scant gun control must yield to the common good. I think the lowest hanging fruit toward that end is closing the gun show loophole, although I am certain that is necessary but not sufficient.

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  2. Thanks for following the blog!

    Having entered the Church from the left, the seamless garment repelled me, too, from the other direction. It's a death to self to give up our politics for Christ's love, that's for sure. I've got a long way to go, I know.

    I don't hold out any hope for conversion by President Obama on abortion, barring a miracle. I just hope the conservative Supreme Court judges stay healthy.

    As for guns, I've been surprised by the numbers I've seen on how high support for closing the gun show loophole is even among gun owners and Republicans. Unfortunately, the NRA sees it as the first step to universal registration (followed by confiscation) of firearms, so they oppose it. And since under the Hastert Rule, the most conservative House Republicans have something akin to a filibuster, and they sincerely believe in both the NRA's message and its ability to get them primaried, my hopes are sadly not that high there, either.

    Beyond prayer, I look to opening up the conversation on this that closed after the Democrats got gun-shy in the wake of the 1994 election, and then just waiting for today's conversational seeds to bear fruit after the predicted demographic change into the sort of less white, more urban nation that tends to support gun control. I'm less worried about that, frankly, then I am about getting that same future "Blue" nation to someday oppose abortion.

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    1. The NRA's intransigence on the matter is disappointing. I'd never cared for it, and after their shameful support of the DISCLOSE Act I cancelled my membership. Unfortunately, they've gone the way of a lot of lobbies at the national level. They're more interested in remaining the preeminent lobby for that cause than actually advancing that cause, exiling heretics, and having would-be elected officials curry their favor. There's a gun rights organization in my state that is focuses solely on legislative efforts within my state. I disagree with their agenda, but there's no denying their effectiveness. I suspect reasonable gun control will flow from such organizations in combination with your conversational seeds.

      I agree with your priorities regarding a future "Blue" nation, especially since I should think that the right to life is a prerequisite to a right to defend life. The sad obsession with demographics, i.e. pigmentary composition, on the right is self-defeating. Long-term social stability will flow from a shared faith. It'll take the Truth to set men free from violent crime and abortion both. Who knows. Maybe this American Solidarity Party will have some success in this regard.

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